Today whenever I opened Word 2003, the blank document did not have the top margin at all. So the cursor started from the very top border of the page (see pictures below).

This is what it looked like
Missing Margin Word
instead of this
Word Normal Margin

I thought my Normal.dot was corrupted. So I tried deleting Normal.dot file from C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates and restarted Word. But it didn't help.

After searching in Google and many trials, I got it right. It was nothing to do with Normal.dot .

  • In Word, go to "Tools" - "Options" - "View" tab.
  • Under "Print and Web Options", check "White space between pages (Print view only)"

Word Margin Settings
By the way, although this problem was nothing to do with Normal.dot, if you ever have such format problems, deleting Normal.dot sometimes fixes the problem.

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12 comments

  1. Anonymous // September 30, 2008 8:25 am  

    It was very kind of you to post that solution - I had the same problem, though it never used to happen and I never changed any settings.

    It works perfectly now.

    Thanks, Graham

  2. Swanie // October 02, 2008 9:29 pm  

    It's worth my effort if it helps someone out there, Graham. Cheers

  3. Anonymous // December 04, 2008 3:41 am  

    Thank you! I was going a little crazy trying to fix this. It's funny how a little thing like margins can make doing one's work that much more annoying.

    Any idea how the viewing options could have gotten switched in the first place? I'm the only user on this computer and I definitely didn't uncheck that box.

    Jess
    (Legal Assistant)

  4. Anonymous // January 11, 2009 12:47 pm  

    Thanks mate. It was driving me nuts too! John.

  5. Anonymous // September 29, 2009 12:22 pm  

    OMG you saved my sanity

  6. Anonymous // October 22, 2009 7:49 pm  

    Great tip, saved a lot of time.

    Thx

  7. Chaoticx // November 18, 2009 7:01 am  

    thank you for posting the solution, its been bugging me for days.

  8. Unknown // December 06, 2009 11:07 pm  

    I have a letter document, which does not require any margin on top or bottom. I tried removing all the margin from top. It works fine for the 1st page. However, whenever i take a printout of this document 2nd page leaves some space on the TOP. I need to get rid of TOP margin from all the pages. e.g if I have 10pages, then all 10pages should have top margin, like page 1.

    You can mail me at hjariwala@gmail.com

  9. Anonymous // June 21, 2011 12:42 pm  

    Thanks so much!!! this happens intermittently and it was so annoying. i found that getting in and out of headers and footers fixed it for that particular document but this is great!

  10. Anonymous // November 02, 2011 10:04 am  

    That same problem has plagued me for the last couple of days. Yours was the first solution I found and it was spot-on. Thanks.

  11. Anonymous // February 11, 2012 10:21 am  

    Many thanks for a clear, concise explanation!

  12. Anonymous // March 02, 2012 6:07 am  

    oh man, this has been bugging me like crazy! all better now - thanks for the fix!!!