Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Understanding the Gutter Margin.

Understanding the Gutter Margin

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 24, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365


1

When you design how your printed document is going to look, you need to consider whether you will be working with a facing-pages layout or a single-sheet layout. A facing-pages layout is used when you intend on printing on both sides of a sheet of paper, whereas a single-sheet layout means you intend on printing on only a single side of the paper.

If you are working with a facing-pages layout, the gutter margin comes into play. The gutter margin is a typographical term used to designate an additional margin added to a facing-pages layout to compensate for the part of the paper made unusable by the binding process. The gutter margin is on the very inside of both pages.

If you are working with a single-sheet layout, the gutter margin isn't that critical, but Word still allows you to set it, if you desire. In this layout scenario, the gutter margin is typically the area where you might three-hole punch your paper. Word allows you to specify a gutter margin at either the left or top edges of the page, provided you are using a single-sheet layout.

To set the gutter margin in Word, you follow these steps:

  1. Display the Page Layout tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the Margins tool in the Page Setup group. Word displays a list of potential margin settings.
  3. Click Custom Margins. Word displays the Margins tab of the Page Setup dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  4. Figure 1. The Margins tab of the Page Setup dialog box.

  5. Using the Multiple Pages control, choose either Normal or Mirror Margins. (Normal is used for single-sheet layout and Mirror Margins is used for facing-pages layout.)
  6. If you specified Normal in step 4, use the Gutter Position control to indicate whether the gutter should be added to the Left or Top edges of the page.
  7. Using the Gutter control, indicate how wide you want the gutter margin to be.
  8. Click OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9037) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Understanding the Gutter Margin.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Searching for Periods Not Followed by a Space

Most periods should be followed by at least one space. What if you think there may be some errors in how your post-period ...

Discover More

Word and Character Count Information

Using fields you can easily insert both the word and character counts for a document into the document itself. Here's how ...

Discover More

Preventing Someone from Recreating a Protected Worksheet

When you share a protected workbook with other people, you may not want them to get around the protection by creating a ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

An Exact Number of Lines Per Page

For some purposes, you may need to fit an exact number of lines on a printed page. This may be easier said than done, as ...

Discover More

Changing Page Margins

Part of determining page layout is to specify the size of the margins that surround the text on a page. Word allows you ...

Discover More

Selecting a Paper Size

Most of the time we print on whatever is a standard paper size for our area, such as letter size or A4 paper. However, ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 8 + 7?

2022-01-26 18:23:20

paul jackson

I was working with a document which had a gutter for the publication. Now it seems I have an issue with the margins of anything I try to do, as if everything starts with a gutter. Lines end up off the page to the right. I cannot get the cursor to the left margin. I've tried everything I've found on the internet about changing margins, changing styles, setting defaults, etc. using o.o in the gutter size doesn't change anything.

i work with publisher and Office Pro Plus 2019. I can somehow manipulate the margin and text placement in Publisher, but not in Word. If in Word I move the margin settings at the top--all the text moves also.

figure


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.