How To Fit a Table to the Page in the Microsoft Word

In this guide, we will show you how to fit a table to the page in Microsoft Word. Tables are no doubt a handy option when it comes to arranging and assorting data. While there do exists standalone apps like Excel and Spreadsheet, but for basic table features, MS Word should meet all your demands. However, the proper management of these tables might prove to be a little bit challenging for some.

Handling these table rows and columns, their sizes, height, and width is no easy task. The steps might prove to be a little bit more complicated if you would like to make modifications to individual row or column, without disturbing the table as a whole. In this regard, this guide will outline the required instruction steps that will help you to fit a table to the page in Microsoft Word. So without further ado, let’s get on with the tutorial.

How To Fit a Table to the Page in Microsoft Word

The below sections will show you how to resize the entire table or change the column width and row height. Along the same lines, how to make multiple rows or columns of the same size or manually resizing the lengths will also be discussed. Likewise, we will also show you the steps to use the Auto-Fit feature, add space inside your table cells, and most importantly how to fit the table to the page in MS Word. Follow along for the detailed instructions.

Resizing Table, Rows, and Columns

1. Let’s start off with the basic ones. To resize a table in MS Word, go to the View tab from the top menu bar.
2. Select the Print Layout. Then click on the table which you need to edit.
3. Bring in the cursor at the bottom right of the table. You should now see its shape changed to a double-headed diagonal arrow .
4. Drag it to the desired length and release the mouse.
5. On the other hand, if you wish to resize a row, then select the table and bring the cursor to the edge of that row.
6. The cursor will be changed to . Just drag it to the desired height and that’s it.
7. Likewise, changing the column length could be done similarly. Bring the arrow next to the column whose length needs to be changed.
8. When the cursor changes to  , drag it to the desired width and then release the mouse when done. This was the first tip that might help you out to fit the table to the page Microsoft Word. Let’s turn our attention towards the space distribution.

Equal Spacing Distribution

On the other hand, if you want to make multiple rows or columns of the same size, then there’s a handy way out. Select the desired number of rows or columns and head over to the Layout tab.

Then click on the Distribute Rows or Distribute Columns as per the need. The first option will distribute the height of the selected rows equally between them. On the other hand, the latter option will do so for the selected columns.

Manual Height/Width Distributions

If cursors aren’t made for you, then you could also manually enter the desired height and width of the cells. Just select the desired number of cells, and head to the Layout section. From there, type in the required length for the selected cells and that’s it. This will prove to be quite useful when it comes to fitting the table to the single page in Microsoft Word.

Using the AutoFit Feature

As the name suggests, this feature will automatically adjust the length of the columns in your table. So head over to Layout > AutoFit and you should now see three different options. The first one, AutoFit Contents, will adjust the cells according to the text or the page margins if the cells don’t have any texts. Then the AutoFit Windows will automatically adjust table width to the text. The third and final option Fixed Column Width will fix the entire width, thereby preventing further changes.

Customizing Cell Spacing

This allows you to make changes to the margins and spacing between all four corners of the cell. This way you could adjust the cell size and make sure that the table fits the page in Microsoft Word. To try it out, select your table and then head over to Layout > Cell Margins. Now type in the desired values under the Default Cell Margins box and hit OK.

Adjusting the Table in a Single Page

This one seems to be the most challenging ones out of all the tweaks related to the tables in MS Word. Due to the Word’s page break feature, it might take some part and hence the contents of the table to the next page. To avoid that from happening, you could instruct Word to keep these lines together. This will in turn fit the table to the page in Microsoft Word.

To do so, select your table and from the Home tab, click on the Line and Paragraph spacing icon. Then select the Line Spacing option from the drop-down. Go to the Line and Page break section and make sure the Keep Lines Together option under Pagination is enabled. If not, do so right away and click OK.

That’s it. These were the required steps to fit a table to the page in Microsoft Word. If you have any queries related to the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments section below. Rounding off, don’t forget to check out iPhone Tips and Tricks, PC tips and tricks, and Android Tips and Trick as well.