Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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: Changing Column Width.

Changing Column Width

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated January 29, 2022)

Once you add columns to your document, you may decide you want to adjust the width of the columns. (I'm talking about document columns here, not about table columns.) Word allows you to quickly adjust the width of individual columns in your document, as well as the space between columns. You can change the width of columns in your document in the following manner:

Position the insertion pointer somewhere within the text that is already formatted for columns.
Display the Layout (Page Layout in earlier versions of Word) tab of the ribbon.
Click the Columns tool in the Page Setup group. Word displays a drop-down list of options.
Choose More Columns. Word displays the Columns dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Columns dialog box.

Clear the Equal Column Width check box if you don't want your columns to be an equal width. (The Equal Column Width check box is only accessible if you set the Number of Columns control to some value other than 1.)
In the Width and Spacing area of the dialog box, adjust the width and spacing (the space between columns) for each column to reflect your desired page appearance. As you adjust one number, other columns and widths may be adjusted automatically. All these numbers are inter-related.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9658) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Changing Column Width.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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What is 1 + 3?

2022-01-29 06:38:27

Gregory Ashley

The following is a suggested macro for the OCD. For every column in the worksheet, round up each column width to nearest even integer.

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