Sizing columns


Sizing columns by dragging

An easy way to size a column by eye is just to drag the column border.

  1. Position the mouse pointer on the column border to the right of the column letter.

    Sizing a column by dragging

  2. Drag the border right or left until the column is the width you want.

  3. Release the mouse button.

Tip To size more than one column at a time, drag across the column letters to select the columns you want to size, and then drag the border of one of them.



Sizing Columns to a specified width

Use this method of sizing columns when you want to size them to a particular width rather than just sizing them by eye.

  1. Select a range that spans each column you want to size.

  2. In the action bar, click Range.

  3. In the popup menu, click Column.

  4. Click the Set To button.

  5. Type a number in the characters box or click the arrows to enter the number of characters you want for the column width.

  6. (Optional) To reset the column to the default width, click Use default width.

  7. To close the pop-up panel, click Pop-up panel close button.



Details



How changing column width affects numbers

When a column is too narrow to display an entire number as formatted, the number appears in as a line of *** (asterisks) or in scientific (exponential) notation, with up to 15 decimal places and an exponent of up to 3 digits; for example, the number displays in Scientific format as 1.23E+002.

To display the number, you must widen the column to the width of the formatted number.



How changing column width affects text

If text in a cell is longer than the cell it occupies and the cells to the right are blank, the text displays across the blank cells. If the cells to the right contain data, only the part of the text that fits in the cell displays where it is entered. To see all the text, you must widen the column.



See also
Inserting columns or rows
Deleting columns or rows
Sizing rows
Hiding columns or rows