Setting Margins In Word 2010

Page margins control the amount of blank space around the edges of the page in your Microsoft Word 2010 document. Although they are usually left blank, they can actually contain items such as headers, footers and page numbers. You can get an idea of how big your margins are because as your document grows, you will be able to see the white space around the edges.

However, if your document has nothing yet in it, you can see the margins more clearly by displaying the ruler or gridlines. Click View > Show > Ruler, and the ruler will appear along the top and left edges of your workspace. The ruler shows where the margins are set. Alternatively, if you click View > Show > Gridlines, the grid will show you where your content ends and your margins start.

Viewing Margins In Microsoft Word 2010

Changing Margins In Word

To change the width of the margins in your document, click Page Layout > Page Setup > Margins.

Changing Margins In Microsoft Word 2010

The panel that opens displays several standard settings for margins. Select the one you need, or click Custom Margins to define your own margin widths.

Margins In Microsoft Word 2010

When you select Custom Margins, the Page Setup window opens.

Page Setup In Word 2010

At the top of the window you can see the settings for the top, left, bottom and right margins. You can type in the exact width you need, or you can click and hold on the top and down arrows to the right of the input boxes.

As you can see in the image above, the measurements when I do this are in centimetres (cm). This is because I have centimetres as my default unit in Word. If you want to change your default unit, click the File tab > Options > Advanced and scroll about halfway down. Change the Show measurements in units of drop down list to be the one you need.

Change Units Of Measurement In Word 2010

Gutter Margins In Word

You can use a gutter margin to add extra space to the side or top margin of a document you plan to bind. A gutter margin ensures that text isn’t obscured by the binding.

Visitors who found this article useful also found the setting tabs tutorial helpful, too.

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