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About this lesson
Learn how to set margins to standard or custom settings.
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Margins .docx528.3 KB
Quick reference
Page Layout: Margins
Learn how to set margins to standard or custom settings
When to use
Margins are a vital setting on EVERY document. You don’t finish a document without verifying your margin settings.
Instructions
Three places to find Margin settings:
- Page Layout Ribbon
- Print Preview screen (or Ctrl P)
- Top Ruler and Left Ruler
Tips to know:
- Gutters are only used if a large manuscript will be bound at a print shop. You would verify with them before placing a measurement, usually .3, into the gutter setting box. Generally a gutter setting is not used, but it is nice to know what it is for.
- If you find that you change your margins every time you use Word, then set the default margins once and for all:
- 00:04 In this lesson I'd like to talk to you about margins which is basically
- 00:08 the white area to the left top right and bottom that surrounds the entire document.
- 00:13 Generally this is one inch margin but
- 00:15 the only way to make sure is actually go into the layout section the Layout ribbon.
- 00:20 Over here on the left we have Margins.
- 00:22 And, here you have preformatted margins.
- 00:24 You can choose any of these, because, ultimately you are the one in charge.
- 00:28 At the bottom we have an option that says Custom Margins.
- 00:31 When you're in here you can just type in whatever measurement you
- 00:35 want by default the industry standard is one inch top bottom left right.
- 00:40 Then we have this little setting called a gutter, and I'll show you what that's for
- 00:43 in a second, but you can ultimately type a quarter of an inch .25 in there, or
- 00:48 whatever you want.
- 00:49 But when I get out of here I'll show you that.
- 00:51 Now if your top bottom left right isn't one inch, go ahead and
- 00:56 just type those in and right down here you can hit the set as default.
- 00:59 Now set as default means forever more, it's going to default and
- 01:04 open every document as a one inch all on every side.
- 01:07 That's fine, because you still are the boss.
- 01:09 You still can change it when you need it, but at least you have your standard.
- 01:14 Now, let me scroll down and show you what a gutter is.
- 01:17 This is a picture of a document that is being bound.
- 01:20 This is called comb binding or wire bindings.
- 01:23 Notice where that, the hole punch is,
- 01:26 is about a quarter inch from the edge of the paper to accommodate the binding.
- 01:30 If you know a document is going to have a binding.
- 01:32 You can set a quarter of an inch gutter.
- 01:35 And then the regular standard one inch margin will apply beyond that gutter.
- 01:38 That's what a gutter is, okay?
- 01:40 That's all it is.
- 01:41 All right, let's go to print preview, or Ctrl+P on the keyboard.
- 01:45 And I like that feature because you get to see the document
- 01:49 off on the right-hand side.
- 01:50 But look over here on the left, you still have your margin settings.
- 01:53 So you click here, it looks just like the same screen we saw in the Layout ribbon.
- 01:58 And of course, we have the custom margins here as well, all right?
- 02:01 So I'll go back.
- 02:02 And the last way to do this is the rulers, the top ruler and left ruler.
- 02:06 Now, why don't we scroll up.
- 02:07 On the left ruler, this top gray area represents the top margin.
- 02:12 and then the white area is where we type.
- 02:14 On the top ruler, this left gray area is the left hand margin,
- 02:19 the white space over here.
- 02:20 And of course this is where we type, the white area.
- 02:22 And then the right margin is represented here.
- 02:25 Now if I float my mouse between the gray and the white, it even says right margin.
- 02:29 Then I can click and drag and adjust the margins.
- 02:32 And over here on the left, I can click and drag and adjust these margins.
- 02:36 Now at any time, if you want to quickly jump into page layout, or
- 02:40 page setup, float your mouse on the left margin and double-click, click, click.
- 02:44 Opens up your margin settings.
- 02:46 And just like that, I can retype whatever has to be typed and adjusted, and
- 02:51 I can adjust the gutter.
- 02:52 And at the very bottom, I can click OK.
- 02:54 So, the double click in the ruler is kind of a trick
- 02:58 to getting very quickly into your margin settings.
- 03:00 So, all right.
- 03:01 That's it for margins.
- 03:03 You will be adjusting these when you use Microsoft Word.
- 03:06 Thank you.
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