Tip #4059 - It's in the Gutter
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It's
in the Gutter
Have you ever found
yourself frustrated with a Word document you planned to bind?
You know, you're planning
to print the document you've spent hours preparing and then put it into
a binder, report cover or other type of binding.
The problem arises
when you start putting the pages into the binding. The left margin looks
smaller than the right or even worse, some of the text is in the binding!
Now what?
One way to fix this
is to try manually adjusting the left margin. That is, make it larger
so that it accommodates the binding.
This way works, but
wouldn't it be easier if you had a place to simply enter the amount of
extra space you need for the binding?
Yes, of course it
would. And that's exactly what we intend to do today!
What you're looking
for is MS Word's gutter.
According to the Office
Assistant, the gutter margin is "a setting that adds extra space
to the side or top margin of a document you plan to bind. A gutter margin
ensures that text isn't obscured by the binding."
Sounds like a perfect
solution to me!
(And did you catch
the little "bonus?" You can set a gutter margin for either the
left side or for the top of a document. This choice puts a little more
flexibility into your binding options!)
So, where do we find
the wonderful world of gutters?
Why, in the Page Setup
section, of course.
With the document
you want to bind open, go to the File menu, Page
Setup choice.
Next, you're looking
for the Margins tab.
The layout of the
tab may vary from version to version, but you're basically looking for
the same things.
- The Gutter
field — In this field, enter the amount of extra margin
you need added to accommodate the binding.
- The Gutter
position choice — Choose between a left or top gutter.
- The Apply
to field — Be sure to decide how much of the document
needs to have the gutter (for example, This section, This point forward
or Whole document.)
As you make these
choices, you should see the preview picture updated each time. The checked
area that appears denotes the placement of the gutter.
Notice that the margins
around the text are still intact, so once the gutter margin space is in
the binding, it will all look evenly spaced.
And finally, for those
of you who plan to bind a double sided document, I'm sure you're already
extremely concerned over the "left side" issue, am I right?
After all, if you're
going to bind double sided pages, sometimes it's the left margin and sometimes
it's the right.
So, now what?
Never fear! You're
in the right place and the answer is just one choice away.
You're looking for
the Mirror Margins option.
In some versions,
it's a checkbox and in others, it's found in the Multiple
Pages drop down list.
Once you make the
Mirror Margins selection, you should see your preview updated to reflect
the change.
Hit the OK
button when you're done.
Wow! Who knew that
with a few changes to the Page Setup window, you could make your already
perfect document that much better in its printed form? Yes!
~ April
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