How to display margins in Word 2013

I had this challenge too.  It wasn't a ruler issue....I needed to see the whole page, margins included. 

Go to Options > Display > select Show white space between pages in Print Layout view. > OK

Showing white space is certainly a good idea. There is even an easier method described in this page. Elusive White Space

However what the original poster in this long and old thread was talking about was the dotted line framing the area in which typing would go. This was generally at the page margins. This feature no longer works in Word 2013 without using one of workarounds set forth in this thread.

Well, I want this feature to be accessible as an option! I use page/margin boundaries to help me visualize where text and graphics line up on the page as a whole. I have used it since I began using MS Word in the '90s. I can't believe that the developers are claiming visible margin boundaries was a mistake!!!! Even if it was, it became a useful feature and BTW, are those original developers even still around to validate that claim?

Not sure who decided this was a feature no one used.  How did they determine no one used it?

I was also a pasteup artist many years ago and then was a desktop publisher for many years, using Aldus (later Adobe) Pagemaker and QuarkXpress. The MS Office Suite of programs became useful tools in document creation, complementary to the desktop publishing programs and sometimes even replacing them for some tasks. These boundaries help make WYSIWYG a realistic mental transfer between digital on screen images and hard copy paper. Without the page boundaries feature, spatial visualizing is more of an effort! Makes the programs less useful for me.

Please, Microsoft and MS Developers, add the option to view page boundaries, or margin boundaries, back into the software! 

Debbie Vacik

Vote for the suggestion here:

https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/9253599-bring-back-classic-text-boundaries

You can also post a comment if you wish.

Well, I have MS Office 10 at home, and my church office just upgraded to MS Office 13. I certainly won't be upgrading to this version for my home software until they either support margin boundaries in 13 or future versions of the MS Office software, or until my current version is no longer supported. 

This feature isn't just an option for me, it is critical to the way I use the software.

MS developers, please listen to this request!!!

Debbie Vacik

Debbie: definitely do add your vote and comment to the "uservoice" link that Stefan provided.

But the reality is that MS "improved" <sarcasm> this feature in Office 2013, and immediately got floods of negative feedback.  It has not been fixed in 2016 and I have not seen any indication that they will ever return to the better way.

The closest to a fix I can think of is to create a graphic that replicates the text border. Insert it as a "watermark", then delete or hide it when you print.

Maybe someone will find a workaround that they can distribute as an addon ...