Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Determining the Horizontal Position of the Insertion Point.

Determining the Horizontal Position of the Insertion Point

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 15, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Danny is writing a macro and he need to discover the horizontal position of the insertion point, relative to the left margin, in inches. This can be done by using a rather simple macro, such as the following:

Sub HorPos()
    Location = Selection.Information( _
      wdHorizontalPositionRelativeToTextBoundary)
    MsgBox PointsToInches(Location)
End Sub

The macro uses the Information property to determine the distance from the text boundary, in points. This is then converted to inches and displayed. The text boundary is, most often, the left margin in a normally formatted document. In some circumstances it could also be something else, such as the cell boundary in a table or column boundary in a multi-column format.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3497) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Determining the Horizontal Position of the Insertion Point.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Pasting a Comment into Your Worksheet

Excel allows you to not only put information into cells, but into comments attached to those cells. Here's how to copy ...

Discover More

Selecting a Graphic that is Behind Text

Position a graphic so that it is "behind" your text, and it may seem like you can no longer select the graphic. Here's ...

Discover More

Returning Blanks with VLOOKUP

Normally the VLOOKUP function returns a value, and if it can't return a value it returns a zero. Here's how you can use ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Automatically Inserting Tomorrow's Date

Do you routinely need to work with tomorrow's date? Why not create a template that automatically adds tomorrow's date to ...

Discover More

Changing What Is Pasted in a Dialog Box

When you record a macro, Word very literally records what you do. This includes filling in various settings in dialog ...

Discover More

Creating a Document Font List

If you want a list of all the fonts used in a document, the answer isn't as simple as you may think. This tip uses macros ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 6 - 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.