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Word 2007 Practice: Changing Margins

Margins are the space that surrounds a printout, between the text and graphics and the edge of the page. Basically, it creates a frame for the document. There is a Top, Bottom, Left and Right margin, and they can each be changed individually. A typical margin is one inch.

Changing the margins in a document usually occurs to either accommodate a pre-printed paper or style or to try to fit more text on a page. For example, if a document has just a few lines on the last page, changing the margins can possibly create enough room to eliminate the last page. This practice will show how to change the margins a couple different ways.

Getting Started

First, there will be a couple steps to keep these directions and your work as similar as possible.

1. Start with a New document in Word.
2. Generate some text to work with. We want about a full page, and you don’t really want to do a lot of typing, right? Here’s the easy way: type
   =rand(8,4) (this will give you eight paragraphs, four sentences each)
3. Then push Ctrl + A (select all) and go the Change Styles button on the Home tab. In the Change Styles list, choose Style Set, then Word 2007.

These steps should have given you a two pages of text, with space after each paragraph. Zoom out to see the whole page. Since changing the margins affects how the page looks, that will let us see the changes more easily. You should be seeing two pages and the lower left corner of the screen should say Page 1 of 2. There should be just a couple lines of text on the second page.

Changing Margins from the Ribbon

1. Click on the Page Layout tab, look in Page Setup for the Margins button.
2. Change to the Narrow margin setting. That sets the margins to 0.5″ on all sides. It fits everything on one page, but probably doesn’t look the best.
3. Click the Margins button, change to Moderate. That sets the margins to 1″ top and bottom, 0.75″ for the sides. It looks better, everything is on one page, and there is space for a header and/or footer if needed.

To Set a Custom Margin

If you need to set custom margins, you can choose Custom Margins at the bottom of the Margins list, or open the Page Setup box.

The Top margin should be highlighted. Type in the measurement (you don’t need the ” symbol), Tab to the Bottom, type in the number, Tab to Left, type, Tab to Right, type.
OK to finish.

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