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Guide

Page setup

Every page in a document follows a page setup — size, orientation, margins, and more — configured once per section.

What it is

Page setup lives in the Section tab of the side panel. It controls the physical shape of the page: size, orientation, margins, and how many newspaper columns the body text flows through.

Key options

  • Page size — a preset like A4, or a custom width and height
  • Portrait or landscape
  • Margins on all four sides
  • Newspaper columns — how many columns the body text flows through, one after the other, and the gap between them (the tab says how wide each one comes out)
  • An optional background PDF stamped behind every page, for a pre-printed letterhead

How editing works

Open the Section tab and look at Size, Orientation, and Margins. Switch the size preset to Custom to set an exact width or height. Under Newspaper columns, add a second column and watch the text re-flow into it. To put blocks side by side instead, use a Row — see "Row columns and newspaper columns".

Size and orientation

Pick the Preset: A3, A4, A5, Letter or Legal, or Custom. The sizes are A3 297 × 420 mm, A4 210 × 297 mm, A5 148 × 210 mm, Letter 216 × 279 mm and Legal 216 × 356 mm. The Width and Height boxes follow the preset and are only editable on Custom. Orientation turns the page between Portrait and Landscape. Set the size your paper really is: a document designed on A4 and printed on Letter is scaled or cropped by the printer, not by Ristmark.

Margins

Margins (mm) is a small picture of the page with a box for each edge: top, right, bottom, left. A new section starts with 18 mm on every side. Click into an edge's box and that edge lights up on the canvas. Widen a margin when you print on pre-printed stationery, so your text stays clear of a printed logo or band.

Newspaper columns

Count is how many columns the body text flows through; Gap (mm) is the space between them. The tab shows how wide each column comes out. This is for text that runs on from one column to the next. To put separate blocks side by side — two addresses, a logo and a title — use a Row. Row columns and newspaper columns compares them.

Base-PDF letterhead

The Section tab calls it "Base-PDF letterhead". It is a PDF of your pre-printed stationery, stamped behind every page of the section. Use Upload or pick one you uploaded before. Only the first page of your PDF is used, it is stretched to the section's page size, and it appears in the PDF output only — not in the web page or the Word file. Letterhead and footer explains when to use it and when to build a header instead.

Reference backdrop (tracing)

A dimmed picture to line your blocks up against — the original document you migrated, your letterhead, or a file you upload — with an Opacity slider. It is an editing aid and never prints.

Grid

The canvas Grid and its cell size are for editing only and apply to the whole template, not just the section.

Every section has its own setup

Size, orientation, margins, columns, letterhead, header and footer belong to a section. A document can have several, for example a portrait letter followed by a landscape annex (see Sections).

Output differences

PDF, the web page and Word all follow the size, orientation and margins. The exception is the Base-PDF letterhead, which appears in the PDF only.

If something looks wrong

  • The PDF letterhead looks squashed. Its page shape differs from the section's page size; set the section to the same size.
  • Text runs into the printed logo. Increase the margin on that edge.
  • Everything is crammed into a narrow strip. The margins plus column gaps leave too little width; the Newspaper columns note shows each column's width.
  • Changing to Landscape looks wrong on page two. Size and orientation belong to a section. Add a section for the landscape pages instead of changing the whole document.