Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Resizing Your Table.

Resizing Your Table

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 14, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


One of the nifty shortcuts provided in Word is the ability to resize your table using the mouse. This is done in much of the same way as you would resize graphics. All you need to do is position the mouse pointer over the table. Word displays a small hollow square at the lower-right corner of the table. Click your mouse on this square and drag it to represent the size you want your table to be. When you release the mouse button, the table is resized.

You should note that this technique does not change the number or columns or rows in your table. Instead, it simply adjusts the height of each row and width of each column so that the overall table size matches what you indicated you wanted.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12503) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Resizing Your Table.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Deleting Names

Excel allows you to associate names with cells or ranges of cells. If you ever want to delete those names, you'll need ...

Discover More

Setting the Distance between Text and Borders

Add a border around a piece of text (such as a paragraph), and Word makes some assumptions about the placement of that ...

Discover More

Fields Won't Update when Printing

When you print a document, Word normally performs several steps, one of which is to update any fields contained in the ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Deleting a Table

Tired of that old table taking up space in your document? You can get rid of it using a variety of techniques, some of ...

Discover More

Picking a Contiguous Range of Table Cells

Creating a table in Word is a relatively simple task. When you want to format or edit information in the table, often the ...

Discover More

Displaying Table Gridlines

For those times when you remove the borders from your tables, Word provides a way that you can display non-printing ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 - 4?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

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.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.