I am using Microsoft 365, my Office products correspond with Version 2406, and I use a PC laptop.

I'm working on my doctoral dissertation, which has specific formatting constraints. I am reaching out for help because my tables seem to be misbehaving and I'm at my wits end trying to resolve the issue.

I am presenting the tables in my Appendix in landscape (horizontal) format, and the page margins are required to be:

Top: 1.5"
Bottom: 1"
Right: 1"


Left: 1"

All tables must fit within these page margins.

When I formatted the tables to AutoFit to Window, they have suddenly started bleeding into the righthand margin. When I manually try adjusting the righthand table border using my cursor, the border does not move. The borders for the columns and rows are also not moving when I try to manually adjust them with my cursor. I can adjust the width/height of a cell in the Cell Size tab, but this then causes the table to become too wide or narrow and, again, the table border is unable to be moved with my cursor to correct this.

Some googling identified that the issue might be that many of my cells have been merged, so I did a test... I created 2 dummy/tester tables with no merged cells and left one untouched and then selected AutoFit to Window for the second one. The first dummy/tester table (no AutoFit to Window) fits within the page margins, BUT the borders for the rows/columns/cells/table are unable to be shifted using my cursor. The second dummy/tester table (AutoFit to Windows) continues to display the same issue of spilling into the righthand margin.

What am I doing wrong? How can I fix this issue?

I've attached the Word document of my Appendix with the 2 dummy/tester tables and 2 of my dissertation tables.

Any assistance would be invaluable! Thank you!!!

Attached Files

Appendix - Tables.docx (236.4 KB, 4 views)

Autofit is not going to help much if at all on this.
Without merged cells, you can select entire columns and resize them.

Hi Charles,

I appreciate your reply.

I'm still having issues that your suggestion does not quite address:

1. I manually resized the first column. Of course, the table's width also decreased. When I tried to shift the righthand border of the table to the right with my cursor, it would not budge. I've attached a screenshot and the document. (Note: This issue is what prompted me to use AutoFit to Window in the first place.)

2. Even for a normal table with no special formatting, AutoFit to Window is causing the table to spill into the righthand margin. This has never happened before.

Given these issues, do you have any suggestions?

Thank you in advance!

Attached Images

Screenshot 2024-07-06 110541.png (9.9 KB, 20 views)

Attached Files

Appendix - Tables.docx (209.4 KB, 2 views)

Word's AutoFit Window command sometimes fails. As far as I know, nobody has been able to explain why this may happen.

What you can do is to convert the table to text and then back into a table, and the recreated table will have the "correct" dimensions as defined by the left and right margins of the document page.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Hi Stefan,

I appreciate your response. It's validating to know that this is an issue others have encountered. I'll give your suggestion a try!