How to fix being unable to move margins up and down, as well as there being no page breaks.

Question

I opened Word and found that the cursor appeared at the very top edge of the page. I tried to move it down using the margin templates. I tried the custom margin settings, but the cursor never changed position, except for the page changing size. I tried using the ruler but the vertical slider hasn't appeared. The other issue is that there are no page breaks and the pages look like there joined together. Can someone please help?

Answer 1

The space for the top and bottom margins is called the "white space."

You can click on the double ended arrow pointer between pages to display it. Or you can set that option.

For more, see:

• Elusive White Space by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP. [http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/WhiteSpace.htm]
• Margins Missing - White Space on my site: https://www.addbalance.com/word/whitespace.htm

Answer 2

The top margin is most likely hidden in Print Layout view, which makes the cursor appear at the very top of the page and prevents seeing where the margin actually is.

To restore the visible top (and bottom) margins:

1. Make sure the document is in Print Layout view.
2. Move the pointer slowly to the very top edge of the page (where the white page meets the gray background) until the pointer changes to a double‑pointed vertical arrow.
3. Double‑click when the double‑pointed arrow appears.

This turns off the “hide margins” option so the top margin reappears and the cursor moves down accordingly. Repeat the same action to hide the margins again if needed.

If further adjustment of margin size is required after they are visible:

1. Go to Layout > Margins.
2. Choose a preset or select Custom Margins and set the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right values as desired.

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References:

• My top margin is missing
• Change margins
• Change document layout