See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=299339 "You cannot change ruler
measurement unit from character units after upgrade to Office XP".

Bad Bart wrote:
Hello,

I have a problem and am urgently looking for a solution. I installed Word
XP, and the ruler showed measurements in millimeters rather than inches. I
tried repeatedly to go to Tools, Options, General to set the default to
inches. That should have been simple enough. "Inches" appeared as the
default setting, but the ruler did not change to reflect the change. It
still appeared in millimeters. I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling,
with the same result. I also tried running Install and specifying Repair,
and the only change was that the ruler's unit of measurement changed to
"character."

Also, when going to Format, Paragraph to adjust spacing before or after
paragraphs and/or to set indents via this dialog box, the measurement that
shows is "ch" (character). Typing in measurements here in inches and
specifying inches as the desired unit of measurement doesn't work.

FWIW, in trying to troubleshoot the problem, the same CD that was used in
the installation was also used to install XP on another machine. It
installed properly. The other machine had identical specs to the "problem"
machine.

Does anyone have any ideas, suggestions, solutions as to what I can try to
set things right? Help!

Many thanks in advance for any and all responses!

Bad Bart