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White margins / borders when word saved as PDF file

Anonymous
2016-02-01T14:56:24+00:00

This question has been asked a million times, but I still didn't find a solution for Office 2016 (Word 2016) for mac.

I have a Word file, save it as PDF and I get very ugly white borders in my file. I don't know why MS would do this as I cannot imagine anybody being happy with these annoying margins. 

So the main question: how do we get rid of them?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435K Reputation points
    2016-02-01T15:21:26+00:00

    Well, Microsoft really doesn't have anything to do with it :-) Since generating a PDF actually is a print process, there are 2 primary considerations involved;

    • Word processing documents typically have margins on all 4 sides. Content within the margins is treated by the printer as being in the printable area. Content outside the margins is not treated as being printable. This is a standard, not something that is a part of The Great Microsoft Conspiracy. However...
    • Even if margins are set to zero, most desktop printers (including PDF creators) will not print to the edge of the paper (what is called "full bleed") unless the print job is specifically set to use a Borderless Paper Size setting.

    To "get rid of them" you can either use Page Setup in Word to specify something such as US Letter (Borderless) or make the specification in the Print dialog. Options may vary depending on OS X version as well as printer model.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-02-01T16:19:10+00:00

    Hi Bob. This made my day. I got it solved by making a new borderless paper format in the page settings menu.

    Maybe MS could decrease the users' suspicion of their Great Microsoft Conspiracy by adding borderless format, as a standard Print format (if the printer can't handle it, they just won't print the borders, same result, less annoying).

    10 people found this answer helpful.
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  1. Anonymous
    2016-03-04T15:24:09+00:00

    For anyone else looking for more details on how to get this working, these are the exact steps to take:

    1. Choose File > Page Setup in the menu bar at the top of your screen
    2. Change Format For to Any Printer
    3. Choose Paper Size > Manage Custom Sizes…
    4. Click the + button in the bottom left of the Page Setup dialog box
    5. Double click UNTITLED and change it to 8.5 x 11” Full Bleed (or something else obvious)
    6. Set Paper Size to 8.5 In x 11 in
    7. Set Non-Printable Area to User Defined
    8. Set all four margins to 0 in
    9. Click OK
    10. Click OK again
    11. Choose File > Print in your menu bar
    12. Click PDF in the bottom left of the Print Dialog Box and choose Save as PDF…

    Hope that helps someone!

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-14T05:40:28+00:00

    This doesn't work for me.  I'm using Word 2016 on a PC - and I don't seem to have those same options for margins.  My page setup is under the printing tab not under file, and I have nothing suggesting full-bleed or allowing me to define the non-printable area.

    Can anyone assist?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2016-02-10T18:03:57+00:00

    I just updated to 15.19 and now save to PDF (but not print) respects the nonprintable margin settings in Print Setup for my custom profile with zeros in all four sides allowing bleed to full page size.  THANKS!

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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