[Macworld.com]

TextEdit’s print margins too broad for your tastes? Create a template in another application that features more flexible margins. [more]

[HandyMac]

Great tip. Also works with AppleWorks: create a file, Save As RTF, then drag to TextEdit, or set via command-I or contextual menu to open with TextEdit, then Wrap to Window to show the margins, Save, and you have a TextEdit "template" with the margins you want. (If you have a PPC Mac, you're likely to have AppleWorks with it, while NeoOffice -- which is a great app otherwise -- is a trifle big and slow on PPC for a chore as simple as this.)
Even better, check out iText Express, an enhanced version of TextEdit with everything to make it a neat basic word processor (WriteNow for OS X): adjustable margins, page numbers, columns, header/footer, footnotes -- even vertical text if you need that (made in Japan). Apple makes the source code for TextEdit available, so aspiring programmers can play with it, which is just what this one has done. PPC only for now (though it's so small there's no performance hit in Rosetta); perhaps there'll eventually be a Universal version. iText Express files can be opened in TextEdit, and retain their margins (haven't tried other features).

[davidkisley]

In text edit, if you do File>>Page Setup... When you select the paper size, the margins are set there based on what printer you select. If you leave it for all printers, I believe it takes the worst case scenario. In any case, You can create a custom paper size, that will allow you to set the margins in a modern, gui type way. Selecting this before printing will accomplish what you want I believe... /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Neil_Anderson]

Thanks for the tip, David. Custom paper sizes work great.

[Brettcamp]

iText Express is nice, but Bean is an even cooler and more powerful TextEdit replacement; it's all the word processor I need most of the time.

[Felix001]

Same here...I also use the freeware Bean for quick stuff...small application size and very fast to open, supports the most-used formats, incorporates everything TextEdit doesn't like margin resizing, word count, etc.
I have no idea why VersionTracker doesn't have Bean in their database but I picked it up off MacUpdate back in May or June after seeing it mentioned on a forum. Was a great tip.

[Biallystock]

I second the recommendation to use the open source version of TextEdit, iTextExpress.
I absolutely love it and use it for cut down DTP, creating instructional PDFs or RTFDs with links and multimedia. I use it all the time for notes, snippets, holding audio, video, animated gifs, graphics, photos and links to software etc that I schedule to DL and tick off as I get them.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
And it is absolutely FREE!!!! Oh life can be so good!
I've looked at Bean but it doesn't do columns, headers, footers, notes, bookmarks and many of the other things that iText Express does.

[TNaser]

OK.
The "problem"is Not with TextEdit itself (nor any other program) it's that the term margin, as commonly used is not used correctly.
When within any program you're setting the "Margin" your in fact setting the Software Margin which is NOT the same as the Hardware Margin.
The Hardware Margin is different with every printer. This is the area where the printer can, due to hardware limitations, the printer can place text (or an image).
To find out what this is for your specific printer, set all margins to "0". Then fill a page with text and print it, of course. I just print a line of X's on the first line and enter a single X until I get to the end of the page (especially handy with ink jet printers).
Then, count the number of characters in a line and the number of lines on the page.
This gives you your "Printable" area on your page.
"Software Margins", which is what your actually setting is taken from this "Printable" area, NOT from the page itself.

[Biallystock]

Sorry TNaser you've got this completely wrong, which you would find by just trying to adjust the margins in TextEdit.
They are a fixed 1" or 25.4mm in from whatever paper size you have selected and there is no UI to adjust them.
The way you talk it is as if you are sill using a dotmatrix printer in DOS.
A few years ago I hacked TextEdit to changes this, but of course with every update I had to do it all over again.
So I just trashed TextEdit and use iText Express instead. They effectively are the same, just iText Express has much of the GUI that should be in TextEdit, but isn't. Why go to so much trouble and circuitous file creation to prop a program you don't need to use?
Bean is looking good too and when it catches up on iText Express's features it should be the "missing" iLife Word Processor we have all been waiting for and that Pages is not.