Top margin looks fine on my computer but when I print it's not?

[Joon]

Hi!
I'm having this problem with all of my word documents.
Whenever I print something, there is about a half-inch of extra "white
space" at the top of my pages. For example I wanted the first line to show
up just below the actual top of my paper, but when printer it's lower.
I don't think it's my printer as I've tried other docs (Excel, PDF etc.).

Can anyone help me?

Thanks!
Joon.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

What is the top margin setting in File | Page Setup?

 

[Joon]

Hi Suzanne,

It's set to 2.54cm.

Thanks,
Joon

What is the top margin setting in File | Page Setup?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Then I would expect the text to begin 2.54 cm from the top of the page. You
could try setting the top margin to 0 cm, though very likely Word will
object that this is outside your printer's printable area.

 

[Joon]

Hi Suzanne,

This works temporarily, but last week all my documents printed properly at
the pre-set margins (i.e. 2.54cm) and I was wondering if there was some
default setting etc. that had been changed? I don't want to have to change
the margins every time I want to print something?

Thanks for your help so far.

Joon

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I really don't understand what you're trying to accomplish. Most sheet
printers cannot print at the very top of a page. The default top margin
setting for Word is 1" (2.54 cm). That means that there will be 1" of blank
space at the top of the page before your text begins. It's easier to
visualize this if you set Word to display text boundaries (Tools | Options |
View). Provided you have the "white space between pages" displayed, you will
see the top and bottom margins in Print Layout view.

 

[Joon]

Hi Suzanne,

I apologize if I was being confusing.

I always do have the settings in place as per your prescription below. As
long as I have the (View > Ruler) option selected, I can adjust the margin as
high or wide as I want and my printer will print the document exactly as
shown in the Print Layout view. I usually use this view as it always shows
me how the page will look once it's printed.
What's frustruating now is that in this view, any text that is typed into
the first available line at the top of the document, (with the margin set at
1 inch), is printed about 2 inches below the top of the actual page that is
ejected from my printer.
If I type it 2 inches below the top of the page, then it prints out 3 inches
from the top of the actual piece of paper etc. etc.
I've used Word since its infancy and have never come across this problem
before. It's like some gremlin took control of my computer over the weekend!
I hope you can help with this.

Thanks,
Joon

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Is there some Space Before applied to the
first paragraph of text? What kind of printer?