Changing Column Widths in Excel Spreadsheets
Thursday, March 12th, 2009Microsoft Excel offers us a number of different ways of changing the width of columns and the height of rows. The width of columns is expressed as the number of characters the cell can hold. By default, Excel gives each column a width of just over eight characters. This means, for example, that if you’re using a spreadsheet primarily for numerical data, you can enter eight digits in each column using the default width.
If you want to change the default width, it makes sense to do so before you start entering data into your worksheet. For example, if you know that you’ll be making fairly short entries in each column, you might want to reduce the default width. To change the default width, look for the Cells section of the Home Tab of the Excel Ribbon. Click on the Format drop-down menu and choose Default Width. In the dialogue box which appears, you will see Excel’s standard column width of about 8 characters. Simply enter a new figure and click OK.
As long as you haven’t changed the width of a column using any other technique, you can change the default width at any time and any cells that have been left at the default width will automatically change to reflect the new setting.
The second way of changing column widths is to use Excel’s AutoFit feature. This automatically adjusts the width of a column to ensure that the contents of the selected cells are completely visible. To AutoFit individual columns, highlight the cells that you want Excel to take into account or simply highlight the entire column. Next, position the cursor on the right hand edge of the column and double-click.
To AutoFit data in a range of columns either select a range of data across several columns or highlight several entire columns. With your selection in place, choose Format then AutoFit Column Width in the Cells group of the Home Tab of the Excel Ribbon.
When using the AutoFit feature, it’s inevitable that you’ll end up with columns with different widths. If you want a range of columns to have exactly the same width then simply highlight the range and choose Format then Column Widths and enter a global width.
Excel also allows you to adjust the width of columns interactively. To do this, position the cursor on the right hand edge of the column and, when the cursor changes to a double arrow, click, hold and drag. As you drag, you will see the width of the column displayed both in characters and in pixels. This same technique can be used either to adjust the width of a single column or a range of columns.
