Changing Page Margins

Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Writer Guide

Chapter 4: Formatting Pages

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• Introduction
• Choosing a Layout Method
• Setting up Basic Page Layout Using Styles
  • Inserting a Page Break without Switching the Style
  • Defining a Different First Page for a Document
  • Changing Page Orientation within a Document
    • Setting Up a Landscape Page Style
    • Inserting a Landscape Page into a Portrait Document
• Changing Page Margins
• Using Columns to Define the Page Layout
  • Defining the Columns on a Page
    • Specifying the Number of Columns
    • Formatting Column Width and Spacing
    • Formatting Separator Lines
    • Reverting to a Single-Column Layout
  • Changing the Number of Columns for Existing Text
  • Distributing Text Across Columns
• Using Frames for Page Layout
  • Creating Frames
  • Moving, Resizing, and Changing Frame Attributes
  • Anchoring Frames
  • Linking Frames
  • Other Frame Options
• Using Tables for Page Layout
  • Example: Creating Sideheads Using Tables
• Using Sections for Page Layout
  • Creating Sections
    • Naming Sections
    • Linking Sections
    • Write Protecting Sections
    • Password Protecting Sections
    • Hiding Sections
    • Formatting a Section into Columns
    • Indenting the Section from Margins
    • Changing the Background of the Section
    • Customizing Footnotes and Endnotes in a Section
  • Saving a New Section
  • Editing and Deleting Sections
    • Deleting Sections
    • Editing Section Attributes
    • Editing the Format of a Section
• Updating Links
  • Updating Links Automatically
  • Updating Links Manually
• Creating Headers and Footers
  • Formatting Headers and Footers
  • Portrait Headers on Landscape Pages
• Numbering Pages
  • Preliminaries: Fields
  • Preliminaries: Insert and Format a Header
  • Simple Page Numbering
  • Combining Header Text and Page Number
  • Changing the Number Format
  • Numbering the First Page Something Other than 1
  • Numbering Pages by Chapter
  • Restarting Page Numbering
    • Example: Restart Page Numbering: a Preface
  • Problems with Restarting Page Numbering
    • Solving the page count problem
  • Numbering Portrait and Landscape Pages
• Defining Borders and Backgrounds
  • Adding a Border
  • Adding Color to the Background
  • Adding a Graphic to the Background
  • Deleting Color or Graphics from the Background

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Changing Page Margins

You can change page margins in two ways: Using the page rulers—quick and easy, but does not have fine control. Using the Page Style dialog box—can specify margins to two decimal places.

If you change the margins using the rulers, the new margins affect the page style and will be shown in the Page Style dialog box the next time you open it.

To change margins using the rulers:

1. The shaded sections of the rulers are the margins (see Figure 9). Put the mouse cursor over the line between the gray and white sections. The pointer turns into a double-headed arrow.
2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to move the margin.

The small arrows on the ruler are used for indenting paragraphs. They are often in the same place as the page margins, so you need to be careful to move the margin marker, not the arrows. Place the mouse pointer between the arrows and, when the pointer turns into a double-headed arrow, you can move the margin (the indent arrows will move with it).

Figure 9: Moving the margins

To change margins using the Page Style dialog box (Figure 6)

1. Right-click anywhere on the page and select Page from the pop-up menu.
2. On the Page tab of the dialog box, type the required distances in the Margins boxes.