In “Compile,” (Compile/Edit Format/Page Settings) there are two places you can set the margins. One is whien you click on the “Page Setup” button: if you click the button with three dots, you get page size AND MARGINS. The next is just under the “Page Setup” button, where it says margins. I inserted different number in each of the two different locations, and I can’t tell what’s happening. Why are there two locations to set margins, and which actually applies to the text?
Hi.
The first one, in 
, concerns the printable area.
The second one 
would be more about the text restrain (to put it like that).
They both do pretty much the same, but when you need to set an alternating margin for a book, for the gutter, it is the second one + this option checked:
I’ve never really investigated it, – compile and then see what the ruler says in LibreOffice –, but I suspect that the second one operates within the set range of the first.
[EDIT] I just did. I’ve set 3’’ for the page setup margin, and 2’’ in the margins.
The result compiled to RTF was a 2’’ margin.
I think the first one is only instructions for print (for your printer).
So I assume that in the case of a print (and PDF too (?)), “margin2” will add its value inside the printable range set by “margin1” in the page setup.
[EDIT2] Compile to PDF only responds to the “margins” margins.
I think it is fair to assume that the first one is only for print. As in “at home”, your personal printer.
One should read the manual at this point. 
(If I ever knew, I forgot.)
It doesn’t say much as regard to the page setup’s margins.
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Alright, I pushed testing a little further.
I’ve set margins (the left margin) again to 2" in the page setup, and 3" in the margins dialog.
I printed (compiled to print), and as I expected the text to be 5" from the left side, it came out at 3".
Then I’ve set the margins dialog to 0". Printed. I expected the text to have printed at 2" from the left side of the sheet. But… I got no margin at all.
It would appear that the margin value in the page setup dialog has no effect whatsoever. (At least for the Windows version.)
I’ve been using Scrivener for quite a good couple of years, and that has never bothered me before.
My advice: ignore the margin values from the page setup. Use solely the margins dialog. You should be fine.
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@AmberV There is a (benign) mismatch between the Windows manual and the actual margins mini-panel.
24.19.3 → 
The margins setup says “Inside” and “Outside”.
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Thanks! I’ll get it fixed, and have added a note to add a clarification about the Page Setup margin controls being ignored in this context. I think they should be hidden in this case, but it might be we can’t do that since it is a standard print settings window rather than hand-coded.
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Just to make sure I understand right, the page setup margins are not expected to do anything. (?)
It is the
part, that is a tad confusing, here.
I think so, I’ll have to double-check when I write it up though. It is too much the weekend right now to actually document it. 
Have a good one.
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