MS Word Resume formatting

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MS Word Resume formatting

Eric Korbitz 40

I am working on a resume for myself. Found a template somewhere (not sure where, as it was a while ago.) The first page of the resume is great, but I have two problems:

Even though I have top and bottom margins set very small, the apparent margin when I print is huge ( over 1 inch top and bottom yet I have margins set to 0.25)
When data moves to a 2nd page the info that should be in the right column moves to the left column on page two. I don't want a 2nd page, which is why I am trying to keep the margins small. I was able to force it onto one page by using 9 point font, but then I get really small words and the giant margins I am talking about in 1 above. Nobody wants to read it that way!

TIA for your help.

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Answer 1

Charles Kenyon 166.7K Volunteer Moderator

You may want to try a different template.

It sounds as if the one you are using is set for newspaper style columns rather than using Tables for the columnar formatting. See: https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/sections2007.htm#ColumnTable

If you want someone here to look at it, please save a copy on OneDrive or DropBox without any confidential or proprietary information (i.e. dummy text) and post a link here.

https://addbalance.com/articles/Why%20a%20sample%20file%20is%20important%20for%20troubleshooting.%20How%20to%20do%20it.htm

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Answer 2

To address the issues you're experiencing with your resume in MS Word:

Margin Issues: Even if you have set your margins to 0.25 inches, the printer settings or the printer itself may have a minimum margin requirement that could be causing the larger printed margins. To troubleshoot this:
- Check your printer settings and ensure that it is not set to a specific print mode that enforces larger margins.
- You can also try printing a test document with the same margin settings to see if the issue persists.
- Additionally, ensure that your page size in Word matches the paper size you are using in your printer.
Column Formatting on Second Page: If the information in your right column is moving to the left column on the second page, it could be due to the way the columns are set up in your document. Here are a few suggestions:
- Ensure that your columns are set correctly in the layout options. You can do this by going to the "Layout" tab, selecting "Columns," and making sure the settings are consistent across your document.
- You might also want to check for any section breaks that could be affecting the layout. If your document has section breaks, ensure that the column settings are applied to all sections.
- If you want to keep everything on one page without reducing the font size too much, consider adjusting the spacing between lines or paragraphs to create more room.

By following these steps, you should be able to resolve the formatting issues on your resume.

References:

Answer 3

There may be content in the header and footer that is taking up space. Large headers and footer will over-ride your margin settings.

If you are trying to enter large amounts of text and have the document remain one page, you can reduce the side margins, reduce the line spacing, switch to a narrow font or reduce the font size.

To prevent right-column text from appearing in the left column of the second page, add a Column Break (Layout>Breaks>Column) to the top of the left-hand column on page 2. The column break moves with the text, so do this after you are finished editing your resume.

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MS Word Resume formatting

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