Turning Off Automatic Resizing of Tables by Default

When Carolyn inserts a table, she always needs to manually configure the new table so that it doesn't automatically resize depending on contents. (She needs to display the table's properties and, on the Table tab, click Options to get to the setting.) This is very tedious, as Carolyn almost never wants the Automatically Resize to Fit Contents check box to be selected, but Word seems to insist on turning on the option.

There are two ways you can handle this. First, you can create a table style, if desired, that can contain this setting. Here are the general steps:

1. Format a table like you prefer, making sure that automatic resizing is also set as desired.
2. Place the insertion point in the table.
3. On the Table Design tab of the ribbon, click the icon at the bottom-right of the Table Styles group. From the options presented, choose New Table Style.
4. In the resulting dialog box assign a name to the style and also indicate if it should be available just within the document or in all documents that use the current template.

Once defined, the table style can be used to format other tables rather easily, and each will have the settings desired.

The second way to approach this is by creating a small macro that will make sure the setting is set correctly. This example changes the setting in all tables in the document:

Sub DisableAutoFit()
    Dim Tbl As Table

    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    For Each tbl In ActiveDocument.Tables
        Tbl.AllowAutoFit = False
    Next
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Since the macro steps through all tables, it is especially helpful when you are working with documents created by others. The macro can, of course, be added to the Quick Access Toolbar or associated with a keyboard shortcut.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11967) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021.