upper row, bottom row, center row, it makes no difference. This behavior is
totally unpredictable. For example, why will changing the value to a larger
value have an affect but changing to a lower value doesn't. The whole
operation seems ambiguous to me. (and everybody else I have talked to)
--
2dogs in Oregon USA
"Tony Jollans" wrote:
There is a difference between (actual) width and preferred width.
Preferred width was introduced in Word 2000 and it allows you to express
preferences which may or may not be the deciding factor in determining actual
table properties.
When you specify a preferred width for a single cell in a column of a
different width, Word has to decide how to interpret the conflicting values
it has. In Word 97, the top row (and only the top row) would have been
resized to accommodate the explicit request for a certain width; there wasn't
really any other choice it could make. In Word 2000 (and later) Word has a
choice and it chooses as you have seen. You may not like its choice but it
has a set of guiding principles; if you want something different you must
provide a different set of (possibly still conflicting) values and you may
have to use a bit of trial and error because I am not aware of any
documentation on how Word makes its decisions.
You can, if you wish, still use the old (Word 97) dialog and get the old
behaviour. There are three commands: TableFormatCell, TableCellWidth, and
TableRowHeight and they are available via the Word Commands list under Tools
Macro Macros (Alt+F8). Alternatively you can add them to your toolbars
via Tools Customize Commands (tab), Category "All Commands" - scroll down
the list on the right to find them.
Enjoy,
Tony
"2dogs" wrote:
I tested this suggstion several times but it did not work. Here are my exact
steps and results.
TEST ONE
1. Start Word
2. Open new blank document
3. In "Page Setup" set left and right margins to 1".
4. Click "Insert Table" icon on Standard toolbar.
5. Insert a 3 x 3 table
6. Select the center cell in the top row (when the cursor becomes a litle
selection arrow).
7. Go to Cell tab in properties dialog, the default width of the cell is
shown as 2.22 and preferred width is checked.
8. Change width setting to 1.0 and click OK.
9. Result, nothing happens.
TEST TWO
1. perform the exact same steps as in TEST ONE except on step 8 change the
width setting to 3."
2. Result, the entire column width changes to 3".
TEST THREE
1. Same as TEST ONE steps 1 through 7
2. Change width setting to 1".
3. Go to Column tab and uncheck "preferred width"
4. Click OK
5. Result, entire column is resized to 1".
TEST FOUR
1. Same as TEST ONE steps 1 through 6 (default cell width is left unchanged)
2. Go to Column tab and uncheck "Preferred width"
3. Click OK
4. Result, the entire center column collapses even though the "Cell width"
was still set at 2.2".
Please try these same EXACT steps and see how it works for you.
--
2dogs in Oregon USA
"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote:
If you completely select one or more cells before adjusting the width, then
only the width of the selected cells will be changed. If no cells are
selected, then Word assumes that you want to adjust the width of the entire
column.
To select a cell, move the mouse pointer to the left side of a cell so that
an arrow pointing northeast appears, then click.
--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
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