Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Creating Tables with Specific Column Widths.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 8, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Word allows you to easily create tables, but getting your column widths "just so" can be challenging, at times. For instance, what if you want a twelve-column table with the first two columns a certain width, and the rest of the columns sharing the remaining horizontal space? Here's an easy way to get the desired result:
Figure 1. The Split Cells dialog box.
Your row is now just as you wanted. To create more rows just like it, select the row and then choose to insert additional rows above the selected row. After you insert the first row, just press F4 repeatedly until you have created the number of desired rows.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1757) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Creating Tables with Specific Column Widths.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here:
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