How to permanently change OpenOffice.org Writer's margins to 1 inch

As I’ve been hearing from people frustrated with this issue a lot lately, and have also recently learned how to correct it, I thought I’d share.  OpenOffice.org Writer’s default margins are set to 0.79″, which is equivalent to 2 cm, apparently a standard in some other parts the world.  Correcting this permanently requires creating a new default document template for OOo Writer, which is actually pretty easy.

First, open up OpenOffice.org Writer and make the document just the way you like it.  You can change the default font, add headers, change the line spacing, or whatever.  Just don’t forget to change all the margins to 1″ (If you are having trouble doing this go to Format > Page and in the bottom left corner change top, bottom, left, and right to 1.00″, and hit OK).

Next, go to File > Templates > Save.  In the new window, click in the New Templates field, and give your template a name such as “My New Default Template With One Inch Margins” or whatever you’d like to call it.  In the category box, leave My Templates selected, and click OK.

The last step is to make this new template the default for new OOo Writer documents.  To do this, go to File > Templates > Organize.  Double click the My Templates folder in the left pane, and select the template you just created.  Next, click the Commands button, and click the Set as Default Template option, and click Close.

That’s it!  From now on, all new documents you create will have the correct margins.  If  you found this helpful, leave me a comment to let me know!

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