Page layout: margins, sections, headers and footers

In this lesson you will learn

Set margins, orientation and paper size to match requirements
Use columns, page breaks and section breaks
Add headers, footers, page numbers and a watermark

Before handing in his report, Murad reads the requirements: “A4 paper, left margin 3 cm, right margin 1.5 cm, top and bottom 2 cm, page numbers at the bottom of every page except the title page.” None of this is about the text itself — it is all page layout. In Word, each of these settings takes a click or two.

Margins, orientation and size

Layout › Page Setup › Margins — presets (Normal, Narrow, Wide…) or Custom Margins…: type values in the Top, Bottom, Left and Right boxes.
Layout › Page Setup › Orientation — Portrait (upright, like a book) or Landscape (sideways).
Layout › Page Setup › Size — paper size. The standard in Azerbaijan, Russia and Türkiye is A4 (21 × 29.7 cm); the USA uses Letter (21.59 × 27.94 cm).
Layout › Page Setup › Columns — splits text into two or three newspaper-style columns. In More Columns… you can set column widths and a Line between them.

Page and section breaks

To start a new chapter on a new page, don't press Enter over and over — everything will shift when the text changes. Insert a page break: Ctrl+Enter or Insert › Pages › Page Break. A section break (Layout › Breaks › Section Breaks) splits the document into independent parts: each section can have its own orientation, margins, columns, headers, footers and numbering.

Section break	Where the new section starts
`Next Page`	On the next page
`Continuous`	On the same page — e.g. to make half a page two-column
`Even Page`	On the next even-numbered page
`Odd Page`	On the next odd-numbered page — book chapters usually start this way

Headers, footers and page numbers

A header or footer is text repeated at the top (Header) or bottom (Footer) of every page: the document title, author, date, page number. Add one from the Insert › Header & Footer group, or double-click the top or bottom margin of a page. While it is open, the Header & Footer tab appears; to return to the body text click Close Header and Footer or press Esc.

Example: no number on the title page

Murad's report needs page numbers at the bottom centre, but no number on the title page.

Show solution

1. Choose Insert › Header & Footer › Page Number › Bottom of Page and click Plain Number 2 (centred).
2. On the Header & Footer tab that opens, tick Different First Page — the first page's footer becomes empty.
3. To change how the numbers look, open Page Number › Format Page Numbers…: Number format (1, 2, 3 or i, ii, iii) and Start at (the first number).
4. Click Close Header and Footer. The title page has no number, and the second page shows “2”. If you want the second page to show “1”, set Start at to 0 in step 3: the title page counts as 0 but its number stays hidden.

Other useful options: Different Odd & Even Pages — separate headers and footers for left and right pages (in books the number sits on the outer edge); Link to Previous — ties a section's header or footer to the previous section. Turn it off when a section needs its own header or footer.

Watermark and page background

Design › Page Background › Watermark puts faint text behind every page: there are ready-made CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT and DO NOT COPY options. In Custom Watermark… you can use your own text or a picture, such as the school logo. The same group has Page Color and Page Borders.

Page breakCtrl+Enter

Column break: move text to the next columnCtrl+Shift+Enter

Insert a page number field at the cursorAlt+Shift+P

Insert today's date as a field (Alt+Shift+T — the time)Alt+Shift+D

Leave the header or footer and return to the bodyEsc

Key points

Margins, orientation, size and columns are in the Layout › Page Setup group.
Start a new page with Ctrl+Enter, not with lots of Enters.
A section break lets part of a document have a different orientation, columns and headers.
Page numbers: Insert › Page Number; hide the number on the title page with Different First Page.
Watermark, page colour and page borders are in Design › Page Background.

Check yourself

10 questions. Every correct answer earns XP.

1 / 10

Which command changes the margins?