Changing margins in Google Docs is a common task that many users need to perform for various purposes. Firstly, whether you want to adjust the spacing of your document, fit more content on one page, or follow a specific formatting style, Google Docs offers you two easy ways to change your margins.
This can be useful for creating professional and consistent legal documents, such as briefs, affidavits, marketing materials handbooks or manuals.
Here are some quick steps to change margins in your Google docs:
- First, click File > Page Setup.
- Next, in the “Margins” section, you can enter specific measurements for the top, bottom, left, and right margins in inches to set margin size.
- Additionally, you can also choose from predefined options such as “Normal”, “Narrow” or “Wide”.
- Furthermore, if you want to apply these changes to all future documents, check the checkbox next to “Set as default.”
- Finally, click OK to save your changes.
Furthermore, in this blog post, we will show you how to change margins in Google Docs using the ruler or page setup option.
Ultimately, by the end of this post, you’ll be able to customize your margins in Google Docs like a pro.
Why you want to change your margins in Google Docs ?
There are several reasons why you might want to do this. For example, you may want to change your default margins to:
- First, make your document look more professional and consistent with standard formatting guidelines.
- Additionally, reduce the number of pages in your document and save paper and ink when printing.
- Furthermore, increase the readability and accessibility of your document by creating more white space and reducing visual clutter.
- Moreover, align your document with the requirements of your teacher, professor, employer or editor.
Ultimately, whatever the reason, changing the margins in Google Docs is a quick and easy process that you can do with just a few clicks.
Next, in the following sections, we will show you how to do this using the rule or page setup option. We’ll also give you some tips and tricks on how to lock margins in Google Docs and how to request editing access if you need to modify the margins of a shared document.
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How to change margins in Google Docs ?
You can adjust the margin values in Google Docs using the page setup method or the ruler. Follow the below-mentioned methods to change the margin values in Google Docs:
Using Page Setup
- Firstly, open your document in Google Docs.
- Secondly, in the menu bar, click File, and then select Page Setup from the drop down menu.
- Next, in the “Page Setup” dialog box, you will find the following options in the Margins section, which allow you to adjust the margins value of your document:
- Top: Specify the space between the top of your page and its content. You can choose narrow margins to reduce this space and fit more content on the page.
- Bottom: Set the space between the bottom of your page and its content. Similarly, you can use narrow margins to decrease this space and increase the printable area.
- Left: Determines the space from which your content begins on the left margin size. You can adjust this space by selecting narrow margins from the options.
- Right: Specify the size of the margin space or white space from the right of your document. You can also use narrow margins to minimize this margin space and make your document look more compact.
- Finally, after adjusting the margins, click OK to save your changes. You can also change the default orientation of your Google Docs from portrait to landscape by clicking the ‘Set as default’ button in the Page Setup window.
- Alternatively, to undo margin changes, press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac).
Using the Ruler
If you don’t see the ruler at the top of your document, enable it by clicking View > Show Ruler in the Google Docs menu bar.
- Firstly, to set the left and right margins.
- Secondly, hover over the gray area of the ruler.
- Thirdly, drag the gray area or blue triangle to change the horizontal margins of the document.
- Additionally, to adjust the top and bottom margins, you can enter the desired value (one-inch or 1.5-inch margins) in the boxes next to ‘Top’ and ‘Bottom’.
- Furthermore, use the gray ruler area or blue arrow on the left and right sides (vertical ruler) of your document to set the two-inch margin for each page.
- Finally, your changes are saved automatically.
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How to change margins in Google Docs on phone ? (Android or iPhone)
If you use Google Docs on your mobile device, you may be wondering how to adjust the margins of your document. Moreover, margins are the white space around the edges of the page that makes text more readable and professional.
Furthermore, in this section, we’ll show you how to change margins in Google Docs on your phone, whether it’s an Android device or an iPhone, in a few easy steps.
Follow below mentioned steps to change margins in google docs on your mobile devices:
- Secondly, tap the More icon (which looks like an ellipsis: …) in the upper-right corner of the screen.
- Next, select Page Setup.
- Then, tap Margins.
- Furthermore, choose from the following options:
- Narrow: Provides 0.5-inch margins on all four sides.
- Default: Set one-inch margins on all four sides as the default settings.
- Width: Adjust the margins for a wider layout.
- Custom: Allows you to set your own custom margins.
- Additionally, to modify custom settings, tap the dimension of any of the borders (top, bottom, left, or right) and then enter the desired width or height.
- Tap Apply and you’re all set! Your document will now display the new margins.
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How to set one inch Margin in Google Docs ?
There are two ways to set one-inch margin in Google Docs. One way is to use the Page Setup option, and the other way is to use the ruler. Follow below mentioned methods to set one inch margin in Google docs:
Page setup method
- First, go to your document’s File menu and click Page Setup.
- Next, a new window will open.
- Then, enter 1 in the four margin boxes (top, bottom, left, and right).
- Finally, click OK to apply and save the changes.
Ruler method
- First, make sure the ruler is visible at the top and sides of your document. Otherwise, go to the View menu and click Show Ruler.
- Next, to set the left and right margins, drag the gray area of the horizontal ruler to the desired position.
- Then, to set the top and bottom margins, drag the gray area of the vertical ruler to the desired position.
Note: You can also make the margin settings the default for future documents by clicking Set as Default in the Page Setup window.
Is it possible to print a Google Doc with margin comments ?
Yes, it is possible to print a Google Doc with comments in the margins. However, you cannot directly print it from Google Docs. Instead, you must download the document as a Microsoft Word or OpenDocument file and then print it from there.
Follow below mentioned steps to print a Google doc with margin comments:
- First, open the Google document you want to print.
- Next, click File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) or OpenDocument Format (.odt).
- Then, save the file to your computer.
- After that, open the file with Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer.
- Following this, press Ctrl+P to open the Print window.
- At this point, make sure the Comments option is set to Place at the end of document or Place at the bottom of the page.
- Subsequently, click Print.
- Alternatively, you can also download Google Doc as a web page and print it from your browser.
This will display the comments at the bottom of the document. However, this method may not display the name of commenters or resolved comments.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this guide has shown you how to change margins in Google Docs for various purposes, such as creating a hanging indent for your citations or references.
Ultimately, changing margins is not only a simple and easy task, but also a beneficial one that can improve the look and readability of your document.
Furthermore, you have two options to change your margins in Google Docs: using the page setup or the ruler. Both options allow you to adjust the top, bottom, left, and right margins of your document in inches.
Similarly, you can also change your margins in Google Docs on your phone, whether it’s an Android device or iPhone, by following the same steps as on your computer.
Reference:
https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/googledocuments/adjusting-margins/1
https://support.google.com/docs/thread/73673749/how-to-change-margins-in-google-docs?hl=en
Frequently Asked Question’s (FAQ’s)
To change the margins in a Google Sheet, you can use the margin presets (Normal, Wide, Narrow) or the custom numbers option in the File > Page Setup menu. You can also drag the gray area of the ruler to visually adjust the margins.
To change the page size in Google Docs, go to File > Page Setup and select or enter the page size you want in Paper Size. You can also adjust the margins and page orientation if necessary.
To fix the page layout in Google Docs, you can use the page setup or ruler option to change the size, orientation, margins, and color of the page. You can also use section breaks to mix page orientations in a single document.
