Margins in a document are the white spaces that appear around the text on all four sides, which are measured either in inches or centimeters. And although every new Google Doc you open comes with default, pre-set margins that do the job most of the time, sometimes you need to change the formatting for printing or other purposes.
Thankfully, Google Docs allows you to easily change the height and width of the margin, and edit the text flow to suit your needs. Here are two different methods for setting margins in Google Docs:
Method 1: Adjusting the margins using the ruler
If you want to quickly adjust the margins on a document, simply follow the steps below:
- Go to Google Docs, and then create a new document or open a document you wish to edit.
- Locate the two rulers at the top and left-hand side of the screen. If they’re not already visible, turn them on by clicking View in the Menu bar, and then choose Show ruler.
- The ruler at the top controls the left and right margins. To adjust them, simply hover your cursor along the line where the gray area (current margin) meets the white area on the ruler. A two-way arrow will then appear. Simply click and drag the arrow along the ruler on either side to set the new margins.
- The left-hand side ruler controls the top and bottom margins. To adjust them, simply hover your cursor along the line where the gray area (current margin) meets the white area on the ruler. A two-way arrow will then appear. Simply click and drag the arrow along the ruler on either side to set the new margins.
You might also notice that the top margin is hiding behind a blue bar and down-facing arrow. These are indentation indicators, which allow you to control the indentations of your document’s paragraphs.
If you want to change the indentation of a paragraph, you must first highlight the part of the text you wish to adjust. Then, simply move the indentation indicators along the ruler until you’re satisfied.
Method 2: Adjusting the margins using the Menu bar
Instead of dragging the ruler, you can also manually set specific margins for your documents. Here’s how:
- Go to Google Docs, and then create a new document or open a document you wish to edit.
- In the Menu bar, click on File, and then choose Page setup at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
- A Page setup window will now pop up. Here, you can adjust the paper orientation, size and color, as well as margins.
- To change the margins, simply click the text box next to the margin you want to adjust, and type in the new number. The size of the margins will either be labelled in inches or centimeters, depending on what you use.
- After you’ve set your desired margins, simply click OK to save the changes.
The standard, default margins are set to 1” or 2.54cm, but you can adjust them however you like. Just keep in mind that the text usually looks cleanest and most even when both of the opposite margins are adjusted.
Note: If you want these changes you made to become the new default, instead of only changing the margins on the current document, simply click Set as default when you’re in the Page setup window.
And that’s it! Changing the margins in a Google Doc is an incredibly quick and simple 4-step process.
