In Word, the table extends beyond the page. How to highlight the borders of only one or more cells

Microsoft Office Word provides extensive formatting options for tables, which can be either stand-alone documents or embedded in other text blocks.

It is not always possible to immediately set the appropriate cell size at the first stage. Often only entering information into a table
you can clearly see the size it takes on.

Using Word functions, you can edit the dimensions of an individual cell, row or column, or table as a whole.

How to change line height

The first step is to select the page layout mode on the “View” tab of the general toolbar. Place the cursor on the bottom border of the desired line and drag with the left mouse button held down to the desired height.

Another option to get this result is to go to the “Layout” tool group of the “Working with Tables” tab. In the section on selecting cell sizes, in the “Row Height” field, you can set the value in centimeters.

The minimum line height cannot be smaller than the vertical text in that line.

How to change column width

In this case, you also need the “Page Layout” mode to be able to move the column border.

The second option is using the tools on the panel, similar to the way for a line. The only difference is in the choice of selecting the value for “Column Width”.

Reducing the column width is possible to one character per cell.

How to change cell parameters

There is no way to change the height for one selected cell - only for the entire row. But by manually setting the column width for a specific cell, you can shift the entire row.

The rules for reducing cell parameters are similar to the refinements for changing sizes in a row and column.

How to resize a table

And in this case, several options are possible.
The first is the most visual, when in page layout mode, using a held down mouse button, you can simultaneously drag a vertical and horizontal border.

You can make the table smaller or larger with sizing handles in the corner or on the vertical or horizontal border. In the first case, the entire structure will change proportionally; in the second, the outermost column (or row) will narrow (or increase).

There are situations when, when formatting, some cells extend beyond the edge of the sheet. Here it is better to use the auto-fit tool to fit the window width so that all borders are located inside the page.

The bias against tables has deep roots. To be honest, a dozen years ago tables could not boast of convenience due to the imperfection of the program as a whole. But a lot of time has passed since then. Microsoft has done a great job fixing its mistakes and doing everything possible for the convenience of users. It’s a pity, of course, that many of those same users don’t know about this and still work in the 2003 edition of the office suite. Doesn’t it remind you of the story about hedgehogs and cacti? :)

I simply humanly recommend that anyone stuck in the past upgrade to at least the 2013 version of Microsoft Office, or better yet, immediately to the latest version, 2016. Believe me, it only seems to you that you are working in an environment that has become a classic; in fact, it has long been overgrown with moss and mold.

Use templates

Office routine is full, including tables. We take one electronic piece of paper, cut out part of it, insert it into a new document and edit the details. A good technique, but it seems to me that working with templates is a little easier and faster. By the way, in Word itself, templates are called express tables.

Click on the "Insert" tab, click on "Table" and go to "Quick Tables". Pay attention to the “Save selected fragment to collection” item.

Here you will find several quite useful options and, most importantly, you will be able to save any other table or its fragment, including your own, as a template.

Draw tables

Remember the bear that, as a child, walked over your ears and hands in a rampant gypsy dance? It’s been since then that you’ve disliked singing and brushes, and it’s been since then that you’ve stubbornly ignored the “Draw Table” option in Word. Buck up, grown man! It's time to suppress the furry monster! It's easier than it seems.

Click on the “Insert” tab, click on “Table” and go to “Draw Table”.

And don’t be afraid to make a mistake: there is always an eraser at hand. Sometimes a pencil and eraser greatly simplify the creation of complex tables with small elements.

Insert rows and columns quickly

Starting with Word 2013, adding rows and columns has turned from a mind-numbing torture into an exciting fun. Don’t think about it, the archaic “Insert columns on the left/right” and “Insert rows on the top/bottom” have not gone away, but now you can forget about them.

Hover your cursor over the space between rows or columns outside the table and click on the plus sign that appears.

In the future I would like to see something similar for the delete function.

Use a ruler

Every person has favorite and disgusting numbers that he indiscriminately uses or avoids in his life. Even in the parameters of your tables. I know people like that. :)

If you are used to accurately setting the indent values, width and height of cells through table properties, try an alternative - the ruler.

Hover your cursor over the border of columns or rows, grab it, hold down the Alt key and use the convenience of a centimeter ruler.

The same trick can be done with indent and protrusion markers. Hover the cursor over them and hold down the same Alt key.

Use hotkeys

If I were a software developer, I would call hotkeys soul buttons. After all, sometimes you just want to hug your laptop just because they exist. When it comes to Word tables, the three combinations I use most often are:

Alt + Shift + Up/Down quickly moves the current line one position higher or lower (simply an irreplaceable thing).
Ctrl + Shift + A instantly turns capital letters into capital letters, which is very useful for headings.
Ctrl+Tab adds a tab in a cell, while normal Tab moves the cursor to the next cell.

Convert text to table

A little bit of magic that you can show off in front of an amazed audience. Instead of creating tables the traditional way, try a couple of other, more sophisticated options:

Cell arrays copied from Excel are pasted into Word as a table with invisible borders.
Well-structured text can be easily converted into a table using standard Word tools.

Select the text, click on the “Insert” tab, click on “Table” and select “Convert to Table”.

Pay attention to the auxiliary parameters: the quality of the conversion directly depends on them.

Control cell sizes

If you want to get to know a person, give him a table with a tyrant text. A slightly loose interpretation of a well-known opinion, of course, but it hits the mark. Just look at the screenshot, or rather at the first column and the word “philological” - an ugly thorn.

According to my observations, in such cases, people first express themselves indecently, and then resort to a less than optimal solution - reducing the font size. But it is better to place the text in a different way.

Right-click in the cell, select “Table Properties”, switch to the “Cell” tab, go to “Options” and check the “Enter text” box.

Word will strain itself and return the runaway letter to its place, and peace will reign in the world again. By the way, for clarity, the “inscribed” text will be underlined with a blue line.

And sometimes you borrow someone’s table and hum contentedly under your breath: “Only you, the fish of my dreams”! Nice work by someone else! You start filling it with your data, and then uncontrollable devilry happens: some columns spread out due to the weight loss of others. The head becomes sober, and reality ceases to please. What should I do?

Jokes aside, it happens that they send you a table of a strict format, with which you cannot make mistakes. At the very least, don’t be lazy to send it back with the same dimensions. This way the recipient will see what he expects to see. To do this, disable auto-sizing based on content.

Right-click in any cell, select “Table Properties”, go to “Options” and uncheck the “Auto-size based on content” box.

The same option will save your table from collapse if you need to fill some cells with images: they will fit as a thumbnail instead of full-size.

Anything to add? Write in the comments.

Use templates

Click on the "Insert" tab, click on "Table" and go to "Quick Tables". Pay attention to the “Save selected fragment to collection” item.

Here you will find several quite useful options and, most importantly, you will be able to save any other table or its fragment, including your own, as a template.

Draw tables

Click on the “Insert” tab, click on “Table” and go to “Draw Table”.

And don’t be afraid to make a mistake: there is always an eraser at hand. Sometimes a pencil and eraser greatly simplify the creation of complex tables with small elements.

Insert rows and columns quickly

Hover your cursor over the space between rows or columns outside the table and click on the plus sign that appears.

In the future I would like to see something similar for the delete function.

Use a ruler

Every person has favorite and disgusting numbers that he indiscriminately uses or avoids in his life. Even in the parameters of your tables. I know people like that. :)

If you are used to accurately setting the indent values, width and height of cells through table properties, try an alternative - the ruler.

Hover your cursor over the border of columns or rows, grab it, hold down the Alt key and use the convenience of a centimeter ruler.

The same trick can be done with indent and protrusion markers. Hover the cursor over them and hold down the same Alt key.

Use hotkeys

Alt + Shift + Up/Down quickly moves the current line one position higher or lower (simply an irreplaceable thing).
Ctrl + Shift + A instantly turns capital letters into capital letters, which is very useful for headings.
Ctrl+Tab adds a tab in a cell, while normal Tab moves the cursor to the next cell.

Convert text to table

A little bit of magic that you can show off in front of an amazed audience. Instead of creating tables the traditional way, try a couple of other, more sophisticated options:

Cell arrays copied from Excel are pasted into Word as a table with invisible borders.
Well-structured text can be easily converted into a table using standard Word tools.

Select the text, click on the “Insert” tab, click on “Table” and select “Convert to Table”.

Pay attention to the auxiliary parameters: the quality of the conversion directly depends on them.

Control cell sizes

Right-click in the cell, select “Table Properties”, switch to the “Cell” tab, go to “Options” and check the “Enter text” box.

Word will strain itself and return the runaway letter to its place, and peace will reign in the world again. By the way, for clarity, the “inscribed” text will be underlined with a blue line.

Right-click in any cell, select “Table Properties”, go to “Options” and uncheck the “Auto-size based on content” box.

The same option will save your table from collapse if you need to fill some cells with images: they will fit as a thumbnail instead of full-size.

Anything to add? Write in the comments.

An object located close enough to the edge of the page to be in the non-printable area of most printers. If this is not corrected, the object will not print.

The object is one of the following actions.

AutoShape

Text field

Drawing or picture

The non-printable area depends on the desktop printer you select for printing. The layout check will prompt you for the printer selected in Seal on the tab file to Define the non-printable area. However, if the layout cannot obtain the necessary information from the printer, it assumes a default non-printable area of 0.25 inches (0.6 cm).

To search and select an item, click the error message in the task pane Checking the layout, click the arrow and select the command Go to this item.

To verify the problem, identify the non-printable area of the printer, print a sample page, or consult the printer documentation. Then move the object if necessary.

Moving an object

You can move an object or group of objects by dragging, sliding, or dimensioning its position on the page.

Drag an object to a new location

Shift object

Select an object and press one of the arrow keys to move the object in the desired direction.

The object moves the specified distance each time you press an arrow key. The default offset distance is 0.13 inches (or equivalent if you are using a different unit of measurement). However, you can change the offset distance.

Instructions

On the tab File click the button Options and select Additionally.

Under Editing Options, select the checkbox use custom shift parameter, and then enter the desired amount of objects to move when shearing.

Place the object exactly on the page

Right-click the object and select from the context menu Format< тип объекта > .

On the tab Layout in Group position on page Enter the positive measurements of the horizontal and vertical position of an object or group of objects.

Good afternoon, comrades! I'll tell you a story from my practice. It was precisely this that formed the basis for writing this article.

In the middle of the day, I received a call from a colleague from the accounting department and, as it seemed to me then, the simplest question: “How can I transfer a table from Excel to Word, but so that everything fits on one page and then can be edited?” Then I thought that my colleague was tired, because she had never asked such “simple” questions before.

We have:

an Excel table that needs to be edited in Word;
unloading was carried out from 1C using standard means;
The table does not want to fit onto the sheet as it should.

Answer: “Command “Copy”, go to document, command “Paste”. If it doesn’t help, go to the “Insert” tab, “Table” button, then “Excel Table”, insert your data into the area that appears, if the area is small, stretch it. If you want it to just be pasted, you can select the table in Excel, click on the triangle after the “Copy” button and select “Copy as picture”, go to Word, paste.”

Indeed, in most cases these two methods will help. As always, there is one “But”. If the table is small. I'll demonstrate.

We see that actions with the clipboard are simple and commonplace. But, as was written earlier, we must check what will happen if we insert a complex table, especially one prepared in another program?

For this we need a large table in Excel. I won’t post it in full in the article; the file with the example will be in the links.

Now we select it, copy it, go to Word and paste it. The picture will be next.

Even if you reduce the margins, the picture will remain the same - the document will not fit on the page. Our actions:

select the table inserted into Word;
go to the “Layout” tab, in the “Cell Size” button block, click “Autofit”;
select the “Auto-select by content” value.

Let's get what we need.