Making Squares

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 20, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


One of the (many) frustrating things about Excel is that it uses different units of measurement to specify the height of rows and the width of columns.

Row height is pretty straightforward—it is measured in points. Column width, however, is measured in character widths. If your Standard style is set to Courier 10, then a column width of 12 means that you can fit exactly twelve characters in a given column. For proportional fonts, the character 0 is used to count the characters. (Yup, it's absurd.)

This leads to problems if you want the height and width of a particular cell to match, thereby making a square. Fortunately, with a little macro wizardry you can bypass this oddity of Excel and achieve the desired results. Consider the MakeSquare macro:

Sub MakeSquare()
    Dim WPChar As Double
    Dim DInch As Double
    Dim Temp As String
    
    Temp = InputBox("Height and width in inches?")
    DInch = Val(Temp)
    If DInch > 0 And DInch < 2.5 Then
        For Each c In ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Columns
            WPChar = c.Width / c.ColumnWidth
            c.ColumnWidth = ((DInch * 72) / WPChar)
        Next c
        For Each r In ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Rows
            r.RowHeight = (DInch * 72)
        Next r
    End If
End Sub

This macro prompts you for the dimension of the square you want to create, and then calculates exactly how wide and high to set each cell. You can run the macro with a single cell selected, or you can make a larger selection set.

The "math magic" is done in the calculating of the WPChar variable. This is set to a value derived by dividing the width of the column in points (returned by the Width property) by the width of the column in characters (returned by the ColumnWidth property). This value, which is the number of points in a character at the current settings, is then used to calculate how many characters should be used to set the width in the next program line.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1943) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Allowing for Words that Contain Numbers

When Excel does a spell-check of the information in a worksheet, you may want it to ignore words that contain numbers. ...

Discover More

Showing RGB Colors in a Cell

Excel allows you to specify the RGB (red, green, and blue) value for any color used in a cell. Here's a quick way to see ...

Discover More

Replacing Dashes with Periods

Replacing one character in a text value with another character is easy. All you need to do is use the SUBSTITUTE ...

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Referencing External Cell Colors

If you want to reference cell colors external to your current workbook, there is no way to do it using Excel functions. ...

Discover More

Shortcut to Merge Cells

Need to merge a bunch of cells together on a regular basis? You'll love the two macros in this tip which can make short ...

Discover More

Conditionally Highlighting Cells Containing Formulas

Excel's conditional formatting feature allows you to create formats that are based on a wide variety of criteria. If you ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 - 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.