How to display margins in Word 2013

Anonymous
2013-01-31T16:21:55+00:00

I just upgraded from Word 2007 to Word 2013.  In the 2007 version, I could display the margins but I haven't been able to find how to do that in Word 2013.  Does anyone know?  Clicking on "show text boundaries" seems to put a lot of lines in the document only.

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  1. Charles Kenyon 170.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2013-10-10T12:44:21+00:00

    I just upgraded from Word 2007 to Word 2013.  In the 2007 version, I could display the margins but I haven't been able to find how to do that in Word 2013.  Does anyone know?  Clicking on "show text boundaries" seems to put a lot of lines in the document only.

    Show text boundaries is there, however, you must got to File, Save, and Save All Files in This Format, and select 97-2003 format.

     

    The bad news - the cursor does not show at the left margin.

     

    The good news - text boundaries are like they have been for years!  The other good news, Word Art is like is was prior to Office 2007!

     

    Sure would be nice if MS got this right!  This is a mess without a cursor at the left margin!

     

    Good luck.

    Saving in the .doc format has the side effect of disabling new features like content controls and makes for larger files.

    The change to WordArt began with Office 2010 and there are other work-arounds for that. Legacy WordArt Add-In for 2010-2013

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-10-10T12:51:10+00:00

    Unfortunately, as you have discovered, text boundaries in Word 2013 are useless. This is due to the new layout engine used in Word 2013. It turns out that Word's developers had no idea that so many users depended on text boundaries, which we have been told were kind of a mistake to begin with, "a feature that was never supposed to be a feature," "a window into the internals of word" that should probably never have been exposed to users.

    The feature "just draws a border around [Word's] internal drawing rectangles," and those have now changed with the switch to a hardware-accelerated display. So Word "is doing precisely what it has always done (drawing borders around internal data structures). Unfortunately, this means that scenarios that used to work accidentally now don’t work the same way. There’s really no way to bring back the old functionality – it truly doesn’t exist."

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-20T22:50:22+00:00

    The Text Boundary problem is another indication of Microsoft falling apart.  It is only a symptom, but Office 2010 had beautiful icons yet in Office 2013 they are crude and ugly.  Microsft stockmarket valuation went up $20 billiion when it was announced Ballmer would leave.  Let's hope things will get better in future.

    Julian Nott Santa Barbara CA

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  4. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-10-21T02:52:41+00:00

    I totally agree about the icons--not just ugly but also unfamiliar, adding another layer of frustration. Apparently the design team thought they were creating a "clean," "modern" look. Ugh.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-11-20T22:07:23+00:00

    Maybe you're looking for..  View -> Ruler?  This helped me while trying to center a picture and creating tabs.  Click the View tab and check the Ruler box.

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