what to know
- Open a new or existing document and find the rulers at the top. Click the left indent or right indent arrow and drag it to resize the margins.
- To preset margin sizes: Choose File > Page Setup > Margins , and then set the Top , Bottom , Left, and Right margin sizes.
- Select viewers or commenters when sharing so others can't adjust the margins. If changes need to be made, they can request editing permissions.
This article explains two simple ways to change the default one-inch top, bottom, right, and left margins in Google Docs.
Using the rulers, you can quickly set margins with intuitive click and drag capabilities.
Navigate to Google Docs and open a new or existing document.
Find the ruler at the top of the document.
To change the left margin, find the rectangular bar with a downward-facing triangle underneath.
Click the gray area to the left of the downward-pointing triangle. The pointer turns into an arrow. Drag the gray margin area to resize the margin.
To change the right margin, find the downward-pointing triangle at the right end of the ruler and drag the gray margin area to resize the margin.
When you select and drag the blue rectangle icon above the downward triangle, you will adjust the first line indent. If you select and drag only the downward-facing triangle, you will adjust the left or right indent, not the overall margin.
It's also easy to preset your document's margins to specified dimensions.
Navigate to Google Docs and open a new or existing document.
Select File > Page Setup .
Under Margins , set Margin Top , Margin Bottom , Margin Left , and Margin Right to whatever values you want. Select OK when finished.
Although there is no specific margin lock feature in Google Docs, you can prevent other users from making changes to your document when you share it.
If you want to share a document but not allow anyone to edit its margins or anything else, do the following:
Open the document and select File > Share .
In the Share with People and Groups dialog box, add people with whom you want to share the document.
In the box on the right, select the downward-facing triangle, then select Viewers or Commenters instead of Editors .
Select Send . The recipient will not be able to edit the document margins or anything else.
Margins are different from indents, which add space beyond the margins to the first line of each paragraph.
If you receive a Google Doc without editing permissions and need to adjust the margins or any other aspect of the document, please request editing permissions for the document.
Go to the upper right corner and select Request editing permissions .
In the Ask owner to become editor dialog box, type your message, and then select Send .
You can edit the document while the document owner adjusts sharing settings.
If you need a quick fix, go to File > Make a Copy . You can edit a copy of the document. To do this, the owner must enable the option for viewers to download, print, and copy the document.
Choose File > Page Setup , enter the desired margin size under Margins, and select OK to save. If you want to restore the default margins, change the value back to 1 inch.
Select the header or footer you want to change in Google Docs, then select Format header and footer > More options in the upper left corner. Next, select a section under "Apply to" and enter the desired margin size, then "Apply" to save.
In the browser: Go to Format -> Line and Paragraph Spacing -> Double. From the toolbar: Highlight the text, then click the Line Spacing icon , then click Double.
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