Margins Outside Printable Area Error in Word Viewer

If you try to print a document from Microsoft Word Viewer 97-2000 that has margins set outside the printable area for the current printer, you receive the following error message: If you click Yes, the page prints with the possibility of having some text cut off. If you click No, the printing is cancelled.

You cannot adjust the margins of the document in Microsoft Word Viewer.

Word Viewer 97-2000 does not have a Page Setup option that allows you to adjust the margins of the document.

Word Viewer is only for viewing and printing Word documents. To edit a document, you must use Microsoft Word.

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Ignore the Error Message

Ignore the error by clicking the Continue button.

The document will be printed, but there is a danger that some of the text may be truncated in the printed version.

Method 2: Open the Document for Editing in Word

Open the document in Microsoft Word and adjust the margins so that the error does not occur.

In Word Viewer 97-2000, on the File menu, click Open For Editing. This starts Microsoft Word, loads the document, and allows you to make changes.

Most printers cannot print all the way to the edge of the paper due to physical limitations in the printer and the way it handles the paper.

If you set your document margins closer to the edge of the paper than your printer is capable of printing, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Word Viewer return a warning message for each copy you send to the printer.

Most laser printers, such as the Hewlett-Packard (HP) LaserJet, cannot print closer to any edge of the paper than 0.25 inch. Some laser printers, such as the HP LaserJet Series II, require 0.5-inch margins. DeskJet printers generally cannot print closer to the bottom edge than .67 inch. Most PostScript and dot-matrix printers have their own internal printer driver setting for margins.

The unprintable region is determined by the printer that is currently being used. To correct the margins that are set to close to the edge of the paper, open the document in Microsoft Word and follow these steps:

1. Make sure that you are using the same printer driver that gave you the error in Microsoft Word Viewer.
2. In Word, on the File menu, click Page Setup.
3. Click OK.
   
   You receive a warning dialog box about the unprintable regions.
4. Click the Fix button.
5. Save and close the document.

You can now open and print the document in Word Viewer without receiving the error message.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Note You can use the Microsoft Word 97-2000 Viewer to view documents that were created in Microsoft Word 97, in Microsoft Word 2000, in Microsoft Word 2002, and in Microsoft Office Word 2003.