Column width won't adjust

[susan]

Help all yot table wizards! Nothing seems to adjust the
column width of a table I inherited! The column width
markers on the ruler will dag but to no effect, the table
properties column setting will allow you to enter a new
value but the new width will not take. You can get the
double headed arrow to drag the column edge but nothing
moves! Finally I also tried playing around withthe autofit
opitons but nohting chagnes. Text wrap is set to on.
If I create a new table and choose fixed width, things are
OK and I can change col width later, but with the table I
inherited, I can not get the column width to change. Any
suggestions??
Susan

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I find this the single most frustrating feature of Table Properties, and I'm
not sure what I tell you will be correct, but here's what eventually works
for me (sort of):

1. Disable auto resizing (Options... on the Table tab).

2. Disable any exact width for the entire table.

3. Clear any exact width setting on the *Cell* tab.

4. Then try to clear or change the exact width on the Column tab.

It sometimes takes several trips to Table Properties (and bouncing back and
forth between Cell and Column several times) to do this. I swear Word
accepts changes on only one tab at a time. And sometimes the only thing that
will break it loose is doing the first two or three of these and then
adjusting the column width on the ruler. Alternatively, you can restore the
old-fashioned Cell Height and Width dialog, which is better behaved; see
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/TablePropProbs.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word

"susan" <ra...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:050801c3294a$5a232fc0$a301...@phx.gbl...

[Jonathan Sachs]

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbar...@mvps.org> wrote:

>1. Disable auto resizing (Options... on the Table tab).
>2. Disable any exact width for the entire table.
>3. Clear any exact width setting on the *Cell* tab.
>4. Then try to clear or change the exact width on the Column tab.
>
>It sometimes takes several trips to Table Properties (and bouncing back and

>forth between Cell and Column several times) to do this...

I came here with a similar problem, and I'm posting after reading all
of the related threads I could find in this newsgroup (back to late
April). I'm responding to this post because it's most recent one.

Suzanne, I have a couple of problems with your recommended fix. The
first is that steps 3 and 4 are not entirely clear. The tabs have
settings for PREFERRED width, but none for exact width. (This is in
Word 2000, if it makes a difference.)

My second problem is due to the fact that all of the tables I'm
working with are built and maintained by macros: any procedure that
requires "several trips to Table Properties" to make things work is
unusable. If I can't reduce the fix to a procedure that I can program,
it doesn't do me any good.

My mail address is jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Yes, it is "preferred" width, and that's part of the problem. In Table |
Cell Height and Width you can set an exact width.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word

"Jonathan Sachs" <nob...@nospam.accepted> wrote in message
news:0plpdv09tlsv6bun8...@4ax.com...

[Jonathan Sachs]

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbar...@mvps.org> wrote:

>Yes, it is "preferred" width, and that's part of the problem. In Table |
>Cell Height and Width you can set an exact width.

Is there any way to research the basis of this problem and find a
stable, programmable workaround or fix? It has been a serious but
occasional irritation for me for years, but I now can foresee it
escalating into a showstopper.

[teachf...@gmail.com]

Susan's fix was the only one that worked! I had to clear the preferreds for Table, Column, and Cell. They stayed unchecked as long as I didn't close the dialog box. They went back to checked as soon as I closed it.

But I closed it and immediately resized one column before it had the chance to recheck (real fast), and it stuck! Not ideal, to the say the least, but at least I don't have an 11" table any more!...

[tims...@gmail.com]

Had this same problem. It went away when I turned off the Review markups.

The weirdest thing.

[his...@shatollschool.edu.mv]

Select table and click clear formatting in the font tab.

[elaine...@gmail.com]

Hi, I had the same problem and found out the reason is that the column is automatically resized to fit contents. You can do the following to unfreeze the column:
1. Click "layout" besides "Table Design"
2. Click "Cell Margins"
3. the "Table Options" window will pop out
4. uncheck "Automatically resize to fit contents" under "Options".

[exspl...@gmail.com]

This worked fantastically! Easy fix! Thanks!

[navin...@gmail.com]

This worked for me..!!
Thanks.

[KJ St.Pierre]

SOLVED: I had applied text wrap to all of my cells and then removed every preferred width in every place I could find in table properties - first in the table as a whole, then by columns, and then, cell by cell, until there was no doubt. None were checked with a preferred width. Still it tried to enforce 1.61" as a minimum for each of 4 columns in a page with a wide margin of 7.75. It would not let me change when there was no visible reason for this. I even reduced each cell to a single letter (a, b, c...) and it still wouldn't let me revise the width. Spacing between the cells I had set at .09" as usual (3 x .09 = .27" width used up), but then I found the problem: My left/right cell margins were .8 (4x2x.8= 6.4" used up) when they should have been set at .08 (.64" used up). I was used to the "8" as the default and didn't notice. I changed this in the table properties and suddenly the entire table fit, but there were some lines that were disproportionate ... I found that I couldn't just fix the cell margins in options at the table level. I had to go into the cell tab of the table properties and select the option for cells margins to "Same as the whole table". By the way, the checkmark doesn't stay. I went back with no changes and the checkmark was gone, so it acts more as a reset.

One of the big frustrations is that I would like to be able to LOCK these settings in the table properties. Regardless of unchecking the options to automatically fit, the table is subject to any other change revising the settings for preferred width. It would be nice if MS added a lock feature to the preferences so I can build a table and count on it not to shift.

[Karolina Zajac]

On Wednesday, April 3, 2019 at 9:32:34 PM UTC+3, tims...@gmail.com wrote:
> Had this same problem. It went away when I turned off the Review markups.
>
> The weirdest thing.

Thank you!! This fixed it for me!!

[L Brewer]

Similar problem. Everything I did enlarged the 5-column table width eventually out to 9" wide. When I made sure each column's tabs aligned with the column width, I was finally able to reign in the page width of the columns.

[Tomoko Okayasu]

I had this same problem. Susan's fix worked! Thank you very much.

[Vanessa McCubbing]

On Monday, January 31, 2022 at 9:00:15 PM UTC-6, Tomoko Okayasu wrote:
> I had this same problem. Susan's fix worked! Thank you very much.

Same issue, however by selecting the whole table (top left 4 point arrow) and then clicking Distribute Columns (Table Tools --> Layout --> Cell Size section --> Distribute Columns) the whole table reset and I was able to resize as needed.

Vanessa

[Margot de Dominicis]

THANK YOU!!!!

[Minnie Not a Mouse]

On Monday, 2 June 2003 at 22:38:53 UTC+1, Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:

Suzanne : THANKYOU whooo hoooo I spent almost a day on this - trying to reformat some inherited templates that seem to have been set up by a moron!