• 3-minute read
  • 6th July 2017

Microsoft Word Tips: Page Layout and Margins

When writing an essay, you may need to format the document to fit the rules set out in your university’s style guide. Luckily, Microsoft Word makes this easy, so today we’re looking at how to set the page layout and margins in a document.

Setting the Margins

We’ll start with setting the page margins. To do this, go to the ‘Page Setup’ section of the ‘Layout’ tab on the main ribbon. Under ‘Margins’, you’ll find a list of pre-set options.

The ‘Margins’ menu.

If one of these is suitable, simply click to use it. If not, you can set custom margins:

  • Go to Layout > Page Setup > Margins
  • In the menu, select ‘Custom Margins…’ from the bottom
  • Set the top, bottom, left and right margins as required in the new window
Setting custom margins.

By adding section breaks to your document, you can also apply different margin sizes to different parts of an essay. To do this, simply select the relevant option (‘Whole document’, ‘This section’ or ‘This point forward’) from the ‘Apply to’ menu.

The ‘Apply to’ options.

Another option is to use ‘mirror margins’, which makes the inner margins on odd and even pages equal. This is useful if you need to print on both sides of the paper (i.e. in a style suitable for binding as a book). To do this:

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  • Click ‘Custom Margins…’ to open the ‘Page Setup’ options
  • Choose ‘Mirror margins’ in the ‘Multiple pages’ menu
  • Set the ‘Inside’ and ‘Outside’ margin sizes as required
Adding mirror margins.

Page Orientation

The other major aspect of page layout is orientation, which controls whether the page is displayed portrait or landscape. To set this in a document:

  • Go to Layout > Page Setup > Orientation
  • Select ‘Portrait’ or ‘Landscape’ from the dropdown menu as required
Setting page orientation.

This can be useful if you need to add a chart or illustration to a document, but it won’t fit on a portrait page. To insert a landscape page:

  • Add section breaks before and after the page you want to set to landscape
  • Place the cursor on the page you want to format
  • Click on the arrow in the bottom right of the ‘Page Setup’ section to open the menu
  • Select ‘Landscape’ under ‘Orientation’
  • Select ‘This section’ from the ‘Apply to’ menu
Changing orientation via the ‘Page Setup’ window.

Once this is done, you’ll have a separate landscape section in your document where you can add any images, charts or illustrations as required.

Comments (2)
Lois Tripp
17th November 2021 at 23:40
No one tells you what margins to use for inside and outside margin for printing. What are they please
    Proofed
    18th November 2021 at 09:41
    Hi, Lois. The appropriate margins will depend on the document type, whether you're planning to bind the document, whether you're using a particular style guide or writing for a particular publication, etc. There are no universal rules. A default of around 2.5cm on all sides should be fine if you're not binding a document, but if you are binding it, you'll want a bit more space on the 'gutter' margin you're using for the binding (e.g. the inside margin in a book-type layout). MS Word also has an option to set a specific gutter margin, which you can find out about here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/set-gutter-margins-3f70f182-7420-4936-9efc-72dc5efd0b78




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