Summary
- Fix google docs margins issue by opening a new or existing Google document, locate the ruler at the top of the document. Click and drag the right or left arrow to adjust the position of the margin.
- For margin sizes, click File, then click Page setup and choose Margins from the menu. Next, edit the Top, Bottom, Right, and Left margin sizes.
- To restrict others from making changes to the size of the margins of your document, assign them only Viewer or Commenter privileges.
Whether you own a Chromebook or don’t have access to MS Word, the best app to create and edit documents in Google Docs, Google Docs is versatile, easily accessible, and simple to use. Another great thing about Docs is that it offers most of the tools and features of MS Word, which makes it a powerful and convenient alternative.
Unfortunately, Google Docs does have its limitations and glitches that require fixing to make the software perfect for office and personal use.
A commonly reported issue in Google Docs is margins in Google Docs aren’t always suitable for an A4 size page, and this problem is more noticeable when printing documents. Most educational institutes and offices follow extremely strict guidelines on formatting different types of documents, including specific margin requirements.
Using Google Docs or Chromebook to create or edit documents, you will find incorrect margins is a significant problem. Today’s guide will teach how to change margins in Google Docs to match your exact requirements.
Why does the Google Docs margins issue happen?
The default margin settings on Google Docs are set to ‘Letter,’ which is different from the classic A4-sized paper that is typically used for most documents and printing. Letter margins are smaller than the full A4 size sheet; the top and bottom margins are larger because letters don’t require the full length of an A4 page.
A fast and simple fix for this problem is to switch the Google Docs page size to A4 from Letter. Furthermore, we recommend that you avoid printing a document directly from Google Docs instead of downloading the document as a PDF for printing.
Below we provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to edit margins in Google Docs:
How to Fix the Margin Error
Adjusting The Left and Right Ruler:
By adjusting the position of the ruler with the click-and-drag function, you can set the position of the margins quickly. Here’s how to adjust margins in google docs:
- Go to Google Docs, open a new or existing document.
- Find the ruler triangle arrow at the top of the document.
- The ruler for the left margin will indicate its position on the rectangular ruler bar with a triangle pointer facing downwards.
- On the left of the down-facing triangle, click on the grey area; when the triangle pointer turns into an arrow, drag it into the position where you want to set the left margin.
- For the right margin, locate the down-facing triangle at the end of the rectangular ruler bar. Click and drag the grey margin to adjust its size.
Select Preset Top, Bottom, Left, and Right Margins
Google Docs also has different page settings and the option to preset the sizes of the margins of your documents. Here’s how you can provide preset margin positions:
- Go to Google Docs and open an existing or new document.
- Navigate to File and select Page Setup.
- Provide the desired size of the top, bottom, right, and left margins under the Margins option. Click OK to finalize the changes.
Change the Paper Size
To change the paper size of your documents, follow the steps below:
- Open the doc in Google Docs that you want to fix, edit, or print.
- Find the ‘Files’ menu in the top left corner and click on it.
- Now find ‘Page Setup’ in the Files menu and click on it.
- In the Page Setup’s drop-down menu, find ‘Paper Size’; the size would be preset to ‘Letter.’ Change the paper size from Letter to ‘A4’ or any other required size.
- Click OK to complete the paper size changing process.
NOTE: After changing the paper size to A4, make sure that you select the ‘Set as default’ setting option – if you want all of your documents to be automatically available in A4 size in the future.
Download as PDF
Note: Follow this step when you want to print your documents.
After completing the steps and changing the paper size of your document, download your document as a PDF to print it. You can directly print your docs via Google Docs, but we wouldn’t recommend it because it usually has glitches that mess up Google Docs margins.
Downloading your documents as PDF will preserve the margins on Google Docs and other formatting details and allow you to print the document in the exact format you saved your document.
Follow the steps below to save the Google docs invoice template & receipt maker documents into PDF:
- Open your document in Google Docs. Find ‘File’ in the top left corner. Click it to open the drop-down menu.
- Find and open ‘Download As,’ and select PDF and click OK.
- After the doc is converted and downloaded as PDF, open the PDF and press the Ctrl + P keys to open the Print command and start printing.
Is It Possible To Lock The Margins In Google Docs?
Unfortunately, there are no specific features for locking margins Google Docs. You can only prevent other users from editing google doc margins or making any other changes to your document by following these steps:
- Open your document in Google Docs. Find ‘File’ and click on it. In the drop-down menu, find ‘Share’ and select it.
- In the ‘Share with people and groups’ dialog box, add the person’s ID with whom you want to share the doc.
- Press the down-facing triangle to open the drop-down menu and select Viewer or Commenter from the menu instead of Editor.
If you follow these steps, the recipient will only be able to add comments or view the document and not edit margins in Google Docs or make any changes without your permission.
How to Unlock a Google Doc for Editing?
If you are the recipient of the Google Doc and wish to change margins in google docs or make other changes, you don’t have editing rights! You have to request editing rights from the sender.
Follow the steps below to request edit access:
- Open the document on Google Docs, find ‘Request edit access’ on the upper-right corner, and select it.
- In the dialogue box, request the document owner to give you edit access and send the request.
- Once the document owner grants you edit the entry, only then can you start editing the document.
TIP: If you can wait to get the edit access by the document owner, you can make a separate copy file and edit your copy of the document. You can opt for this option only if the document owner has enabled the option for viewers and commentators to copy, download, and print the documents.
Changing margins on iPhone and iPad
- On an iPhone, click on the three dots located in the top right corner of the screen to modify the page margins. (This is the ‘Menu’ option; you can do this immediately on an iPad.) Then, navigate to the ‘Page setup’ area.
- You can now select custom, wide, default, or narrow margins for your document.
Custom: Similar to the ‘Page setup’ option on a PC, you can enter specific values.
Two-inch right and left margins, as well as one-inch top and bottom margins, are used. By default, all four margins are one inch wide.
Narrow: Each of the four borders will be a half-inch wide.
Changing margins on Android
Unfortunately, adjusting margins in the Google Docs app on an Android smartphone is currently not possible. If you open a document and click the pencil to enter ‘Edit’ mode, you’ll notice that the ‘Page setup section’ is missing this option. However, if you’re wondering how to modify margins in Google Docs on Android, there are some options.
Google Docs on Android allows you to alter the page’s orientation, size, and color.
Change the margins in Google Docs on Android by opening the desktop app in a browser:
- Navigate to your phone’s browser, such as Google Chrome. Now, open the menu and select ‘Desktop site.’
- Now, log in to your Google account and navigate to docs.google.com in your browser.
- Open the document you were working on, or create a new one. You can do the same thing on a PC or a Mac: either make the ruler visible and drag it or go to ‘File -> Page setup’ and set the margins.
- Because the former option may result in a manual error and is difficult due to the small screen size of a phone, the latter option is generally preferable in this scenario to assure precision.
In Google Docs, can you modify the margins for a single page?
Similarly to the previous question on how to modify margins in Google Docs on Android, adjusting margins on a single page in Google Docs is not possible. The adjustment would have to be applied to the entire file.
Closing Words
We hope that our top tips will help learn how to change the margins in Google Docs without any issues. We also hope you would have also learned ways to edit, download PDF versions, and print documents via Google Docs.
Do you prefer Google Docs over Microsoft Word? Please share your reasons with TechProReviewers in the comments.
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Bethany Wilson 
