How to the Use the Ruler in Microsoft Word

The Microsoft Word Ruler is one of its easily overlooked features. This is probably because, for most users, the rulers are hidden and no longer visible by default on Word. To gain access to the Microsoft Word ruler, users will have to enable it from the View tab of the Microsoft Word Ribbon.

After you enable it, the Microsoft Word ruler can serve a number of uses, including:

• Adjust page margins
• Change page indent
• Add tab stops to documents

To view your Microsoft Word ruler and access its various purposes, here are the steps:

How to enable Microsoft Word Ruler

The ruler in the Microsoft Word application may be hidden, and that will prevent you from seeing and accessing its features. Here’s how you can enable your Word ruler:

Step 1: Click the Start button on the Taskbar and type from to search for apps.

Step 2: From the results that appear, click on the Microsoft Word application to open it.

Step 3: On Word’s Ribbon, click the View tab in the right corner.

Step 4: In the Show group, check the box next to Ruler to launch the Microsoft Word ruler.

Note that after checking the box next to Rulers, the ruler will be visible depending on the page layout selected in the View section. If your document is in Print Layout, both the vertical and horizontal rulers will show up in Microsoft Word. However, if you select Web Layout or Draft view, only the horizontal ruler will be visible.

How to open the page setup window with the Microsoft Word ruler

The page setup window in Microsoft Word contains settings for document margins, paper size, and document layout. The page setup window is especially useful when formatting your Word documents. There are different ways to access the Page Setup Window and one of them is through the Microsoft Word ruler. Here’s how to do so:

Step 1: Make sure the vertical or horizontal rulers are visible on your Microsoft Word document.

Step 2: Place your mouse pointer on any part of the vertical or horizontal ruler and double-click to launch the Page Setup window.

As mentioned above, the page setup window allows you to edit the page margins, size, and layout of the Word document. However, you can also perform these operations directly using the Word ruler.

How to adjust page margins with Microsoft Word ruler

In Word, page margins are the visible space at the top, bottom, left, and right sides of a document. These margins help your Word document look cleaner. On the Microsoft Word ruler, gray shadows highlight the margins at the top and bottom of both the horizontal and vertical rulers.

By default, the page margin of your Word document should be 2.54 cm/1 inch. To adjust page margins, here’s what you need to do:

Step 1: Depending on the margin you want to adjust, place the mouse pointer on the horizontal or vertical ruler. For left and right margins, place your mouse pointer on the horizontal ruler while for the top and bottom margins, place your mouse pointer on the vertical ruler.

Step 2: Move the mouse pointer to the boundary between the white and gray space of the ruler. This will convert the mouse pointer to a double-sided arrow.

Step 3: Slide the double-sided arrow left, right, down, or up to adjust the page margins.

How to adjust page indent with Microsoft Word ruler

After activating Microsoft Word size, you will see markers like triangles and rectangles. These markers adjust the paragraph indents, bullets, and numbering on your Word document. The Word Ruler has three of these markers – first line, left indent, hang, and right. Here’s what happens when you move any of these markers.

Step 1: Place the mouse pointer on the Word text you want to adjust.

Step 2: Click the first line indent marker at the top and drag it to your right. This will change the indentation of the first lines of the paragraph.

Step 3: Click on the second indent below the first and drag it to your right. This will change the indentation for all lines of the paragraph. Note that dragging the left indent will also result in the first line and the hanging indent moving.

Step 4: Click on the hanging indent marker and drag it to your right. This will change the indent of all other lines in a paragraph except the first one.

Step 5: Click on the right indent marker and drag it to your left. This will re-adjust the right side of the paragraph.

How to add tab stops with Microsoft Word ruler

Pressing the tab key on your keyboard moves the cursor forward about eight characters. This may be caused by the tab stop option setting. In Word, tab stops help create spaced text. Using tab stops provides a cleaner option instead of pressing the spacebar repeatedly to split text to create space between words or numbers.

On the Microsoft Word vertical ruler, you’ll need to see an icon that looks like an L block. This L block represents one of the tab stop options that include:

• – Align text to the left of the tab stop
• – Align text so that it is centered below the tab stop
• – Align text to the right of the tab stop
• – Align text with the decimal point so that the text before the decimal point stretches to the left while the text after the decimal point stretches to the right
• – A vertical line is displayed on the tab
• – Indent the first line of a paragraph
• – Indent all lines of a paragraph except the first line.

Here’s how to add tab stops to your Microsoft Word document:

Step 1: On the Word document, select the text you want to align.

Step 2: On the left side of the Microsoft Word document, click the icon (looks like an L block) at the top of the ruler to select the type of tab stop you want.

Step 3: After choosing your preferred tab stop, click the ruler at the top of your Word canvas and set the tab stop.

Change the page layout of a Word document

One of the ways to use the non-expanding Microsoft Word ruler to change the page layout. However, using the Microsoft Word ruler, you can launch the page setup window from which you can change the layout of the document.

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