WD2000: Page Borders May Be Displayed or Printed Incorrectly

When you print or view a document in print preview, page borders in your document may not print, may not be shown, or you may receive the following error message:

The default page border is only 24 points (about 5/16 inch) from the edge of the page, regardless of the actual nonprintable region for your printer. Even though your document margins may fit in the printable region of the page, the page border may still be in the nonprintable region defined by your printer driver.

This problem affects HP DeskJet printers more than others. The bottom nonprintable region of the HP DeskJet printers is 0.67 inches or larger. The specific setting depends on the DeskJet series printer driver.

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods to change the page border margins.

Method 1: Change the Default "Measure From Edge of Paper" Setting

To change the Default "Measure From Edge of Paper" setting, follow these steps:

1. On the Format menu, click Borders and Shading.
2. Click the Page Border tab, and then click Options.
3. In the Borders and Shading Options dialog box, change the Bottom setting to the new value.

NOTE: The page border margins are adjustable between 0 and 31 points only. This is a distance of about 0.5-inches.

Method 2: Change the Measure from Option to Text

To move the bottom border farther up on the page, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup.
2. Click the Margins tab.
3. Increase the bottom margin to at least 0.67-inches and click OK.
   
   NOTE: Changing the margin settings may affect the formatting of the document.
4. On the Format menu, click Borders And Shading.
5. Click the Page Border tab, and then click Options.
6. In the Measure From list, click Text, and then click OK twice.

Method 3: Change the Paper Size

To change the paper size from letter to a custom size, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup.
2. Click the Paper Size tab.
3. In the Height box, change the setting to 10 inches. This will also change the Paper Size setting to Custom Size.

NOTE: Changing the paper size settings may affect the formatting of the document.

Method 4: Change "Measure From" to Text

To change the "Measure From" setting, follow these steps:

1. Click Borders And Shading on the Format menu.
2. Select the Page Borders tab, and then click Options.
3. Under "Measure From," click Text.
4. If necessary, change the margins to at least 10 pts.
5. Click OK twice.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

Most printers cannot print all the way to the edge of the paper due to physical limitations in the way the printer handles 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 that you send to the printer.

Most laser printers, such as the Hewlett-Packard (HP) LaserJet, cannot print closer than 0.25 inch to any edge of the paper. 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 0.67 inch. Most PostScript and dot-matrix printers have their own internal printer driver setting for margins.

For more information about nonprintable regions, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To Change or Add a Page Border

1. On the Format menu, click Borders And Shading.
2. Click the Page Border tab, and then select the options that you want for your page border.
3. To change the margins of the page border, click Options.
   
   The Options button is located in the lower-right corner of the Borders And Shading dialog box (above the Cancel button). Change the Margin, Measure From, and Options as desired.
4. Click OK twice to return to your document.

NOTE: The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.