WD: "Margins Set Outside Printable Area of Page" in Word

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

If you set your document margins closer to the edge of the paper than your printer is capable of printing, Microsoft Word for Windows returns the following warning message for each copy you send to the printer:

Word versions 6.x, 7.x, 97

One or more margins are set outside the printable area of the page. Choose the Fix button to increase the appropriate margins.

Word 2.0

The margins of section <n> are set outside the printable area of the page. Do you want to continue?

CAUSE

Most laser printers, such as the Hewlett-Packard (HP) LaserJet, cannot print closer to the edge of the paper than 0.25 inch. Some laser printers, such as the HP LaserJet Series II, require 0.5-inch margins. Most PostScript and dot-matrix printers have their own internal printer driver setting for margins.

RESOLUTION

In Word versions 6.x, 7.x, and 97, the Print dialog box includes a Fix button. Clicking the Fix button increases any margin in the unprintable region to the minimum margin setting.

WORKAROUND

Word 2.x

To correct this problem, return to your document, and use the following steps:

1. From the Format menu, choose Page Setup (Document in version 1.x). Increase any margins that are less than 0.25 inch.

2. Choose the OK button.

   Note: After you increase the margins, the message should not appear If the error message appears again, set the margins to 0.5 inch or larger.

PostScript

If you receive the warning message when you are printing to a PostScript printer, you may need to change the printer driver margin settings. To do this, use the following steps:

1. From the File menu, choose Print Setup. Select the PostScript printer, and choose the Setup button. (In Word 6.0, choose Printers in Control Panel.)

2. Choose the Options button. In the Margins box, select None. Choose the OK button three times to return to the document

MORE INFORMATION

Note: To determine what the document margins can be set to, start WordPad in Windows 95 (Windows Write in Windows 3.x) from the Accessories group.

1. On the Document menu, click Page Layout.

2. Set one of the margins to zero (0) and choose the OK button.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word for Windows User's Guide," version 2.0, pages 122-123 "Microsoft Word for Windows Printer Guide," version 1.x, pages 8, 13