This tutorial shows how to change the unit of measurement for the ruler, margins, and indents in Word for Mac to inches, centimeters, millimeters, points, or picas.
Important Note: Word for Mac doesn’t provide a way to change the unit of measurement for the ruler, margins, and indents independently of each other.
This tutorial is available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.
Watch more than 100 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.
The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac. These steps also apply to Word 2021 for Mac, Word 2019 for Mac, and Word 2016 for Mac.
Are you on a PC? Please see “How to Change the Unit of Measurement for the Ruler, Margins, and Indents in Microsoft Word.”
How to Change the Unit of Measurement for the Ruler, Margins, and Indents
- Select the Word menu.
- Select Preferences from the drop-down menu.
- Select the General button in the Word Preferences dialog box.
- Select Inches, Centimeters, Millimeters, Points, or Picas from the Show measurements in units of menu.
- Select the Close button.
Your horizontal and vertical rulers should change to your new unit of measurement.
In addition, you can select the Layout tab in the ribbon to ensure that the Margins and Indent menus have also changed to your new unit of measurement.
This change applies to all your current and future documents.
However, existing custom margins or indents will not be physically changed. Instead, they will be displayed in the converted equivalent to their original custom setting.
For example, if you changed the unit of measurement from inches to points, an existing two-inch margin would display as 144 points.
Related Resources
How to Adjust the Space between Words in Word for Mac
How to Create a Custom Heading Style in Microsoft Word for Mac