Coffee Break Computer

The Ruler: Margins and Indents and Tabs in Word 2007, Part 1

The ruler is a graphical way to change margins, indents and tabs in Word, but there are two contradictory problems with it. One, because it’s on screen by default, users accidentally click on it and end up changing settings that didn’t realize they changed. Problem two is that for users who want to use it, the ruler can be hard to see, click on and control the different parts of it.

If you don’t need or use the ruler, turn it off.

To turn off the ruler in Word 2007, use the View Ruler at the top of the left scrollbar, or go to the View tab, Ruler is in the Show/Hide group.

Ruler Alternatives

Rather than use the ruler, you can change margins in the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group; indents and tabs can also be changed in the Page Layout tab, but in the Paragraph group. Indent is visible, Tabs are found by clicking the Paragraph dialog box button.

Remember that to make any changes, you must select the text you want to change first, and then use the ruler to actually make the changes.

Here are what the different parts of the ruler are:

Popularity: 4% [?]