Set margins to zero in text document

[sunilmuse]

Hi I would like the background colour of the text to extend to the whole page rather than just the text margins.

How do I set the margins to zero?

Thanks
Sunil.

[RusselB]

On the ruler (in my case located at the top of the page) for each margin there are two triangles that point to each other.
Use the mouse to put the cursor between the two triangles for the margin you want to move. The cursor will change to a double arrow pointing away from each other.
This changes the sheet margin and the text margin.
To set the text margin, after changing the sheet margin, move the bottom* triangle back in to the location you want for your text margin.

You do have to change both the sheet and text margins, then, if wanted, bring the text margin back in.

Please note: It is possible to set page margins in Writer that are not acceptable for your printer.

*Edited to change top to bottom, after receiving a correction notification.

[Bill]

To set the text margin, after changing the sheet margin, move the top triangle back in to the location you want for your text margin.

I believe you meant move the bottom triangle. The top triangle indents only the first line of the paragraph. The bottom triangle indents all lines of the paragraph.

[RusselB]

Ooopppsss.... Good catch, Bill.... Thanks.

[John_Ha]

How do I set the margins to zero?

Format > Page > Page ...

I would like the background colour of the text to extend to the whole page rather than just the text margins.

See Watermark based on Paper format not margins for precise instructions.

If this solves the problem, please click the Edit button on your original post and add [Solved] in front of your subject.

[sunilmuse]

The background colour is still only extending to the margins and NOT the entire page. Why is this? How do I get it to extend to the entire page?

I have read that forum post on watermarks and I do not understand it and can not see any precise instructions.

Can you explain in THIS post HOW exactly to extend the background colour to the entire page?

[Villeroy]

Writer produces printable documents. No printer can cover the whole page. PDF is just the same as printing but to a file rather than a gadget. Apart from additional notes, PDF should always be true to what would come out of a real printer.

Note your exact paper size from the page setup.
Get the drawing toolbar and draw some freehand rectangle.
Right-click>"Postion and Size"
Anchor to page, enter the exact paper size and set the top-left point to zero.
Protect the position. Finish the dialog.
Right-click>Arrange>To Background
When a click on the document selects the background object, hit Esc to get the focus back to the document.

[Bill]

The background colour is still only extending to the margins and NOT the entire page. Why is this? How do I get it to extend to the entire page?

There is no setting to "extend to the entire page". Even if you set the margins to zero, your printer may not print to the edge of the page. That's a limitation of the printer which no document setting can overcome.

[sunilmuse]

No, here's what I mean.

I added the background colour to this sample Open Office text document. I then converted it to a PDF (see attached)

As you can see, the background colour only extends as far as the text frame so it leaves a horrible white margin around the text frame. This can be seen when sizing the document to the actual size of 100%

Is there any way of getting the grey background colour to extend over the whole sheet rather than just in the text frame?

If so, how?

[Bill]

The topic is "How do you set the margins to zero in the text documents". This has not been done in your sample ODT document. Are you now changing the topic to "How do you extend the background color to the edge of the page without setting the margins to zero"?

[sunilmuse]

Well the 2 things are related!

I have done as suggested and now removed the margins as you can see in the attached files.

This has not solved the problem as the text has no margins. I would like the background colour to extend over the entire text sheet but with a margin between the edge of the sheet and the text. I would like that text margin to be the SAME colour as the background colour, not the horrible white in my above example.

How do I get a text margin, that is the same colour as the grey background for the text?

[Bill]

Format > Page > Borders
Click the second Default Line arrangement. Set the Line color the same as the chosen background color. Set the Spacing to contents the same as the original margins. It's a kludge that produces the effect you want on the screen. Writer is not designed to print full-page backgrounds. AFAIK, most printers have an unprintable area near the edge of every page, so you will probably still have a "margin" on every page with no background color.

[RoryOF]

If one is intending to print a full page background, it is much cheaper to buy a ream of coloured paper and print on that, without fiddling with the page background. Printing coloured page backgrounds EATS ink.

[RusselB]

IMO Rory is being nice when he says that printing coloured backgrounds EATS ink... I'd be more likely to say that it DEVOURS ink.

[John_Ha]

The OP wants to create a PDF - see his/her other post - so eating ink won't be a problem.

If you cannot understand the watermark post to which I referred you, then read the manual and work out how to insert an image, stretch it to the page edges, and set the wrap to background so that you can type over it. It is all covered in Chapter 8 - Working with Graphics.

If this solves the problem, please click the Edit button on your original post and add [Solved] in front of your subject.

[RoryOF]

I thought the PDF might only be an intermediate method of proofing - it wasn't mentioned in the early posts.

[sunilmuse]

Format > Page > Borders
Click the second Default Line arrangement. Set the Line color the same as the chosen background color. Set the Spacing to contents the same as the original margins. It's a kludge that produces the effect you want on the screen.

Bill, I did what you described but I am still getting that horrible white text margin around the text frame.

I went to Format > Page > Borders...then clicked on the second default line arrangement and set the line colour same as chosen background colour..but it's still not working.
It may be because I didn't understand the last part of your statement.

What do you mean by set the spacing to the same as the orginal margins? At the moment they are all set to 0.05cm as you can see in the attachment.

What do I need to set them to?

Thanks.

[Bill]

If you're still getting white space around the text, then your margins aren't set to zero. You need to set the margins to zero and add the borders.

I've already deleted your original hello.odt document. If the margins in that document were 1", then set the spacing to contents to 1".

[sunilmuse]

So how and where do I set the margins to zero?

I am confused.

[Bill]

Format > Page > Page > Margins.

[John_Ha]

Bill

You may be wasting your time as he was told that 15 posts ago as well as in his other thread. I don't think he is reading the replies.

[John_Ha]

Can you explain in THIS post HOW exactly to extend the background colour to the entire page?

Download the example file at Re: Watermark based on Paper format not margins and have a look. 45 other people have done so - why can't you?

[sunilmuse]

Format > Page > Page > Margins.

Hi Bill, I did this and set the margins to zero but I realise it is not what I want.

I want margins but for them to be the same colour as the background colour in the text frame.

John Ha has posted a link to watermarks and I have tried reading it but simply don't understand it.

Can you explain how to get a text margin that is the same as the background colour of the text frame?

Thanks.

[RoryOF]

Here is a method, but you'll have to play around to get it working exactly for you:

/Insert /Frame : Type tab, Position, Horizontal and Vertical, both set to Centre on the dropdowns with Page text area on the dropdowns. Anchor set "To Page", Width set to whatever text width you want (on A4 with default 2cm margins, this is 17.00 cm), Height set to whatever text height you want (on A4 with default 2cm margins, this is 25.70 cm). You may need to fiddle with "Spacing to contents" on the Borders tab and to turn off the borders (click on leftmost icon)

/Format /Page : Page tab. Set all margins to 0. Press Background tab and select the colour you wish to use. Press OK and when it gripes, tell it that you wish your settings to be used.

You can link the frame to a frame on the next page (see Help: frames : linking)

Because you have set zero margins you may have to steer your formatting manually.

[Bill]

Can you explain how to get a text margin that is the same as the background colour of the text frame?

You can't. Writer isn't designed to do that. Background color applied to a page will only be applied to the text area, not the margins. You have to use a kludge to either simulate margins or insert a picture of the background color that covers the whole page.

[BobN]

AH --

menu Format -> Page select Page Tab and set the margins to zero.

You'll be warned that the settings are outside print range but you can accept that if you like with OK

Printing many be strange but question was how to set zero margins, not about advisability of doing so or results.

Bob

[RoryOF]

...

Printing many be strange but question was how to set zero margins, not about advisability of doing so or results.

Bob

Nevertheless, it s often best to indicate the (unforeseen?) side effects, as they may not have occurred to an inexperienced User.