You should now know how to insert ruler in Word in the future if you discover that it’s missing. Step 2: Select the View tab at the top of the window. When you’re done with this article, find out how to hide comments when printing in Word if that’s an issue you’ve encountered before. The steps in this article were performed in Microsoft Word for Office 365, but will work in many earlier versions of Word as well. How to Show the Ruler in Microsoft Word (Guide with Pictures) Our tutorial below will show you how to display the ruler in Microsoft Word if it’s not currently visible.įind out how to get character count in Word if you need to know how many letters and numbers are in your document, or a partial selection in your document. This lets you determine how large an image, table, column, or other document elements will be when it’s printed. One way to solve this is to display the ruler on the screen. The size of certain elements can be difficult to determine on the screen, as what you see on your computer usually doesn’t reflect the actual size when it’s printed. You can use gridlines to help with that, but they might not be as effective as you would like. That’s why it can be so useful to have the ruler in Word Office 365 when you are trying to line up document objects or measure how big something will be when it prints. Sometimes when you’re working with a document in Microsoft Word, the physical size of some of the elements on your page can be important. Our guide continues below with additional information on adding the ruler to a Word document, including pictures of these steps. Have a look at our how-to for starting and ending columns in Word for additional help.5 Additional Reading How to Add the Ruler in Word for Office 365 And it gives you a super quick way to adjust the layout for your document.Īlong with using the ruler for tab stops and indents, you can use it to resize columns if you have a Word document that benefits from that layout. But after a while, you won’t even notice it’s there. If you’ve never used the ruler in Word, it may take time to get used to it appearing in your document. For Show measurements in units of, use the drop-down list to choose the unit type.For Show vertical ruler in Print Layout view, check the box if you want to display it.Go down to the Display section on the right.You can show or hide the vertical ruler on the left and change the units of measurement for the ruler. You can adjust a couple of settings for the ruler in Word if you like. To set a hanging indent with the ruler, drag the top triangular marker on the left side of the ruler to the left. By setting this, each line in a paragraph is indented except for the first line. To set the first line indent with the ruler, drag the top triangular marker on the left side of the ruler to the right.Ī hanging indent is basically the opposite of a first line indent. This indents only the first line of each paragraph. Many types of documents like essays or books use a first line indent. Setting first line and hanging indents are two other convenient ways to use the ruler in Word. Drag this triangular marker to set your right indent. There is only one piece on the right side of the horizontal ruler. This will also move the triangular pieces which you can use later for a first line or hanging indent if you like. On the left side of the horizontal ruler, you’ll see two triangular markers atop a square. But you can also do this easily using the ruler. You can set up your left and right indents in Word on the Layout tab. To remove a tab stop, click it, and drag it downward off of the ruler. You can select the tab stop and move it along the ruler if you want to position it differently. To set one, click the icon to get to the type and then click the ruler to place it. In order, you can select left, center, right, decimal, and bar tab stops. Each time you click that icon, it changes to a different type of tab stop. On the far left of the horizontal ruler, you’ll see the tab icon which looks like the letter “ L”. You’ll then see the ruler display across the top and left side of the document. Go to the View tab and check the box for Ruler in the Show area of the ribbon. Display the Ruler in WordĮnabling the ruler in Word takes just a few clicks. To get started using the ruler in Word, we’ll show you how to display it and then set up these other items for your document layout.