Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 20, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
It is a rare worksheet in which each column of data is the same width as every other column. Fortunately, Excel allows you to independently adjust column width for each column in your worksheet. The quickest way to do this is to use the mouse in the following manner:
You can also automatically adjust the width of a column to match the width of the longest cell contents in the column by double-clicking on the dividing line between columns.
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2015-04-27 10:09:41
1695814
If you are averse to the mouse, alt-o-c-a (alt-fOrmat-Column-Autofit) will set the width for the selected cell(s).
If you want to quickly select the entire column, use ctrl-space bar, then alt-o-c-a to set the width. (Shift-space bar selects the entire row.)
2015-04-25 05:20:28
Richard Finlinson
Double clicking to automatically determine the column width is a very useful feature as it adjusts to fit the widest entry in the column. It is therefore best to do this once all data has been entered to avoid the need to do it multiple times. It should be noted that changing a column heading to Bold, for instance, will increase the width required. Particular attention should be paid to column A, where this will not necessarily work. Titles etc. are frequently entered in column A and then centralised, so that they no longer appear to be in column A. Using this feature on column A, therefore, will calculate width requirement including the titles, which may well be greatly in excess of the widest data in that column.
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