Structure the page with layout guides

Use layout guides to organize text, pictures, and other objects into columns and rows so that your publication has an ordered, consistent look.

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What are layout guides?

Structure the page with layout guides

What are layout guides?

Layout guides help you maintain the alignment of objects, such as pictures, text boxes, and tables. When enabled, the layout guides will give you visible guidance for greater mastery in aligning objects on the page. Shapes, Pictures, Text Boxes, Tables, WordArt, and Grouped objects can align using their edges or their midlines. Tables can also align using their gridlines. As you drag or resize an object over a layout guide, the edges, midlines, and (in the case of tables) gridlines will briefly stick to the guide giving you an indication of the guides location.

Layout guides include margin, column, row, and baseline guides.

1. Margin guides

2. Column guides

3. Row guides

4. Baseline guides

5. Ruler guides

You can use layout guides to create a grid on a master page. This grid appears on every page in your publication where that master page is used.

Find more information about ruler guides in the Show or hide rulers article.

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Structure the page with layout guides

Set up your publication to print on facing pages (like a book)

1. On the Page Design tab, click Margins, and then select the Custom Margins.

2. In the Layout Guides dialog box, under Master Pages, select the Two-page master check box.

3. Under Margin Guides, enter the amount of space that you want for the page margins in the Inside, Outside, Top, and Bottom boxes.
   

   Note:  This will set the margins for the master page that is applied to the current page only, if your publication uses more than one master page the other master pages will not be affected by these margin settings.

Set up the column and row guides

1. On the Page Design tab, click Guides, and then click the Grid Guides tab.

2. Under Column Guides, enter the number of columns that you want in the Columns box, and then enter the amount of space that you want between the columns in the Spacing box.

3. Under Row Guides, enter the number of rows that you want in the Rows box, and then enter the amount of space that you want between the rows in the Spacing box.

4. To include an additional guide in the center of the space between each column and row, click the Add center guide between columns and rows check box.

5. Click OK.

Set up the baseline guides

Baseline guides help you to align text that is not linked between several text boxes in columns. You can turn the text alignment on or off by selecting or clearing the Align text to baseline guides check box (Format menu, Paragraph command, Indents and Spacing tab).

1. On the Home tab, click the Line Spacing button, and then select Baseline Guides.

2. On the Baseline Guides tab, under Horizontal Baseline, enter the amount of space that you want between baselines in the Spacing box.
   

   Note:  If you have East Asian editing languages installed you will also see Vertical Baseline settings.

3. In the Offset box, enter the amount of space that you want between the first baseline guide and the top margin.
   

   Note: The offset is measured from the top margin, not the top of the text box.

4. To view the baseline guides in your publication, click Baseline on the View tab.
   

   Note:  If you have East Asian editing languages installed you will click Horizontal Baselines and Vertical Baselines.

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