Windows Vista Tutorial

Change page margins in Microsoft Word 2007 documents

The amount of text displayed on any given page of a Microsoft Word document depends in part on the area available for text on each page: the document margins determine this. But Word 2007 lets you change the margins on an individual document basis, either increasing or decreasing all margins, or by change the top, right, bottom, or left margin alone. This tutorial explains how you can change page margins in Word 2007, with a couple clicks.

 

Change margins in Word 2007 (increase or decrease margins)

Margin setup and options in Word 2007 To change the margins of a document in Word 2007, open the document in question. Click on the Page Layout tab of the Ribbon: the second section of Page Layout commands include margin, orientation, size, columns, etc. Click on the Margins button/dropdown combo, to reveal the document's margin options:

Document margin presets in Word 2007

Change margins in Word 2007 A margins menu opens, with various margin settings: the first is labeled Last Custom Setting, and displays your last margin customization, if any.

Word 2007 then displays its 6 built-in document and page margin settings: Normal (1 inch for each margin), Narrow (half-an-inch for all margins), Moderate (1 inch for the top and bottom margin, and .75 inches for the lateral margins), Wide (1 inch for vertical margins, and 2 full inches for the margins on either side), and finally the Mirrored margin setting for multi-page duplex printouts (1 inch for the top and bottom margins, 1 inch for the margin that faces out, and 1.25 inches for the margin inside).

The Office 2003 Default is a set margins built into Word 2007, that lets you format your document margins following the defaults that shipped with Word 2003, the previous version of Microsoft Word.

The last option in the Margins menu reads "Custom Margins", and will open Word's Page Setup dialog, that lets you define margins individually, with custom heights and widths.

Custom margin settings in Word 2007

Custom margins and page setup in Word 2007 If you use need to use custom margins, as opposed to the built-in margin settings, fill in the values you would like for each of the margin in the Page Setup dialog, and click OK to accept and apply the margins you just defined for your document.

To change custom margins after the fact, simply go to the Page Layout tab of the Ribbon, click on the Margins button, and once again pick the Custom Margins option to re-configure your margin options for the current document.

That's it! Changing your document and page margins in Word 2007 doesn't take more than this few clicks.

Keep in mind that the margin you define for your Microsoft Word document may look good on screen, but you will need to test-print a document to make sure your custom margins are feasible on print as well. While Word 2007 will warn you if margins are too small for a printer, there could be other margin-related problems only revealed once your document is printed.

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