Page borders may be displayed or printed incorrectly in Word 2007

When you view or print a Microsoft Office Word 2007 document in print preview, the page borders in the document may be displayed or printed incorrectly. Additionally, you may receive the following error message:

This problem occurs because the default page border is 24 points (about 0.31 inch) from the edge of the page. This is the default page border setting regardless of the actual nonprintable region for the printer. Even though the document margins may fit in the printable region of the page, the page border may still be in the nonprintable region that is defined by the printer driver.

This problem affects Hewlett-Packard (HP) DeskJet printers more than any other printers. The bottom nonprintable region of an HP DeskJet printer is 0.67 inch 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 margin settings for the page border.

Method 1: Position the page border relative to the outside edge of the page

1. On the Page Layout tab, click Page Borders in the Page Background group.
2. On the Page Border tab, click Options.
3. In the Border and Shading Options dialog box, change the default setting of 24 points in the Margin area to a new measurement. For example, change the value for the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margin settings to 31 points.

Note The page border margins are adjustable only between 0 points and 31 points. A measurement of 31 points equals approximately a half inch.

Method 2: Position the page border relative to the page margin

To set the position of the inside edge of the page border relative to the page margin, follow these steps:

1. On the Page Layout tab, click Page Borders in the Page Background group.
2. On the Page Border tab, click Options.
3. In the Measure from list, click Text.
4. If it is required, change the default setting of 24 points in the Margin area to at least 10 points.
5. Click OK two times.

Note Depending on the default printer that is configured on the computer, you may have to change the bottom margin settings for your page to 0.8" or larger. To do this, click Margins in the Page Setup group, and then click Custom Margins. On the Margins tab, change the bottom margin to 0.8" or larger.

Method 3: Position the border relative to the page margin, and then change the margin settings for the page

1. On the Page Layout tab, click Margins in the Page Setup group, and then click Custom Margins.
2. On the Margins tab, increase the bottom margin to at least 0.67", and then click OK.
   
   Note The formatting of the document may be affected when you change the margin settings.
3. In the Page Background group, click Page Borders.
4. On the Page Border tab, click Options.
5. In the Measure from list, click Text, and then click OK two times.

Method 4: Change the paper size to a custom size

1. On the Page Layout tab, click Size in the Page Setup group, and then click More Paper Sizes.
2. On the Paper tab, change the setting to 10" in the Height box.
   
   Notes
   • The Paper Size setting changes to Custom Size.
   • The formatting of the document may be affected when you change the margin settings.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

Most printers cannot print to the edge of the paper because of the physical limitations in the way that the printers handle paper.

If you set the document margins close to the edge of the paper, and the printer cannot print that close to the edge of the paper, Word and Microsoft Word Viewer return a warning message every time that the document is sent to the printer. Therefore, if you print more than one copy of the document, you will receive the error message more than one time.

Most laser printers, such as the 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. Generally, DeskJet printers cannot print closer than 0.67 inch to the bottom edge of the paper. Most PostScript printers and dot-matrix printers have their own internal printer driver settings for margins. For more information about nonprintable regions, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.