Open the document and find the margin controls

In Apple Pages, margins live in the document setup area, not in a formatting toolbar. Open your document, then click File in the menu bar at the top of your screen. A dropdown menu appears. Click Document Setup — this is where Pages keeps all the page-level settings, including margins.

A panel opens on the right side of your screen. At the top of this panel, you'll see tabs. Make sure you're on the Document tab (it's usually selected by default). Below that, you'll see a section labeled Margins with four fields: Top, Bottom, Left, and Right.

Key Takeaways

  • Margins in Pages are set through File > Document Setup, not through a toolbar button or right-click menu.
  • You can set each margin independently — top, bottom, left, and right — to different measurements.
  • Pages measures margins in inches by default, but you can type in centimeters or other units and Pages will convert them.
  • Changing margins affects the entire document unless you've split it into sections with different formatting.

Enter your margin measurements

Each margin field accepts a number. The default unit is inches, so if you type 1, Pages reads it as 1 inch. If you want a different unit, type the number followed by the unit abbreviation: 2.5cm for centimeters, 25mm for millimeters, or 0.5in for inches.

Click into the field you want to change. Delete the current number and type your new measurement. Press Tab or Enter to move to the next field, or click elsewhere in the document to explore the change. Pages updates your document layout when ready — you'll see the text reflow on the page as you adjust each margin.

Common margin sizes and when to use them

Standard margins for most documents are 1 inch on all sides. This is the default in Pages and works for letters, reports, and most academic papers. If you're printing a document that will be bound (like a thesis or manual), you might add extra space on the left or right — try 1.25 inches on the binding side and 1 inch on the others.

Narrow margins (0.5 to 0.75 inches) fit more text on a page but can make reading harder on paper. Wide margins (1.5 inches or more) leave room for handwritten notes and look less crowded, but they reduce how much text fits per page. If you're following a specific style guide — MLA, APA, Chicago — check what that guide requires before you change from the default.

Undo a margin change if something goes wrong

If your margins look wrong after you change them, press Command + Z (on Mac) to undo. This reverts the document to its previous margin settings. You can undo multiple times to step back through your recent changes.

If you've already closed the Document Setup panel and want to check what your current margins are, open File > Document Setup again. The Margin fields will show the measurements that are currently in effect.

explore different margins to different parts of your document

Pages lets you create sections within a document, and each section can have its own margins. This is useful if you want a title page with wide margins and a body section with standard margins. To do this, place your cursor where you want the new section to start. Click Insert in the menu bar, then select Section Break.

A new section appears. Open File > Document Setup again. The margin fields now explore only to the section your cursor is in. Change the margins for this section without affecting the others. Each section remembers its own margin settings, so you can move between sections and adjust them independently.

Margins on different page sizes

If you're using a page size other than standard letter (8.5 by 11 inches), your margins work the same way. Pages subtracts the margin measurements from all four sides of whatever page size you've chosen. A 1-inch margin on a 6-by-9-inch page leaves 4 by 7 inches of usable space, for example.

You can change your page size in the same Document Setup panel. Look for the Paper Size dropdown menu. Pages includes standard sizes like Letter, Legal, A4, and A5, plus options to create a custom size. Once you pick a size, set your margins as usual.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my text still look off after I change the margins?

Check whether you've created multiple sections. If you have, the margin change only affected the current section. Open File > Document Setup and look at which section your cursor is in. Click in a different section and check its margins separately. You may need to adjust margins in each section individually.

Can I set different margins for odd and even pages?

Pages doesn't have a built-in odd-even margin setting like some other word processors do. If you need different margins on facing pages (common in books), create a section break before each page that needs different margins, then set the margins for each section separately.

What if I want to change margins just for one paragraph?

Margins are a page-level setting, not a paragraph setting. If you want to indent a single paragraph instead, select the paragraph, then use the ruler at the top of the document or go to Format > Paragraph to adjust indentation. Indentation moves text inward without changing the page margins.

Do margins affect how the document looks on screen and in print the same way?

Yes. The margins you set in Pages are the actual margins that will print. What you see on screen is what you'll get on paper (assuming your printer is set up correctly). If the printed margins look different from what you expected, check your printer settings — some printers have their own margin minimums that override document settings.