Changing Page Margins

The Microsoft Word word processing program margins are defaulted to 1 inch on the top and bottom of the page, and 1.25 inches on each side. But let's say you don't want to use those margins. Let's say you're updating your resume, for instance, and you need more room to fit all your illustrious achievements on one page. It would help to change the page margins.

To do so, first click on File on the top left side of your screen. Next click on Page Setup. You should find yourself in the Page Setup box, also known as a dialog box. A dialog box is a box you bring up on your screen or appears there, that allows you to make changes or take some action.

Well, you do want to make a change. You'd like to make, say, the top and bottom margins smaller so for instance you can fit that great job you had last year on your resume!

The Page Setup box should have opened to the Margins tab. From there you can either highlight (turn blue) the 1" in both the Top and Bottom fields, and type the margin you want. (Don't worry about putting in the (") symbol. Word will take care of that. The other way to change the margins is to click on the tine black up and down triangles to the right of the numbers. Each click will increase or decrease the margins by one tenth of an inch. (Note: don't worry about "Gutter" or "Gutter Position." Those refer to advanced settings that are rarely used.

After you've changed the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins to your liking, click OK and your document should adjust appropriately.