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It depends on how you drag it. If you press Shift or Ctrl, you get different
behavior (and different still depending whether you're dragging in the table or on the ruler); see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/TableBasics.htm -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Bob S" wrote in message ... I was initially inclined to agree that setting cell widths ought to behave much like dragging cell borders, but I have changed my mind. They are two different operations. Dragging a cell border changes the width of two cells, not one. Setting a preferred width in table properties only changes the setting for one cell. What should Word do if you change the width of one cell? If it automatically changed the setting for the adjacent cell (which it presumably does when dragging a border), you would probably call it a bug for setting the property of a cell that you had not intended to touch. (Officially Word does not even know which border you want to move when you set a new width; it assumes the right-hand border.) Word apparently takes the interpretation that most people want cells in nice neat columns, so if you change the width of one cell it either leaves the column width alone or changes the whole column. The result may not be perfect clarity, but it probably produces reasonable results much of the time. The obvious objection is that if one wanted to keep columns aligned one would be setting column widths not cell widths, and the current behavior does not allow setting unaligned edges from the properties dialog. But still, what exactly would be "better" behavior? The obvious alternative would destroy the alignment of all other columns, which you arguably did not desire. By the way, there is an interesting follow-on to the test case of making a single cell preferred width narrower than the column, where nothing happened. If you do the same to each cell in the column, when you finish changing the setting for the last cell the column will indeed get narrower. Word is not actually ignoring the width settings, it is just over-riding them with the "common sense" idea that cell edges should be aligned. Another interesting follow-on is to use dragging to set cell edges out of alignment, then try setting cell widths in Table Properties. In many cases Word will move the edge in the direction you specify, but only until the edges line up again! Bob S On Sat, 1 Oct 2005 22:19:05 -0400, Herb Tyson [MVP] wrote: Ah, now I see what you're doing. I get the exact same results you get. Note that there *is* a way to get what you want. But, that doesn't mean that what you're doing shouldn't work as well (IMO). When I first saw your question, I assumed that you were *dragging* cell borders to change the width of cells, since that seems the natural way to do it (from my vantage). Select a cell, then *drag* its left or right border to the left or right. Just that cell changes! And, if you need exact settings, then hold down the Alt key as you drag, and Word will show you the dimensions as you drag. You can also drag using the controls on the ruler. In my view, the fact that what you're trying doesn't work is a bug. Since adjusting cells and columns yield the identical results, it makes having a separate cell tab essentially redundant (not to mention frustrating). |
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