Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Viewing More of the Left Margin Area.

Viewing More of the Left Margin Area

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 19, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


One of the first things you probably did in Word was to master the use of the scroll bars. These allow you to change the part of your document you want to view. You can use the bottom horizontal scroll bar to view the right side of you document. This is rather obvious from the positioning on the marker within the scroll bar.

There may be times when you are working in Draft View or Outline View and you want to move your document to the right so you can view more of the left margin. To do this, simply hold down the Shift key and click on the left-pointing scroll arrow. You can again view your document properly by scrolling to the right.

This tip only works if you are using Draft View or Outline View. The reason for this is simple: In Print Layout View Word displays the full left margin area of your document; there is no need to scroll left.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13042) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Viewing More of the Left Margin Area.

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

Finding Formatted Bulleted Paragraphs

Want to find the bulleted paragraphs within a large document? Word doesn't have a built-in way to search for this ...

Discover More

Setting a Default for Shifting when Inserting

When you insert cells into a worksheet, Excel needs to know which direction it should shift the displaced cells. If you ...

Discover More

Changing Cell Values while Printing

When printing mulitiple copies of the same worksheet, you may have a need to change something simple for each of the ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Getting Rid of a Spiked Square

Sometimes you may see characters in a document that you cannot get rid of and you aren't sure what they are. That's the ...

Discover More

Generating a List of Dates

When creating tracking documents in Word, you may need to come up with a series of dates in the document. You can type ...

Discover More

Strip Trailing Spaces

If you get tired of documents that always seem to have extra spaces at the end of lines, here's a quick way to get rid of ...

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 0 + 9?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


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.