Dragging Left Indent advances by 0.13," not 0.125"

[David]

In Microsoft Word 2003, when dragging the left indent, hanging indent, or first line indent markers (in the top ruler), the interval by which the markers advance is 0.13," instead of 0.125" (1/8"). This is very bothersome, since I now must manually set the indentations in Format -> Paragraph. Is this a known issue, or is there a way to adjust this, that I cannot find

I found no reference to this in the knowledge base or these discussions. The only setting I have changed in Word is having changed the default left and right margins to 1," in File -> Page Setup. I know this worked fine in Microsoft Word XP. I just installed Office 2003 on this computer (a fresh install of Windows XP Professional and SP1a, as well), so I know it isn't a latent value from a previou office configuration, either

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated, and alleviate much of my frustration. Thank you in advance.

 

[Jezebel]

This is a topic that Microsoft is rightly ashamed of, and prefers not to
mention. For some purposes, Word uses an internal measurement system that is
simply not very precise: two decimal places is it. Bothersome is putting it
mildly -- just trying working in millimetres!

In Microsoft Word 2003, when dragging the left indent, hanging indent, or

first line indent markers (in the top ruler), the interval by which the
markers advance is 0.13," instead of 0.125" (1/8"). This is very bothersome,
since I now must manually set the indentations in Format -> Paragraph. Is
this a known issue, or is there a way to adjust this, that I cannot find?

I found no reference to this in the knowledge base or these discussions.

The only setting I have changed in Word is having changed the default left
and right margins to 1," in File -> Page Setup. I know this worked fine in
Microsoft Word XP. I just installed Office 2003 on this computer (a fresh
install of Windows XP Professional and SP1a, as well), so I know it isn't a
latent value from a previou office configuration, either.

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated, and alleviate much

of my frustration. Thank you in advance.

 

[Bob S]

This is a topic that Microsoft is rightly ashamed of, and prefers not to
mention. For some purposes, Word uses an internal measurement system that is
simply not very precise: two decimal places is it. Bothersome is putting it
mildly -- just trying working in millimetres!

Actually the internal measurement system is quite precise. It uses
TWIPs at 1440 per inch. The real problem is that the display to the
user is rounded to 2 decimal points.

Unless the original poster has done something truly odd, the markers
are actually advancing by .125 inches, it is just that the display
rounds the user-displayed value.

Actual Displayed
Advance Advance
..125 .13
..25 .25
..375 .38
..5 .5

The real problems begin if the user clicks "OK" instead of "Cancel" on
a dialog displaying one of these rounded values. If he clicks "OK"
that rounded value is then applied as the new value chosen by the
user.

For example, you might enter .125 inches on indentation in a dialog
and click OK, and the value will be properly stored. Then you want to
check it so you bring up the box again and it shows .13 inches and you
click "OK" instead of "Cancel"; you have now directed Word to store
..13 inches and it will do as you told it.

To avoid problems either:

Use "points" instead of inches or centimeters as your choice of
measurement.

OR

Whenever you are about to click "OK" on any dialog that displays inch
or centimeter values, make sure that EVERY such value in the dialog is
exactly what you want; re-enter anything that has been rounded to an
unacceptable value.

AND

Always remember to click "Cancel" if you are not actually trying to
change something.

Yes, I agree that this is a poor system, I am just telling you how it
actually works, not defending it.

Bob S