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Microsoft Word

Resize tables, rows, columns, and cells

Learn how to resize a table, row, or column in the document by dragging the mouse, using the Table Properties dialog box, or using the ruler.

AutoFit to automatically resize columns

AutoFit Settings

The AutoFit settings enable you to size the table and its columns automatically. To apply AutoFit settings, click anywhere in the table, and then on the Layout contextual tab, in the Cell Size group, click AutoFit drop-down menu. The AutoFit menu has three options:

  1. AutoFit Contents
    Choose this option to fit all columns in a table to their contents. The table and columns automatically adjust their size (width) when you add or remove data from the table.
  2. AutoFit Window
    Choose this option to create a full width table that is divided into columns of equal width. If you add large data to a column, that column will automatically resize, making the other columns correspondingly narrower.
  3. Fixed Column Width
    This option makes the column widths fixed unless you explicitly change them by dragging the mouse, or by using the Table Properties dialog box etc.

Distribute Rows

If rows are of different heights, follow these steps to distribute the height of the rows equally between them:

Distribute Rows Evenly
  1. Select rows (or click anywhere in the table for all rows).
  2. Click Layout contextual tab.
  3. Click Distribute Rows in the Cell Size group.

Or right-click on the selected rows, and then click Distribute Rows Evenly.

Distribute Columns

To distribute the width of the columns equally between them:

Distribute Columns Evenly
  1. Select columns (or click anywhere in the table to distribute all columns).
  2. Click Layout contextual tab.
  3. Click Distribute Columns in the Cell Size group.

Or right-click on the selected columns, and then click Distribute Columns Evenly.

Resize a table

To change the size of a selected table, use one of the following tricks:

1. Drag the size handle in the lower-right corner of the table

Move the mouse pointer to the lower-right corner of the table, the mouse pointer changes to a diagonal double arrow, drag it to resize the table:

Manually resize a table by dragging the mouse pointer

Note: Press and hold down the keyboard Shift button while dragging the size handle to maintain the original aspect ratio of the table.

2. On the Table tab of the Table Properties dialog box, specify the table width

You can also use the Table tab in the Table Properties dialog box to change the size of the table.

Check the Specify width box and enter the desired size in the text box. Using Measure in drop-down, you can specify the table width in inches or percentage of the available page width, click OK to apply changes.

Resize a row

Usually, you don’t need to change the height of a row because a row’s height changes automatically when you change the font size for the text in a cell or in the entire row.

To change the height of the current row, use one of the following techniques:

1. Drag the row’s bottom border up or down

To manually change the height of a row, move the mouse pointer to the row’s bottom border (or bottom gridline), the mouse pointer changes to a resizing pointer, drag it to resize the row height.

Manually resize rows by dragging the mouse pointer

2. Resize Rows using Row tab in the Table Properties

You can also use the Row tab in the Table Properties dialog box to change the height of the selected row.

Check the Specify height box and enter the desired size in the text box.

Change the Row height is setting from At least to Exactly if you want the exact specified size. The At least option enables the row height to increase when the height of cell content exceeds that measurement.

Use the Previous Row and Next Row buttons to resize the other rows, and click OK when finished.

3. Drag the row’s Adjust Table Row marker on the vertical ruler up or down. Activate any cell on the table to display its dividers on the ruler, see the following figure:

Adjust Table Row on the vertical ruler

4. On the Layout contextual tab, in the Cell Size group, change the Height setting. See figure:

Table Row Height on Layout tab

Resize a column

To change the width of the current column, use one of the following techniques:

1. Drag the column’s right gridline to the left or right

Move the mouse pointer to the column’s right border (or right gridline), the mouse pointer changes to a resizing pointer, drag it to resize the column width (or double-click to automatically fit the column width to its contents).

Manually resizing columns

2. On the Column tab of the Table Properties dialog box, specify the column width

You can also use the Column tab in the Table Properties dialog box to change the size of the selected column.

Check the Preferred width box and enter the desired width, use the Previous Column and Next Column buttons to set the width for other columns, and click OK when finished.

3. Double-click the column’s right gridline to automatically fit the column width to its contents.

4. Drag the column’s Move Table Column marker on the horizontal ruler to the left or right. Activate a cell on the table to display its dividers and indent markers on the ruler, see figure:

Move Table Column on the horizontal ruler

5. On the Layout contextual tab, in the Cell Size group, change the width setting. See figure:

Table Column Width

More “Working with Word Tables” Tutorials

  1. Insert Tables
  2. Insert and Delete Rows, Columns and Cells
  3. Wrap text around the table
  4. Table Borders and Shading
  5. Select Table, View Gridlines, Use Table Properties
  6. Resize tables, rows, columns, and cells
  7. Repeat heading rows on next pages
  8. Break, Split & Merge Cells, Rows, and Tables
  9. Set Table & Cell Alignment and Change Text Direction
  10. Use Formula in Tables and Paragraphs