You receive a margin placement error message when you print a document in Word (314568)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Word 2002
This article was previously published under Q314568
For a Microsoft Word 2000 version of this article, see 224061.

SYMPTOMS

When you print your document, you may receive one of the following error messages.

Error message 1

The margins of section n are set outside the printable area of the page.

Error message 2

The margins of section n are set outside the printable area of the page. Do you want to continue?
Note n identifies the section of your document that is causing the problem. If you click Yes to close the message, your document is printed, but some text may be cut off or truncated. If you click No, the printing of the document is canceled.

CAUSE

Most printers cannot print all the way to the edge of the paper, because of physical limitations in the way that the printer handles paper.

If you set your document margins or section margins closer to the edge of the paper than your printer is capable of printing, Microsoft Word returns an error message when you send your document to the printer.

RESOLUTION

To correct the margins in the section that is identified as the cause of the problem, follow the steps that are listed in one of the following methods.

Method 1

  1. Note the section number that is indicated in the error message.
  2. On the Edit menu, click Go To.
  3. In the Go to what box, click Section.
  4. In the Enter section number box, type the number of the section that appeared in the error message, click Go To, and then click Close.
  5. On the File menu, click Page Setup.
  6. On the Margins tab, click OK. Word displays the following message: One or more margins are set outside the printable area of the page. Choose the Fix button to have Word set the page margins within the appropriate range.
  7. Click Fix. This increases any margin in the nonprintable region to the minimum margin setting.

    Note If you are familiar with your printer's nonprintable regions, you can manually increase the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins to the minimum that is required.
  8. Click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.
Repeat steps 1 through 8 if more than one section has margins set outside the printable area of the page.

Method 2

Set the page size in Word to be within the boundaries of the smallest or largest acceptable custom page size for your selected printer driver. To determine the best-suited size for your driver, follow these steps:
  1. In Word, click Print on the File menu.
  2. Click Properties.
  3. Click Advanced.
  4. In the Page Size list, click Custom Page Size.

    Note If there is no Custom Page Size option in the Page Size list, look for the smallest or largest acceptable page size among the options in the list. This will probably be the limitations for custom page sizes that you can choose in Word when you print to this selected printer.
  5. In the Custom Page Size dialog box, you will see a range of acceptable values. You can try to enter the paper size that you want, but you will probably receive an error message that states that this is not within the bounds of the printer's capabilities. The values for the paper size in the Width and Height boxes will then be set to the largest or smallest acceptable size.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:7/5/2006
Keywords:kbformat kbprint kbprb KB314568 kbAudEndUser
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