Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 29, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Gary has a workbook set up with twelve worksheets, one for every month. He has framed the information in these worksheets so it just fits on his screen. At some point he opens his workbook to find that the June column widths have expanded so that they don't all fit on his screen. It is only the June columns that expand, but all worksheets will have their row heights expand from 12.75 to 13.50. If Gary resizes everything back so it once more fits his screen, everything is fine for a week or so, and then the resizing happens again.
It is unclear what might be causing this problem, but there are a few things you can check. If the workbook is stored on a network, where it can be accessed by other people, it could be that the change is occurring while someone else has the workbook open. In addition, if the workbook is opened on different machines, it could be that the other machines on which it is opened may be affecting the workbook, provided they have different screen resolutions or different printer fonts installed.
Being unsure as to the cause, it may be that the best solution is to create a macro that runs automatically when the workbook opens. This macro could go through the worksheets and set the column widths and row heights to what you need The following macro will perform these steps:
Private Sub Workbook_Open() Dim wSheet As Worksheet For Each wSheet In Worksheets ' Change to the columns you need Columns("A:M").Select ' Change to the width you need Selection.ColumnWidth = 12 ' Change to the rows you need Rows("1:15").Select ' Change to the height you need Selection.RowHeight = 13 Next wSheet End Sub
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3175) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Random Width and Height Changes.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
Excel allows you to format your numeric values in a wide variety of ways. One such formatting option is to display ...
Discover MoreWant to apply a custom format to your dates and times? To do it effectively you need to understand the custom formatting ...
Discover MoreWhat are you to do if you are trying to format a worksheet, only to find out that one of the tools you need is not ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments