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: Quickly Accessing the Column Tab.

Quickly Accessing the Column Tab

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 27, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

There are many ways you can adjust column width and other table settings. For precise adjustment of column width, you might want to access the Table Properties dialog box (Word 2000, 2002, and 2003) or the Column tab of the Cell Height and Width dialog box (Word 97). You can do this quickly in the following manner:

Position the insertion point in any cell of the table.
Using the mouse, point to one of the "dotted boxes" on the ruler. These mark the boundaries of each column in the table. When you position the pointer over the box, the pointer changes to a double-headed arrow.
Double-click the mouse, on the box marker. Word displays the desired dialog box.

Word 2000, 2002, and 2003 also provide an alternative way to access the same dialog box, and you may find it easier to use. You can follow these steps:

Position the mouse pointer right above a column whose width you want to change. The mouse pointer should change to a downward pointing arrow.
Right-click the mouse. The table column is selected and a Context menu appears.
Select Table Properties from the Context menu. The Table Properties dialog box appears, from which you can easily select the Column tab. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Table Properties dialog box.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3858) 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: Quickly Accessing the Column Tab.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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