To understand "margins" section if using a custom paper size

[jsx97]

In Pages, you can use custom paper sizes, e.g., 7.5 by 11 inches: File > Page Setup > Paper Size > Manage Custom Sizes.

Then there will be a window where you can set all the necessary values.

What I don't understand is the **Margins** section. I know what the margins are, but irrespective which values I set there, the document itself, after it has been created, ignores them, and I need to adjust margins again.

In other words, I try to understand whether (a) this setting simply doesn't work and this is a known bug or, instead, (b) I don't understand how it should work.

 

[DM666]

Supposedly, the custom paper settings are for using non-standard sized print media. In a printer's "definition", the margins would refer to the non-printable area (i.e., the "margins" where a printer can't put ink or toner onto a piece of paper). For example, my laser printer has 0.17" printer margins, all-around. These margin values would apply to a standard U.S. Letter sized paper when printing. Printer margins let software know what the capability of the printer is, in terms of printable area for a given paper size.

Document margins control the space from the edge of the document to where you'd want content to stop.

As long as your printer margins are less than the document margins, there won't be an issue (for actual printing). So, for my laser printer's driver/definition, as long as my document margins are larger than 0.17", everything in the document will print properly.

Whether this is working properly in various macOS versions, or whether a given application supports or uses this info, is another thing...