Stopping Margins from Moving

Michelle created a Word document, but when her sales team opens it, the margins move. She wonders how she can stop this from happening.

This question is actually "squishy," meaning with more information it would be easier to focus in on a solution. For instance, what does it mean that the margins move? On the computers used by sales team members? On Michelle's computer when it comes back from the sales team?

For the purposes of this tip, I'm going to assume that the issue is that when sales team member A (we'll call her Tina) opens the document, the margins look different than when it is opened by sales team member B (we'll call him Bob). And, the margins evident in both Tina's and Bob's systems are different than those seen by Michelle.

There could be many reasons for this happening. Here are just a few:

• Are all three people viewing the document using the same viewing mode? If one is using Print Layout view, another Draft view, and still another Read Mode view, then the margins will look different on all three. (They likely wouldn't be different if printed, but will appear different on-screen.)
• Is the document being opened on each system in Word, or is the user double-clicking to open it within an e-mail program?
• Are all three using Word on the same type of system? Documents can be opened on just about any type of system you might possibly imagine (including tablets), and each results in the document looking different.
• If all three are using the same type of system, do all three have the same printer drivers installed? Word can actively change how a document looks based on what printer drivers are in use.
• Do all three systems have the same fonts installed? Differing fonts won't change margins, but it will change how text flows within the margins, and that can give the appearance of the margins having changed.
• Are Bob or Tina in a different country than Michelle? If so, then a document designed for a letter-sized page is possibly being viewed on a system that works with an A4 paper size, or vice-versa.
• Are all of the systems using the same template and/or the same theme? Templates and themes can have a huge effect on how a document is displayed.

Most of the above are an issue because Word is, well, a word processing program. It literally "processes" words to dynamically change the appearance of any document open within it, and that can be a bit disconcerting.

Appearance may not be such a big deal, however, if Bob (or Tina) sends the report back to Michelle and it appears as expected on her machine. If it is a big deal and Michelle wants the report to be "locked down" so it looks the same on all machines, then the best bet is to not use a Word document. Instead, Michelle can create a PDF from the Word document and distribute the PDF to everyone.

If a Word document must be distributed and the documents are coming back changed by Bob and Tina, then the best bet may be to protect the document using the tools available on the Review tab of the ribbon.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9764) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365.