Placement of header and page numbers?

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

When I compile into a .pdf, the header info and page numbers seem really far in from the edges of the page. I need to set my top/bottom margins at 1.25" just to make sure the content doesn’t run into them. Is that normal? Is there any way of adjusting the placement of header/footer–meaning their distance from the edge of the page? It seems like I’m losing a lot of usable page space on a 6x9 paperback.

2

The header and footer will appear halfway between the edge of the page and the edge of the margin. So, with a 1" margin they will appear 1/2" down. This may vary depending on the printer, though - it might be that your printer or print settings are telling Scrivener that it cannot print on certain areas of the paper. In that case, the printable margin area may be reduced. So, check all the print settings (which affect PDF files).

All the best,
Keith

3

Thanks, Keith. I will try that.

4

Tried a .pdf (which, apparently IS CreateSpace’s preferred format) and ended up with the results below. I set the top and bottom margins to 1/2" and you can see where the header/footer info ended up. It’s at least one full inch in from the top and bottom, which to me seems excessive. Is this just how it has to be?

Screen shot 2012-02-20 at 6.55.12 PM.png
Screen shot 2012-02-20 at 6.55.12 PM.png541×807 44.9 KB

5

This would appear to be a problem with your print settings (“Page Setup”, either from the File menu or from the “Page Settings” pane of Compile, depending on which one you are using). If the printer tells Scrivener that certain parts of the page aren’t printable, the header will try to avoid that area, although it seems that the text doesn’t always manage to. So in this case, it seems that you have an unnecessary “non-printable” area defined.

All the best,
Keith

6

Hoo-freaking-ray. THANK YOU! Had no idea there were TWO sets of settings I needed to juggle. Onward!

7

Glad you got it sorted! You don’t usually need to mess with that at all - it must be some weird printer setting on your machine for some reason, possibly down to your physical printer - but I’m glad you’re up and running, anyway!
All the best,
Keith

8

I’m going to piggyback on this old question because I’ve been struggling with the exact same problem. My header won’t budge no matter what I do. I’ve had the non-printable area set as user-defined all along, so that’s not it. Any other suggestions? I’m running out of ideas.

I’m on Snow Leopard (yeah, planning to upgrade soon) on a 2009 MBP, running Scrivener 2.5.