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: Determining the Horizontal Position of the Insertion Point.

Determining the Horizontal Position of the Insertion Point

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 28, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Danny is writing a macro and he needs to discover the horizontal position of the insertion point, relative to the left margin, in inches. This can be done by using a rather simple macro, such as the following:

Sub HorPos()
    Location = Selection.Information( _
      wdHorizontalPositionRelativeToTextBoundary)
    MsgBox PointsToInches(Location)
End Sub

The macro uses the Information property to determine the distance from the text boundary in points. This is then converted to inches and displayed. The text boundary is, most often, the left margin in a normally formatted document. In some circumstances it could also be something else, such as the cell boundary in a table or column boundary in a multi-column format.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13095) 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: Determining the Horizontal Position of the Insertion Point.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Backing Up Your AutoCorrect Entries

Develop a lot of AutoCorrect entries and you may start to wonder how you can back them up. You can easily protect all the ...

Discover More

Converting from Relative to Absolute

Addresses used in a formula can be either relative or absolute. If you need to switch between the two types of ...

Discover More

Strange ATAN Results

You may use Excel's trigonometric functions to do some quick calculations, and suddenly notice that the results in your ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Changing What Is Pasted in a Dialog Box

When you record a macro, Word very literally records what you do. This includes filling in various settings in dialog ...

Discover More

Copying a Range of Pages in a Macro

Do you need to copy, within a macro, a range of pages? Because pages can be so fluid in Word, this can be a bit tricky. ...

Discover More

Changing Pronoun Gender

Sometimes it is necessary to change the gender of various pronouns used in a document. If you have a stock document that ...

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is three more than 3?

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.