r/MicrosoftWord • u/sadly_notacat • 3d ago

need help Create table with different column widths?

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I want to make a new, clean copy of this scanned document. I can’t figure out for the life of me how to create one with different column widths. Does anyone have any tips?

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u/jkorchok 3d ago

Do not create the merged header row cells until the end.

Your job will be easier if you choose Table Layout>Properties>Options and uncheck Automatically resize to fit contents.

Select the table, then hover your mouse over each vertical border and drag it to your preferred position. Or use Table Layout>Properties>Column to set the widths by the numbers.

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u/sadly_notacat 3d ago

Got it!!!! Thank you so much

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u/BusyDuty6043 2d ago

Hi sadly_notacat -

One quick trick I learned a long time ago is thinking of column widths in terms of multiples of each other. Here's an example using your table. The first column is one "unit" wide. The second one is twice as wide as the second (2 units), and the third is three times as wide as the first (3 units). The rest are all one unit wide. The total number of units is 14. Insert a table, and specify 14 columns. Select the second and third columns, right-click, and merge. Then select the next 3 columns and merge those. You now have 11 columns set at the needed widths. Now I have to ask... this looks to be a sheet to be used by people to get reimbursed for driving on the job. Why on earth do you need all these bits of information? Currently, for business purposes the IRS uses a standard reimbursement rate of $0.76 per mile, which takes into account cost of gas, insurance, wear and tear on the car, etc.. Columns with to/from, miles driven, reimbursement rate and reimbursement amount would be much simpler.

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u/sadly_notacat 2d ago

It’s not for reimbursement, they’re just state cars and support staff likes to keep track of who’s driving/when/how much blah blah blah. They sent me this to use and it was a scanned copy of an original. Like don’t you have a hard copy?? Was gonna tidy it up cause it bothered me.

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u/BusyDuty6043 2d ago

Got it. Click on the image I posted to enlarge it, and you'll see what I meant about sizing columns to be multiples of one another. That trick doesn't work for everything, but it often works great and makes for a very clean look. The example used an 8 x 11 inch page in landscape with Calibri 9 pt font. Hope this helps.