Align text

S

Sylvia

My left & right text margins vary from page to page though under the
overhanging ruler I have "selected all" to assign 5" margins all around.
Thanks.
 
R

Rae Drysdale

Word comes with margin defaults set at around 1.5". You can change this is
the Page Setup (File menu). You can decide your own default - mine is 2.5 cm.
The ruler should be used if you want to indent paragraphs from the default,
but 5" (5 inches?) is not possible if you are using A4 or US letter. Since it
is difficult to be very precise with the ruler, you might be better using
Format | Paragraph and setting the indent there. Does this help to solve your
problem?
 
S

Sylvia

I meant .5" on all margins, sorry. I'm concerned because according to the
toolbar above the text, the text in my long document shifts one way or the
other from paragraph to paragraph and page to page. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Sylvia
 
R

Rae Drysdale

Click within EACH in turn paragraph and then go to Format|Paragraph and see
what indents are set there. They must all be different if the paragraphs are
irregular distances from the margin. Set them all the same or, if you don't
want any indents set to 0. Then the margins will be at the default you see in
Page Setup. Hope this helps solve your problem.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Two things affect the width of text: page margins and paragraph indents. If
the margins are set to 0.5" on all sides in all sections, then you should
examine the deviant paragraphs for left/right indents. If there are none,
and the paragraphs have an excessive right margin, display nonprinting
characters and see whether the lines end in line or paragraph breaks; if so,
see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/CleanWebText.htm
 
K

Klaus Linke

To see what's going on, turning on "Tools > Options > View > Text
boundaries" and the Ruler might also help.

Regards,
Klaus
 
S

Sylvia

All 3 of you were helpful, but Klaus' suggestion to use the ruler with ALT
helped me realize something I had overlooked. My document is a manuscript to
be printed in book form, thus the apparent differences in the margin widths
from one (even-numbered) page to another (odd-numbered) page. Thanks so much
for your quick and practical advice!
 
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