How to Change Margins in Word

This wikiHow teaches you how to change the margins in an entire Microsoft Word document or in just a portion of a document.

Steps

  1. Image titled Change Margins in Word Step 1
    1
    Open a Microsoft Word document. To do so, double-click the blue app that contains or is shaped like a W. Then click File at the top of the screen and Open….
    • To create a new document, click New in the file menu.
  2. Image titled Change Margins in Word Step 2
    2
    Click the Layout tab. It's at the top of the window.
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  3. Image titled Change Margins in Word Step 3
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    Click Margins. It's on the left side of the tool bar.
  4. Image titled Change Margins in Word Step 4
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    Click Custom Margins….
    • If you prefer, you can also just click one of the predefined margin templates, such as Normal (1 inch on all sides) or Narrow (.5 inch on all sides), if they meet your needs.
  5. Image titled Change Margins in Word Step 5
    5
    Set the margins. Type numbers indicating the width of your margins in the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right fields.
    • Only adjust the Gutter margin if you intend to use the document in a bound format, like a book or report, and you need space for the binding. In such a case, type a number in Gutter that will allow enough room for the binding and use the drop-down to indicate whether the binding will be on the top or on the left.
  6. Image titled Change Margins in Word Step 6
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    Click the Apply to drop-down menu.
  7. Image titled Change Margins in Word Step 7
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    Select how to apply the margins.
    • Click Whole document if you'd like the same margins used throughout the document.
    • Click This point forward if you'd like the new margins to apply to the pages of the document beyond the cursor's current location.
    • Click Selected sections after selecting a block of text in the document in order to apply the new margins only to the text you selected.
  8. Image titled Change Margins in Word Step 8
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    Click OK. The new margins will be applied to the document as you indicated.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    I want the page ruler. What can I do?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    To get the ruler, go into the View tab (Word 2010 and newer) and select the Ruler checkbox.
  • Question
    Can I ever allow one more letter on a line to finish a long word rather than wrap to the next line?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    No. The only thing you could possibly do would be to make all the margins wider. Making only one word go to the next line is impossible unless you do the same for all words.
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About This Article

wikiHow Staff
Co-authored by:
wikiHow Staff
wikiHow Staff Writer
This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 492,062 times.
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Co-authors: 17
Updated: March 8, 2021
Views: 492,062
Categories: Microsoft Word
Article SummaryX

1. Open a Microsoft Word document.
2. Click the Layout tab.
3. Click Margins.
4. Click Custom Margins....
5. Set the margins.
6. Click the Apply to drop-down.
7. Select how to apply the margins.
8. Click OK.

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