Why is My Word Document Printing So Small?

Have you attempted to print a document in Word 2013, only to wind up with a page containing a much smaller version of that document?

This is due to a page size that has been modified by the person that created the document, often due to the size of the paper on which they were printing.

In some cases, a smaller page scale can be helpful for fitting a specific need but more often than not, you will modify a document with the intention of printing it at its default size.

Fortunately, it is a simple change in order to fix the page size in Word 2013.

Print at the Correct Page Size in Word 2013

The steps below are specifically for Microsoft Word 2013, but the same idea applies to earlier versions of Word as well.

If a document is printing very small, then it is due to the page size being set at a smaller size than the paper size that you are actually using.

The steps below will show you how to switch the page size to the size of the paper that you are actually using so that it prints as it should.

Step 1: Open the document in Word 2013.

Step 2: Click the Page Layout option at the top of the window.

click the page layout tab

Step 3: Click the Size button in the Page Setup section of the navigational ribbon, then select the size of paper on which you are actually printing your document.

click size, then choose the correct page size

The layout of your pages should now reflect how they will appear when you print them on the correct paper size. You can click the File tab at the top-left of the window, then click Print to see a preview of the document.

Now that you know why your Word document is printing so small, you can check these settings for future documents that seem to be having a similar scaling issue.

Do you need to add page numbers to your document? Learn how with this article.

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