Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. 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: Expanding Width of All Tables.
If you have a document that contains quite a few tables, you may be searching for a way to modify the width of all the tables in the document. For instance, your company standards may require that all tables be the same width, extending from the left to the right margin. If you have forty or more tables in a document, modifying the width of them all, individually, can be very tedious.
The following macro, ResizeAllTables, will quickly do what it says—resize all tables. The widths of the tables are adjusted to fill the available margins.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. 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: 
Sub ResizeAllTables()
Dim oTbl As Table
For Each oTbl In ActiveDocument.Tables
oTbl.AutoFitBehavior wdAutoFitFixed
With ActiveDocument.PageSetup
oTbl.PreferredWidth = .PageWidth - .LeftMargin - .RightMargin
End With
Next oTbl
End Sub
After the macro is complete, you should still examine each table to make sure that your column widths are appropriate for your data, but the overall width of the tables will be as you expected.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11487) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Expanding Width of All Tables.
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2014-04-06 12:21:24
Ann Daugherty
You are amazing!
2014-04-04 15:57:19
Sissi
Awesome!
Thank you
2012-03-26 14:14:05
Liz Stone
Love your TIPS. Please explain though: when you provide a macro - what EXACTLY do I do with it? I can copy it and THEN EXACTLY what do I do? How do I get it into WORD 07 and how do I access it again?
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
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