Hmm... what about File/Page Setup (or Command-Shift-P)? Does it not provide page margins settings?

Man I hate hints like this that assume a level of knowledge that's just not there in the vast majority of us!!! ;-}

I tried this, but it didn't seem to work. I could only find one set of references to the '72's in the huge amount of text that shows up in Xcode; I changed those to 36, but it still prints with one inch margins.

Any help?

I'm sorry if my original post wasn't clear. Although there are 1,800+ lines of code in Document.m, there are only 6 occurrences of "72" - and the two having to do with tabs aren't relevant. The lines of interest start at line 487:

- (NSPrintInfo *)printInfo {
    if (printInfo == nil) {
        [self setPrintInfo:[NSPrintInfo sharedPrintInfo]];
        [printInfo setHorizontalPagination:NSFitPagination];
        [printInfo setHorizontallyCentered:NO];
        [printInfo setVerticallyCentered:NO];
        [printInfo setLeftMargin:72.0];
        [printInfo setRightMargin:72.0];
        [printInfo setTopMargin:72.0];
        [printInfo setBottomMargin:72.0];
    }
    return printInfo;
}

Change those 72 (pixel) values to whatever you want and rebuild.

By the way, I've discovered that once a document is saved with modified margins, even the official version of TextEdit will open it with those same margins, so you needn't always use the modified version - only when you want to create new templates.

Thanks for this tip. I know nothing about Xcode, though I have it (1.5) installed. I'm running 10.3.9.

I copied the Document.m file to my desktop to keep a copy of the original.
Then I double clicked on the original Document.m file, which launched Xcode. I replaced the 72 numbers you mentioned with 42.

Then you said to "rebuild". Here's the ignorant, newbie question, how do I rebuild? I tried reading the Xcode help files to no avail.

When you follow the instructions, a new Text Edit is created in a (also newly created) 'Build' folder in the /Developer -> Examples -> Appkit -> TextEdit folder. If you use that newly built Text Edit, the margins will be as changed in the Document.m file. I changed the 72 values to 57 in order to get my preferred 20mm margins. If you use another language than English, you can copy the .lproj from the original Text Edit to the newly created one. (When you open the application package, inside Text Edit/Contents/Resources/)

I had the same problem however found it easier to just save a blank RFT document and directly edit the raw RTF data to setup the margins. Once you have setup the margins TextEdit will use these when you open the document. You can also setup the template as a stationary pad to make creating new docs easier.

To edit the raw RFT data you need to use a text editor from the terminal (vi/pico).

The "default" blank document from TextEdit looks like this:

{\rtf1\mac\ansicpg10000\cocoartf102
{\fonttbl}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}
\margl1440\margr1440\vieww12240\viewh14100\viewkind1\viewscale100
}

To set the margins just set \margl & \margw appropriately (1440 is 1") - to set the top/bottom margins you can also set \margt & \margb

My template for a document with 0.5" margins is:

{\rtf1\mac\ansicpg10000\cocoartf102
{\fonttbl}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}
\margt720\margb720\margl720\margr720\vieww9920\viewh8000\viewkind0
}

Nice solution. But to further simplify this solution try this.

Open .RTF file in BBedit Lite (free) or similar raw text app.
* For .RTFD document CNTRL select file - SHOW PACKAGE CONTENTS... Then open .RTF in raw text editor.

On line 5 you will see this:
margl1440\margr1440\vieww9920\viewh8000\viewkind0

"marg" stands for margin and the l & r stands for left and right

Conversions: .25 = 360 .5 = 720 .75 = 1080 1" = 1440

Also t & b stands for top and bottom.

So if you change the fifth column to this...
\margt720\margb720\margl1080\margr1080\vieww9920\viewh8000\viewkind0

You will have margins Top: .5 Bottom: .5 Left: .75 Right: .75

The vieww and viewh open the document to the preferred dimensions.

Wouldn't it be amazing if something like this were actually a part of a text edit app? Hmm... Apple?

Hope this helps. - Epkes

Actually tinb's comment:
"Just choose OPEN from TextEdit and switch Ignore rich text commands on the open panel" is probable better then using BBEdit. Much faster.

Although tinb's idea doesn't apply to RTFD documents. You need to open its package contents in BBEdit or set Text Edit's prefs to "Ignore rich text commands" temporarily for editing and then turn them back on when done.

Ok, for anyone savvy enough to do a little leg-work with XCode and Interface Builder, I've built a version of TextEdit that provides a "Page Margins" sheet that lets you set the margins.

Here's the catch, I'm not about to distribute a binary of Apple's application. However, I will distribute the instructions on how to build the modified version of TextEdit as well as a nib file I created that is required and an AppleScript to perform the actual build (selects the right build style and copies the result to your desktop).

Note: The same procedures should work with Project Builder, but the AppleScript will not.

The archive containing the instructions, the AppleScript and the nib file is located at http://homepage.mac.com/cjbehm/files/textedit_mod.zip

My e-mail is in the instructions for those who try and have difficulties.

Thanks much -- works just great. Highly recommended.

I have been trying to follow the instructions provided, but they don't seem to work with Xcode 2.2. Anybody know how to update / modify them ?