Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: AutoFitting Tables.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 30, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016
Word makes it very easy to add tables to your documents. Once added, you may need to adjust the width of the columns in your table to fit your needs. There are a myriad of ways you can do this, as has been covered in other issues of WordTips. One of the quickest ways you can adjust the width of columns is to use the AutoFit feature of Word. This feature is particularly useful if you have a small amount of information in each cell of your table. To use the feature, follow these steps:
The effect on your table depends on whether it contains information or not. If the table is empty, the columns are evenly resized so they fit within the page margins. If there is information in any of the columns, the column width is set so that information fits on a line (if possible).
If your table contains information, you can use the mouse to quickly do an AutoFit. You do that by simply double-clicking the mouse on the left border of the table. The column widths adjust automatically, the same as if you went through the steps detailed above.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5971) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: AutoFitting Tables.
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2019-01-18 09:47:15
Dave M Texas
Is there a way to have the default behavior be to Autofit Contents? It is rare that I paste a table and do not need to then change the layout to Autofit Contents. It would be wonderful if I could set this as the default behavior.
2018-10-29 19:20:58
Is there an automatic way to make all tables resize to fit window? Maybe something in Options? I have a lot of large tables and it's a bit annoying to manually update all of them to fit on the page.
2018-02-13 14:45:11
Sherry Evans
MS Word 2007 shows no "Layout" tab. I want to autofit table column width.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here:
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