Similar to the borders of a picture, margins help make your document look more professional and visually appealing.
It makes your text and objects look neat and well-organized within the main content.
Furthermore, academic and corporate documents call for particular formatting standards, including margin formats. In fact, both the APA and MLA style guides require a one-inch margin format on all pages.
Fortunately for us, MS Word offers various ways to easily change your document’s margins.
3 Ways to Create A One-Inch Margin in MS Word
- Create a one-inch margin using the Normal preset margin
- Create a one-inch margin using the Page Setup dialogue box
- Create a one-inch margin using the ruler
Lets get started.
Method 1: Using the Normal Preset Margin
You can find the Margin toolbar containing several commonly-used margin formats under the Layout tab in the Ribbon. The Ribbon is the basic toolbar of Microsoft Word found at the top part of your window. This contains all of the functions in MS Word that you’ll ever need to process a Word document.
Here’s how you can do that.
Step 1: Open up an MS Word file.
Before we get started, go ahead and open up an MS Word file. If you’re already working on one, feel free to use that. Don’t worry about messing up your document, as you can easily undo any unwanted changes.
Step 2: Go to the Layout tab.
Now that we have our document opened, go to the Layout tab on the Ribbon and click the Margins drop-down toolbar. Then, select Normal on the list of preset margin format options.
If your version of Word is set to display measurement units in the metric system, then the Normal margin format will display 2.54 cm on all sides instead. Don’t fret because 1 inch is actually equivalent to 2.54 cm.
Congratulations! You’ve just used the Normal preset margin to create a one-inch margin in MS Word.
Method 2: Using the Page Setup Dialogue Box
In this method, we’ll show you the steps on how to access the Page Setup dialogue box to create a one-inch margin in MS Word. This is particularly useful when you have more than one margin format in your document.
Here are the steps to access the Page Setup dialogue box.
Step 1: Open up an MS Word file.
First, you’ll have to open up an MS Word document. Feel free to use your own personal document to follow the steps laid out here in this method. Otherwise, you can always create a new one. Remember to hit the CTRL + Z keys to easily revert any changes.
Step 2: Access the Page Setup dialogue box.
Once your Word document is open, go to the Layout tab found in the Ribbon. Then, click on the small box with a down arrow at the lower-right corner of the Page Setup group. This will launch the Page Setup dialogue box in the middle of your screen.
Alternatively, you can double-click the gray part of the Ruler to access the Page Setup dialogue box.
Step 3: Set all margins to one inch.
Under the Margins tab on the dialogue box, fill in the Top, Left, Bottom, and Right margin fields with the number 1. Again, if you’re using the metric system, type in 2.54 instead.
Click the OK button to proceed. Otherwise, click the Cancel button.
There you have it! You’ve just accessed the Page Setup dialogue box to create a one-inch margin in MS Word.
Method 3: Using the Ruler
This method makes use of the Ruler. The MS Word Ruler is such a powerful tool that lets you control your document’s margins, tabs, and indentations. Aside from measuring, the Ruler can also be used to accurately position text and objects.
Here’s how you can use the Ruler to create a one-inch margin in MS Word.
Step 1: Open up an MS Word document.
To get started, let’s open up a Word document first. If you have a document already prepared, feel free to use that. Otherwise, you can always create a new document. Don’t worry about ruining your document, as the steps here won’t damage it irreversibly.
Step 2: Select the main content.
Once you’ve opened your Word file, go ahead and select the entire content by pressing the CTRL + A keys on your keyboard.
Step 3: Adjust the Ruler slider.
By default, the Ruler should be visible on the left side and above your document. You’ll notice two different parts of the Ruler: 1) the gray and the white sections of the Ruler itself; 2) the left and right sliders.
If the Ruler is not visible, you can simply go to the View tab and check the Ruler checkbox under the Show group.
Now, move your cursor slightly above the middle part of the left slider until the cursor changes into a line with arrowheads. You’ll know you did it right when the Left Margin tooltip is shown. Then, click on it and slide it to the left until the number 1 on the gray part of the Ruler is right at the edge.
You may have noticed by now that there are numbers, dots, and bars on the Ruler. Note that the vertical bar between the numbers indicates a half-inch. So, each small dot between a number and a vertical bar corresponds to an eighth of an inch.
For this example, we’re using a Letter-sized document with a width of 8.5 inches. Therefore, we’ll simply repeat the process for the right slider but, this time, we’ll slide it up until the vertical bar right after the number 6. You’ll notice that the gray part on the right is now two vertical bars wide.
Finally, repeat the same steps for the top and bottom margins.
There you go! You’ve just used the Ruler to create a one-inch margin in MS Word.
Customizing Your Margin in MS Word
Customizing margins in MS Word is as easy as a walk in the park. You can easily set custom margins by launching the Page Setup dialogue box. You can also use the Ruler to quickly adjust all margins to suit your needs.
To access the Page Setup dialogue box, simply go to the Layout tab. Then, click on the small box with a down arrow icon found at the bottom right corner of the Page Setup group. This way, you can configure all margins in exact measurement units.
In addition, you can also specify different margins for each of the four margins in one document.
Meanwhile, if you chose to use the Ruler to adjust the margins, simply move the Ruler sliders. Do take note, however, that manually moving the sliders may not be as accurate compared to the other methods.
Conclusion
You’ve finally reached the end of this article. We hope we’ve helped you figure out how to create a one-inch margin in MS Word.
We hope you’ve found this article helpful!
Learn how to cerate one inch margin in Google Doc.
