Jul 14, 2017 - If you're not currently using the rulers, you can hide easily hide them and then. The rulers in Word only display when you're in Print Layout view. But you want to show the horizontal ruler at the top of the document space,.
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Microsoft Word gives you options to adjust the page setup in order to create a custom layout for your business documents. To change the amount of white space around the text body, you have to change the default margin settings. You may want to do this if, for example, you need to remove the top margin on a document to raise the text higher up the page and allow more text or graphic elements to fill the bottom of the page.
1.
Open the Microsoft Word program to display a blank document window. To change a saved document, open that file.
2.
Click the “Page Layout” tab on the ribbon to show the groups of commands, including Page Setup.
3.
Click the “Margins” button in the Page Setup group to display a list of options for margin settings.
4.
Click the “Custom Margins” link at the bottom of the list to open the Page Setup dialog box. This dialog box includes three tabs: Margins, Paper and Layout.
5.
Click the “Margins” tab to view the sections that change the margin settings.
6.
Click the bottom arrow in the “Top” text box in the Margins section. Keep clicking this arrow to decrease the value to “0” and raise the top margin. You can also type “0” in the “Top” text box. The “Preview” box displays this new margin setting.
7.
Click the text box in the “Apply to” section to display a list of options. Click on a preferred option: “This section,” “This point forward” or “Whole document.”
8.
Click “OK” in the Page Setup window to close it. A Microsoft Word dialog box might open with this message: “One or more margins are set outside the printable area of the page.” Your printer or paper size may need a minimum margin setting to ensure all the text can print. Click “Fix” to allow a narrow .24-inch top margin for prints. Click “Ignore” to keep the “0” margin setting for on-screen viewing. The Microsoft Word dialog box closes and your edited document displays.
Tips
- To save these margin settings in a template for future documents, click the “Set as Default” button in the lower left corner of the Page Setup window. A dialog box displays a message: “Do you want to change the default setting for page setup? This change will affect all new documents on the NORMAL template.” Click “Yes” to accept this default setting for the Word template.
- Click the tiny arrow in the lower right corner of the Page Setup group on the command ribbon to display the Page Setup dialog box more quickly.
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Hatashita-Lee, Kathryn. 'How to Get Rid of the Top Margin in Word.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/rid-top-margin-word-49001.html. Accessed 10 June 2019.
Hatashita-Lee, Kathryn. (n.d.). How to Get Rid of the Top Margin in Word. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/rid-top-margin-word-49001.html
Hatashita-Lee, Kathryn. 'How to Get Rid of the Top Margin in Word' accessed June 10, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/rid-top-margin-word-49001.html
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Not all documents fit inside Word’s default one-inch margin between the text and the edge of the page. When you want to change the margins in your Word documents, you have several choices, from predefined margins that make it easy to apply a different size margin, to the customized margins you can adjust to fit your needs.
Not all versions of Word are created equally; these directions work with the PC versions of Word and Word for Mac, while Word Online has limited margin capabilities.
Quickly Change Margins in Word
When you want to make the margins in your document smaller or larger, use Word’s predefined Narrow, Moderate, or Wide margins. If you plan to print your document on both sides of the paper and put it in a three-ring binder, use the predefined Mirror margin setting.
Mirror margins cannot be set in Word Online. However, if you view a document with mirror margins in Word Online, the mirror margins are preserved.
To apply a predefined margin, select Layout > Margins and choose the predefined margin you want to use.
In Word Online, Word 2010 and Word 2007, the Layout tab is labeled as Page Layout. The steps to change margins remain the same.
Use the Ruler to Adjust Margins in Word
The horizontal ruler displayed below the Word menu provides another way to quickly change the margins in your document.
Before you begin, you’ll need to make sure the ruler is displayed. If the ruler is not displayed above your document, select View and place a checkmark next to Ruler to display the ruler. You’ll also need to work in Print view. Select View > Print Layout to display the document in print view.
The ruler is not available in Word Online.
Here’s how to change the margins using the ruler:
- Change the left margin: Place the cursor over the left indents until it changes to a double-headed arrow. Drag the margin to the right to make it wider or to the left to make it narrower.
- Change the right margin: Place the cursor over the right indent until it changes to a double-headed arrow. Drag the margin to the left to make it wider or to the right to make it narrower.
Create Custom Margins
When you need a certain size margin for a document, use the custom settings.
Here’s how to set a custom margin size:
- Select Layout > Margins > Custom Margins.
- Change the size for the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins.
- Select Set As Default if you want the new margin settings to be the default for the template you are using. This margin setting will be used in each new document you create based on that template. This feature is not available in Word Online.
- Select OK when you're finished.
Create Gutter Margins
Documents that will be bound need extra margin space for the binding. This gutter margin ensures the binding doesn't interfere with the white space around the text.
![Microsoft word top margin not visible Microsoft word top margin not visible](/uploads/1/2/4/2/124227044/930667269.png)
To add a gutter margin, select Layout > Margins > Custom Margins and type a width in the Gutter box.
You cannot create gutter margins in Word Online. Switch to the desktop version of Word to set gutter margins.
Create Mirror Margins
Documents printed on both sides of the page and bound, such as books and magazines, use a special margin setting. These mirror margins ensure the right and left pages are mirror images of each other.
To create mirror margins, select Layout > Margins and select Mirrored. If you want to change the size of the mirror margins, select Layout > Margins > Custom Margins and change the size of the Inside or Outside margins.
Set Margins for a Section of Your Document
When your document is divided into sections, you can apply different margin sizes to different sections. This feature is not available in Word Online.
To change the margins for a single section:
- Select the section in the document where you want a different margin size.
- Select Layout > Margins > Custom Margins.
- Type new values for the Top, Bottom, Right, and Left margins.
- From the Apply to list, select This Section.
- Select OK when you’re done.
View Page Margins
Word can display boundary lines that show you where the margins are in your document. These boundary lines appear as dotted lines. The margin boundaries cannot be viewed in Word Online.
To view the page margins:
- Select File > Options. In Word 2007, select the Microsoft Office Button and select Word Options.
- Select Advanced.
- Scroll down to the Show document content section and select Show text boundaries.
- Select OK.