Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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: Scaling Your Output.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 1, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021
You have been working on your document for hours. It is 35 pages long, and designed to be printed on legal-size paper. You decide to print the document, and discover you are out of legal paper. What do you do if you can't get any legal paper right away? You could reformat the document for letter-size paper, but that may not be the best solution.
Fortunately, Word includes a feature that allows you to independently specify a target paper size and an output paper size. This means you can format something for legal size, but instruct Word to scale the output so it will fit on letter size. This is very similar to a reduction setting on a copier. To take advantage of this feature, follow these steps:
If you are still using Word 2007, then the steps are different:
Figure 1. The Print dialog box.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10936) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Scaling Your Output.
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