As I wrote, copy and paste formatting (no matter if you use the Format Painter or the handy shortcuts I suggested) only works with text formatting.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

OK, so it is not even a workaround for my situation as I need to apply cell formatting.

Thank you.

The steps I suggested do take care of the text formatting inside the table cell. But I realize that I misunderstood your question, as you were referring to column widths only. For those there seem to be no workaround, strange as it may seem. :-(

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Well actually I want to preserve all formatting. That includes both text and cell formatting. But since it is the cell formatting which is missing, that's why I ask only cell formatting.

It is normal to expect all formatting should be preserved when you cut/copy and paste the whole block of cells. It does not behave like that in older versions (XP). What a big step backwards!

Hmm, you can experiment with the "Use Smart cut and paste" settings at File tab | Options | Advanced. In a quick test, I haven't been able to get Word to paste a column without adjusting the column width, though. I'm starting to wonder if this is a bug in Word 2013.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional