Tables in Word 2003 SP3 - column widths

J

Joh

When dragging a column boundary to resize a column, several columns resize
themselves automatically, including the one I'm working on but not to the
width I'm setting, which is very irritating. I can usually get round this by
selecting the column first but this doesn't always work. I have used Word
2003 before (and several other versions) but have never had this problem
until now. I've checked the Compatability settings but there's no obvious
cause in there.

Can anyone tell me what causes this and how I can stop it happening?

Thanks!
 
C

CyberTaz

You've wandered into the Mac Word newsgroup so I've provided a link to the
Win Office groups below, but I doubt your problem has anything to do with
"Compatibility" settings :) The question is which version of Word you're
using now... You mention what you "have" used, but not what you're currently
using. Tables in Word 2007 & .docx files can be a bit different. Make sure
you specify when you post to the Win Word group:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/FlyoutOverview.mspx

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
 
J

John McGhie

It's the Automatically Resize setting on the Table itself, nothing to do
with Compatibility settings or options -- this one is local to the table.

If you set the Table to "AutoFit" then everything to the right of the border
you drag will be resized proportionately to keep the table width the same.

If you do not want that to happen, hold down the Shift key after "grabbing"
the column border and before dragging, and then drag. That resizes the
column leaving all other column widths unchanged (so the width of the table
will change).

Cheers


When dragging a column boundary to resize a column, several columns resize
themselves automatically, including the one I'm working on but not to the
width I'm setting, which is very irritating. I can usually get round this by
selecting the column first but this doesn't always work. I have used Word
2003 before (and several other versions) but have never had this problem
until now. I've checked the Compatability settings but there's no obvious
cause in there.

Can anyone tell me what causes this and how I can stop it happening?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]
 
J

Joh

Thanks! I'll wander over to the Win Office group instead. (Currently used
Word version is in subject line, by the way.)
 
J

Joh

Thanks, John, but I don't think it's this simple. I can drag a column border
to the right,intending to make it wider, yet it will then jump left, making
not only that column narrower than it was, but also adjoining columns -- so
that the total table width is reduced. This happens whether or not the
'automatically resize' option is ticked.

Apparently I've asked this question in the wrong forum so I'll wander over
to the right one and see if anyone has any suggestions there.
 
J

Joh

The trick with the Shift key does seem to work, although not in the way you
describe (table width doesn't change) -- it lets me do what I was trying to
do in the first place, so thanks for that!
 
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