Margins change between desktop and mobile

On Fri, 2 Oct 2015 22:37:50 +0000, Doug Robbins - Word MVP [MVP]
wrote:

An if you are going to be sending documents to people who do not require to edit them, then yes, the best way to ensure that the recipients see the document in the way that you intend is to send it as PDF.

Or, perhaps even better, if formatting is not an issue, as a text
file.

Doug, I understand your analogy a bit better, I think. I agree that there is a difference between the two, and that I really wonder at the feasibility of wanting to work on a document on 4.7" screen. I personally have a preference for using my desktop/laptop for work and mobile devices for occasionally reading the document and, as in this case, sending (I love the idea of being able to open a document on my phone, change a word or even not, and quickly send it to someone, all while I'm waiting for a train/plane/automobile.

As for the issue, there didn't appear to be anything in the header. I assure you that this header did not exist in the original document and suddenly appeared when I opened it on my phone. Originally I wondered why the document had gone from 2 pages 2 pages plus about 10 lines (you can imagine my shock and frustration after the work it took me to reduce 25 years of career onto 2 pages) - was it the margins? it looked like it and I could even imagine Word doing something weird like applying a default margin setting (a bug, but it can happen). But I saved the "new" version and examined it on my computer - a header had been inserted. I looked at the phone again (without closing/reopening), found the header/footer tools and was able to remove this phantom header, resulting in a document very close to the original except that one line had moved from page 2 to page 1.

To be clear, I know bugs can exist and even though they bug (sorry) me, I can live with it. But adding a header? That takes things to a new level of surrealism.

Yes, I'm talking about Applicant Tracking System. You're lucky you're past that. It's the first time I've had to deal with these and I'm am really disappointed about the quality of these systems, the power they have without doing very much and the fact that they essentially only exist to allow consultants to drink a coffee instead of read CVs. I started my professional life as a systems analyst in the 80s and have seen things progress, generally in a positive direction and fairly predictably, but these ATSs are truly surprising.

You missed the point of my analogy.  The saddle would not adjust itself to the new beast.  And that's the way it is with Word on different platforms.

Going back to an issue in your original post, was there any text in the header that appeared on the Android device, or was there merely an empty paragraph in the header pane?

I gather that by ATS you are referring to Applicant Tracking Systems.  At my age, I need no longer be bothered with such things and they were unheard of in my days of job hunting, which pre-dated computers, or at least the use of them in the business world.

If a recipient is supposed to read a document (but not edit it), then sending it as a PDF makes sense.

Doug, I beg to differ. For a start, I am never certain about how the PDF conversion treats the contents (make an image or overlay  or tags, or the various types of PDF)  - that will cause problems with any ATS. Then there is the question of how does one convert to PDF within Word for Android. Then we also have the problem where I am not a perennial job hunter and actually a professional, so I will have the problem once in a new role. And, of course, it's not supposed to do that: converting to PDF does not stop Word for Android doing something it shouldn't - we go back to Microsoft's marketing thrust - look at the "major changes" promoted by the company for Office 2016.

Do you suggest that I make a PDF of every document I create in Word just in case I have to share it?

Nonetheless, don't et me wrong. I do appreciate you wanting to help me share my document and thank you for it.