Sizing Complex Tables

[BlueBingo52]

I have a very complex table. I have done a lot of merging and splitting
cells. Some rows have multiple subrows and columns have multiple subcolumns.
One row might have 5 columns and the row below may have 8 columns. I am
having an awful time sizing this table. I have the table width set at 10
inches and the preferred size of columns and cells deselected. When I try to
drag to resize columns sometimes the whole table size changes, some times the
cell changes, some times it resizes momentarily and then jumps back to some
other arbitrary size that I did not set. How do I gain complete manual
control of column and subcolumn width?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Sometimes you can have better luck with the old Table | Cell Height and
Width dialog, which you can restore from Tools | Customize.

 

[BlueBingo52]

This didn't really help much because the Cell Height and Width still changes
the width of the whole column, not just the cell. I have so many subcolumns
that this does not help.

I'm going to try redoing the table without subrows and subcolumns, get it
organized the way I want and then merge cells at the very end to get the
esthetics that I want.

Thanks for your tip though, it's made me a smarter user.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you have a single cell selected when you use Cell Height and Width, does
it still change the size of the whole column?

 

[BlueBingo52]

Thanks for making me check this out. If the cursor is in a cell and I use
Cell Height and Width to resize, the whole column changes size.

However, if I use the mouse to highlight the cell and then use Cell Height
and Width, it appears that only the width of the selected cell changes.
That's what I needed and I'll work some more and see how that goes.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This is true even if you're sizing the cell by dragging the cell borders.
You must use the mouse to select the cell first.