How to display margins in Word 2013

Here is a kind of workaround  for "old-style" text boundaries view:

Menu PAGE LAYOUT -> Page Setup dialog -> tab "Layout" -> button "Borders..." -> tab "Page Border" -> select Setting "Box" -> select Style "fine dotted line" -> button "Options..." select Measure from: "Text" -> set all Margins to "0 pt" -> select "Always display in front", "Suround Header" and "Suround Footer" -> OK -> OK.

Of course, the workaround if per document only, so do not forget to remove page border before final saving or printing.

Good luck!

Much simpler but still just a workaround and not useful if you need Word 2013 features:

Search for "Text Boundaries" for a template that will display traditional text boundaries in Word 2013.

Downloads - Microsoft Word - Templates

It creates a Word 2013 document in Word 2010 compatibility mode.

The 'text Boundaries' in Word 2010 were exactly what was needed, however 'accidental'. It surely cannot be beyond the wit of Microsoft to correctly code this feature. Having an indication of the page text area is an important guide to writers. Whilst you can show rulers, and also crop marks, a full 'page text boundary' indication is needed.

On the subject of the cursor being invisible at the left margin, you can increase its width from 1 to 2 via the Control Panel -> Ease of Access -> Ease of Access Centre -> Make the computer easier to use -> Set thickness of the blinking cursor. Obvious when you know :)

The 'text Boundaries' in Word 2010 were exactly what was needed, however 'accidental'. It surely cannot be beyond the wit of Microsoft to correctly code this feature.

There is no doubt in my mind that you are right: it is possible to fix this. It's just that there seem to be no such plans at the moment... :-(

What you can do is post a suggestion for future versions in the form at  https://support2.microsoft.com/common/survey.aspx?scid=sw;en-us;2222&altStyle=MFE&renderOption=OverrideDefault&showpage=1&fr=1&nofrbrand=1.

The 'text Boundaries' in Word 2010 were exactly what was needed, however 'accidental'. 

You'll notice she never said it was accidental in 2010. That's because the entire use of the word "accidental" is, to use the polite phrase for "outright lie disguised as something else," disingenuous. 

I discovered text boundaries pretty early on in my use of MS-Word. I liked it so much I wrote a macro to toggle it on and off from the toolbar. Still use it, although now the feature has been ruined. The date on that macro? 06/01/1998. Yep, the "2010 accident" has existed at least for the past seventeen years.