MS WORD: I want to be able to change the font size within a table w/o changing the table

TheUser · Jul 8, 2023

Hi, I have Windows 11 and the latest version of Word. Every time I go to change the font size in a table, it seems to change the size of or something about the table. It is hard to say what or by what degree, as it does so quite automatically and quickly and simultaneously with my attempt to change the font size. Since this is happening by default and w/o my prior consent, I am guessing someone might understand the mechanism to which I am referring?

I am printing 100s of these tables, all with different information in them, and so the expectation is that they all need to be of uniform size (that is, the tables themselves). However, the information in them is, of course, not uniform. And some tables require more information than others—thus a smaller font size will be required.

This has to be an easy fix, right haha?

Thank you,

User

JAM83 · Jul 8, 2023

TheUser said:
Hi, I have Windows 11 and the latest version of Word. Every time I go to change the font size in a table, it seems to change the size of or something about the table. It is hard to say what or by what degree, as it does so quite automatically and quickly and simultaneously with my attempt to change the font size. Since this is happening by default and w/o my prior consent, I am guessing someone might understand the mechanism to which I am referring?

I am printing 100s of these tables, all with different information in them, and so the expectation is that they all need to be of uniform size (that is, the tables themselves). However, the information in them is, of course, not uniform. And some tables require more information than others—thus a smaller font size will be required.

This has to be an easy fix, right haha?

Thank you,

User

Did you try just highlighting the texts that you want to change, and then change the font size, color, etc. . :)

TheUser · Jul 9, 2023

Yes, that doesn't work! It changes the size of the row right along with it. You make the font smaller, rows become smaller; you make the font size bigger, rows increase in size too. Thanks though.

jvickers · Jul 9, 2023

TheUser said:
Hi, I have Windows 11 and the latest version of Word. Every time I go to change the font size in a table, it seems to change the size of or something about the table. It is hard to say what or by what degree, as it does so quite automatically and quickly and simultaneously with my attempt to change the font size. Since this is happening by default and w/o my prior consent, I am guessing someone might understand the mechanism to which I am referring?

I am printing 100s of these tables, all with different information in them, and so the expectation is that they all need to be of uniform size (that is, the tables themselves). However, the information in them is, of course, not uniform. And some tables require more information than others—thus a smaller font size will be required.

This has to be an easy fix, right haha?

Thank you,

User

Have you tried to manually set the column widths of the table? That should prevent it from autosizing the columns.

TheUser · Jul 9, 2023

jvickers said:
Have you tried to manually set the column widths of the table? That should prevent it from autosizing the columns.

Hi, thanks. Where might I do that?

jvickers · Jul 9, 2023

TheUser said:
Hi, thanks. Where might I do that?

In Word (I'm using Word 365, but it shouldn't matter), go to Layout when you have a column selected. You should see the column width settings. Just change the number by one. That's what I did, and it worked.

TheUser · Jul 9, 2023

jvickers said:
In Word (I'm using Word 365, but it shouldn't matter), go to Layout when you have a column selected. You should see the column width settings. Just change the number by one. That's what I did, and it worked.

Thank you for the explanation, but, as yet, I do not understand it. Perhaps it is different in practice. First, when you say "columns," do you mean "rows?" I always understood rows to be horizontal and columns to be vertical. I only have horizontal.

Second, my heights and widths are perfect as is. I do not want to change them—only to fix them.

jvickers · Jul 9, 2023

TheUser said:
Thank you for the explanation, but, as yet, I do not understand it. Perhaps it is different in practice. First, when you say "columns," do you mean "rows?" I always understood rows to be horizontal and columns to be vertical. I only have horizontal.

Second, my heights and widths are perfect as is. I do not want to change them—only to fix them.

My bad. You didn't specify you were only talking about rows, so I assumed you meant the resizing of columns. I don't think you can prevent rows from changing height. You might be better served to create your formatted table and then insert text boxes where users would input the data. The text box wouldn't change height.

But then, the way you've explained it, I'm not entirely sure what you're looking for other than the rows to maintain the height you want.

TheUser · Jul 9, 2023

jvickers said:
My bad. You didn't specify you were only talking about rows, so I assumed you meant the resizing of columns. I don't think you can prevent rows from changing height. You might be better served to create your formatted table and then insert text boxes where users would input the data. The text box wouldn't change height.

But then, the way you've explained it, I'm not entirely sure what you're looking for other than the rows to maintain the height you want.

Thanks a lot for sticking with me. Here, this is a screenshot of what I am working with. It is an index card, a perfectly structured index card. But some index cards require more information than others, depending on the question on its front. I go to change the font size and the rows shrink right along with it, thus messing up the format. I just find it difficult to fathom that preventing this is an impossibility in the year 2023.

JAM83 · Jul 9, 2023

TheUser said:
Yes, that doesn't work! It changes the size of the row right along with it. You make the font smaller, rows become smaller; you make the font size bigger, rows increase in size too. Thanks though.

Are you able to send me the file that you're trying to work with? Unless it's a private file or something, I wouldn't mind seeing what I can do. OR just send me a blank table file with random texts in it.

TheUser · Jul 9, 2023

JAM83 said:
Are you able to send me the file that you're trying to work with? Unless it's a private file or something, I wouldn't mind seeing what I can do. OR just send me a blank table file with random texts in it.

Yes, I would love to send you the file(!), though it won't let me attach it here. You will see the font size is 11 and any deviation therefrom, up or down, changes the row size with it.

JAM83 · Jul 9, 2023

TheUser said:
Yes, I would love to send you the file(!), though it won't let me attach it here. You will see the font size is 11 and any deviation therefrom, up or down, changes the row size with it.

I sent you a DM

cereberus · Jul 13, 2023

You can set row heights to be a fixed size.
You can select any text in a cell and format it.

Using styles is the best way to sort your issue (in my opinion).

I do it this way:

1) create a new style for table text.
2) turn off autouodating style
3) format a cell how you like
4) select cell and update style to match selection.
5) Apply style to all selections
6) You can modify cells independently as autoupsatimg is off.

reannybean · Aug 28, 2023

Hello! I found your thread because I was dealing with the exact same issue and I found a solution that I figured I would share. If you right click on your table, there should be a 'Table Properties...' tab. In that tab, you can set a specified height or width for your rows or columns and then select from the dropdown menu "row height is exactly' instead of 'at least'. Click 'save' and you'll be able to change the font size without the table cells moving! I know I'm a bit late to the thread but hopefully this will help someone with the same issue!