When you're working in PowerPoint, the Ruler and various dialog boxes or task panes (such as picture or object size) display in inches or centimetres. If you want to change your measurement system units from inches to cm (centimetres) or vice versa, you’ll need to change your control panel settings for your device. Sep 10, 2018 In Word, you can select one of several units of measurement for the ruler. You may be working on a document for someone who measures their margins, tabs, etc. In a different set of units than you usually use. It’s easy to change. Click the “File” tab. Click “Options” in the menu list on the left. The Word Options dialog box displays. When setting tabs, you’ll need to display the ruler along the top edge of your document. It is on the ruler that you will be setting tabs. If you can’t see a ruler running acros the top of your workspace, click View Show Ruler (ensure that that box is checked). To the far left of the ruler, you should see the tab selector button.

• 3-minute read
• 25th April 2021

Do you prefer to work in inches rather than centimetres? Or vice versa? Or maybe you want to see measurements in points or picas? Not a problem! It’s easy to change the units of measurement used in Microsoft Word.

You can use the Ruler to create and change tabs and indents. You can also use it to block text. To show the ruler, click on the word View in the Apple menu bar and select the Ruler option. A checkmark will appear next to the Ruler option and the ruler will appear at the top of your document. Creating a First-Line Indent (Tab) with the Ruler 1. MS Word shows a horizontal and a vertical ruler that it uses to align margins, paragraphs, images, tables, etc. This ruler can be customized and played with by the user in many ways.

Let’s take a look at how to do this in Word for Windows and Word for Mac.

Units of Measurement in Word for Windows

To change the units of measurement in Microsoft Word for Windows:

1. Click File tab on the ribbon and select Options.
2. Go to the Advanced tab and scroll down to the Display section.
3. Select an option from the Show measurements in units of menu.
4. Click OK to save your selection.

This will change the unit of measurement used for various measures in your document, including the margins, indentation options, and the ruler tool.

In addition, your choice of unit will be applied to all other documents, including any new documents you create. As such, you will need to change the unit of measurement again if you want to use a different unit in a different document.

Units of Measurement in Word for Mac

If you are using Microsoft Word for Mac, you’ll need to:

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1. Go to Word > Preferences via the toolbar.
2. Select General under Authoring and Proofing Tools.
3. Select a unit of measurement from the Show measurements in units of menu.
4. Close the preferences pane to save your changes.

As with Word for Windows, this will change the unit displayed in all documents for various measurements, including the margins, indentations, and the ruler.

Points and Picas

Finally, a quick note on the units available. Most will be familiar (e.g. inches, centimetres, millimetres). But there are two typographic units you might not know:

• Points (pt) – A point in typography is a unit of measurement roughly equivalent to ⅙ of an inch. This unit is typically used to indicate the size of type (i.e. font size) as well as the spaces between the lines in text (i.e. line spacing).
• Picas (p) – Twelve ‘points’ make up one ‘pica’. This unit is also used for measurements in typography, but tends to be used for things like the length of lines, margin sizes, and the width and depth of columns.

You may not need to use these units very often (unless you’re a typographer). Nevertheless, if desired, you can select them via the process described above.

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MS Word shows a horizontal and a vertical ruler that it uses to align margins, paragraphs, images, tables, etc. This ruler can be customized and played with by the user in many ways. I use it extensively in formatting my documents.

Change Microsoft Word Ruler To Inches 2011 Version

However, I use MS Word 2007 where the ruler unit is in inches by default (refer the image below). And somehow I am not comfortable with the inches scale.

So, I considered changing the units to Centimeters. If you have similar intent, follow the two steps elaborated below:-

Step 1: Open MS Word and navigate to File -> Word Options.

Step 2: On the Word Options window, switch to the Advanced tab (on the left pane). Scroll to the section for Display and choose the desired unit from the drop down placed against the option reading Show measurements in units of. Click on Ok when done.

That’s it. You now have a ruler showing the unit that you find easy to work with. Here is mine that reads in cm.

Don’t see the ruler? You can activate it by navigating to View tab. Tick mark Ruler on the

Microsoft Word 2010 Ruler

Show/Hide section.

Image Credit: Biking Nikon

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