Technology and Communication Services

This Tech Tip has been provided by Dummies.com.

Set Up and Change Margins in Word

When creating a Word document, don't confuse margins with indents. Margins are the empty space between the text and the left, right, top, and bottom edges of a page. Headers and footers are printed in the top and bottom margins, respectively. Text is indented from the margin, not from the edge of the page.

Here's how you can change the margin settings in your Word document:

Place the cursor at the point where you want the new margins to begin.

Choose File, Page Setup.

Choose the settings on the Margins tab, and watch the Preview box to see what your choices do:

• Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Inside, Outside: Set the top, bottom, left and right, or inside and outside, margins. (You see the Inside and Outside settings if you click the Mirror Margins check box.)
• Gutter: Allows extra space on the inside margin for documents that will be bound. Click the up arrow to see what binding looks like as it eats into the left side of the page and alters the left margin.
• Header: Makes the top margin lower so that you can fit two or three lines in headers.
• Footer: Makes the bottom magin higher for footers.
• Apply To: Choose Whole Document to apply your settings to the entire document, This Section to apply them to a section, or This Point Forward to change margins for the rest of a document. When you choose This Point Forward, Word 97 creates a new section.
• Mirror Margins: Makes room for the binding on pages that will be bound and on which text will be printed on both sides.
  Click OK.

You can change the top and bottom margins with the horizontal ruler in Page Layout view. Simply drag the margin bar up or down.

If you don't care for the Word 97 default margin settings, make your own in the Page Setup dialog box and click the Default button. Henceforth, new documents that you open will have your margin settings.

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