Name
Format → Column
Synopsis
The Column menu options provide the ability to specify how the selected column displays on your worksheet by adjusting the column width. In Excel, the default width is about 8.43 characters based on the average number of zeros that can fit within the cell based upon the default font (the Normal font style). Keep in mind that this is an average number of characters; since most the fonts we use are proportional fonts, the letters are all different sizes. Therefore, you could fit more letter Is in each cell than letter Ms.
Width
The Width option is used to specify a column width on the Column Width dialog, shown in Figure 7-3. When you manually specify the column width, Excel no longer automatically resizes the column to accommodate a larger font.
Figure 7-3. Column Width dialog
Another quick way to resize a column is to click on the column border on the right side of the row heading and drag it to the desired size.
Autofit Selection
The AutoFit Selection option sizes the selected column to accommodate the widest cell in your selection. This can also be accomplished by double-clicking on the column border to the right of the column heading.
Hide
Makes the selected column appear to be hidden from display. When you select the Hide option, Excel actually just sets the column width to zero so that the contents do not display. You can also quickly hide the column by ...
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