Sizing Rows and Columns in Word
If you work with tables, here are some column-sizing tricks that you should know:
- Ctrl + drag a column’s right border to resize the column and proportionately resize all columns to the right
- Shift + drag a column’s right border to resize that column only. All columns to the right stay the same size.
- Ctrl + Shift + drag a column’s right border to resize the column and resize all column’s to the right to be the same size.
- Alt + drag a column’s right border to size the column without snapping to the ruler increments. This trick also shows column widths on the ruler. If the ruler is not displayed, select View/Ruler.
You can also use the Alt key in combination with any of the first three Ctrl and Shift tricks. Press Alt with Ctrl or Shift or Ctrl + Shift and you’ll resize the columns without snapping to the ruler increments. And if that’s not enough, right-click the table, then select Table Properties. There are plenty of options in there to keep you busy.
Selecting
You need to know how to select 3 things in a table: columns, rows and the table. Two of those (columns and the table) have shortcuts.
Three shortcuts for selecting columns and tables:
- To select a column, Alt + click any cell in the column or press Alt + Shift + Page Down.
- To select several contiguous columns, Alt + click one column, then drag.
- To select a table, Alt + double-click any cell in the table or press Alt + 5 on the keypad with the Num Lock turned off. (Weird shortcut but I use it.)
Learn these and you’ll never go back to clicking the down arrow at the top of a column or selecting Table/Select again.
To select row, use one of the following:
- Click in the margin to the left of the row. (The pointer should turn into an arrow pointing right.)
- Press Alt + Shift + End.
- Click in the first cell of the row, then drag across to the last cell.
- Click in the first cell of the row, then hold Shift while pressing End, End, End until the entire row is selected.
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