THE PAGE LAYOUT TAB
 
The Page Layout Tab

The third tab in the Ribbon is the Page Layout tab. This tab has several different functions: arranging document-level changes, arranging objects on a page, and generally changing the overall appearance of your document.


Page Setup

This is where you can make Document-Level Changes.

You can set Margins:

Either choose one of the preset margins, or click on "Custom Margins" at the bottom of the menu.

You can also set:

  • Orientation: Set to Portrait (vertical) or Landscape (horizontal);
  • Size: Set to Letter, A4, or other paper sizes;
  • Columns: Break your writing into vertical columns:

The text you select will be changed to however many columns you decide. If you select only one or a few paragraphs, they will be changed to columns while the other text will stay as it is.

You can also choose three other changes:

  • Breaks: Choose different ways to jump to the next "top" area. A Page Break, for example, will jump from your current position to the top of the next page; a Column Break will jump from your current position to the top of the next column. And so on. For this class, ignore the Section Breaks.
  • Line Numbers: You can add numbers to the side of each line, if you wish.
  • Hyphenation: You can have the computer break words into parts and add hyphens, to make Justified or other-aligned text look more even:

NOTE: Many essay styles, including MLA, do not allow hyphenation.

By clicking on the dialog box button, you can get the Page Setup dialog box. This is what previous versions of MS Word used instead of the Ribbon:

  • Margins Tab: Change margins and orientation;
  • Paper Tab: Change paper size and printer tray options;
  • Layout Tab: Set Header & Footer preferences.
Page Background

These are used mostly for special documents (usually not for academic essays).

  • Watermark: Add a large, usually gray message as a background to the text. This is often used to show a special category for the document, such as "CONFIDENTIAL" (private).
  • Page Color: This is more useful for viewing on a computer, and less useful for printing. When you print, many printers will leave irregular blank margins at the edges. If you wish to have color on the page, it is easier (and cheaper, as printer ink is expensive!) just to use colored paper.
  • Page Borders: Puts a border around the whole page.
Paragraph

This area allows you to set a few basic paragraph styles.

  • Indent: You can change only the left or right indents--not the First Line or Hanging indents.
  • Spacing: Add or remove extra spacing after paragraphs.

Clicking on the dialog box button will open the Paragraph dialog box.
Arrange

This area allows you to quickly arrange how graphic elements (such as pictures and shapes) appear on your page:

  • Position: Quickly choose a basic location on the page for a graphic. This feature will automatically arrange for Text Wrapping.
  • Bring to Front / Send to Back: Quickly arrange the layers of overlapping graphics.
  • Text Wrapping: when you insert a graphic, usually only one line of text will appear to the left or right, leaving a large empty area on each side of the graphic. Text Wrapping allows text to fill in those empty spaces, and "wrap" around an image. There are various ways you can have the text wrap.
Two versions of the same image are shown below. The top image has a "blank background," which MS Word can see; using "Tight" text wrapping, the text enters the blank areas automatically.

Many Clip Art graphics allow for automatic "Tight" text wrapping.





The middle image does not have a blank background; instead, its background is filled in with a color (in this case, white). The "Tight" text wrapping will not allow the text to fill in. However, you can set this manually by setting the text wrap to "Tight" and then using "Edit Wrap Points," as shown at lower left.
  • Align: Automatically takes several different graphics and lines them up according to pre-set rules.
  • Group: Same as in PowerPoint--allows multiple graphics to be temporarily joined, so they behave like one object.
  • Rotate: Rotate or flip graphics. You can also rotate using the green "Rotate" handle on the object placeholder, again like in PowerPoint.