Two per page printing margins in Microsoft Word

Question

I have a document that I created in Microsoft Word. I set up the margins so The text goes almost all the way to the edges (like .2" margins).

The document is oriented portrait style and I want to print two portrait style copies of this document on one landscape oriented page.

I achieved this by selecting the two per page option in print settings. The problem I am having is that there seems to be another set of margins for the landscape page that surrounds the two copies of the portrait document. I want the two copies of the document to be centered on the landscape page being only .2" from the edges but it prints a lot further in like there is a overall page margin around the two smaller documents.

Does anyone know if there is a setting or margin adjustment for this?

I have just been printing in two columns to achieve the same effect, but the documents I want printed are already made on full pages so I have to copy, paste and re-format every time.

Solution 1

I found that if you have the Adobe PDF printer or CutePDF Writer you can print it to a PDF file and then printing that PDF file will not add the extra margins.

Solution 2

I found an answer for how to solve this, directly within Word.

My problem was the same as described above - when I selected "2 Pages Per Sheet" in the print options, the pages printed out with a large left hand margin on both sides of the page - so it wasn't centred, and couldn't be folded.

To solve this click on the "2 Pages Per Sheet" dropdown in the print settings, and at the bottom of the list click "Scale to Paper Size" then select the paper size you are printing to. This immediately centers the 2 pages per sheet and scales it correctly.

Solution 3

IF the excessive 'border' is on the left of one portrait copy and on the right of the other then reducing any gutter setting (Page Layout, Page Setup, Margins) may help - if it is not already 0! Otherwise Reduce Outside and Inside to suit.

If there is too much 'border' at the top and bottom reduce Left and Right Margin values.

With all settings at zero I doubt there is any way to reduce borders further (one at least is likely to be required by your printer).

However, you may be better off with Book fold rather than 2 pages per sheet. Gutter there controls the space between the two images (presumably you would want that set to about 0.4") Top and Bottom then rather more logically control the margins above and below the portrait copies and Outside the left and right borders, as a pair (Inside is like Gutter for Book fold).