Part I: Getting Started with Excel
Changing column widths
Column width is measured in terms of the number of characters of a monospaced font that
will fit into the cell’s width. By default, each column’s width is 8.43 units, which equates to
64 pixels (px).If hash symbols (#) fill a cell that contains a numerical value, the column isn’t wide enough to accommodate the
information in the cell. Widen the column to solve the problem.Before you change the column width, you can select multiple columns so that the width
will be the same for all selected columns. To select multiple columns, either click and drag
in the column border or press Ctrl while you select individual columns. To select all col-
umns, click the button where the row and column headers intersect. You can change col-
umn widths by using any of the following techniques:■ (^) Drag the right-column border with the mouse until the column is the desired width.
■ Choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ Column Width and enter a value in the Column
Width dialog box.
■ Choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ AutoFit Column Width to adjust the width of the
selected column so that the widest entry in the column fits. Instead of selecting an
entire column, you can just select cells in the column, and the column is adjusted
based on the widest entry in your selection.
■ Double-click the right border of a column header to set the column width automati-
cally to the widest entry in the column.
To change the default width of all columns, choose Home ➪ Cells ➪ Format ➪ Default Width. This command
displays a dialog box into which you enter the new default column width. All columns that haven’t been previously
adjusted take on the new column width.
After you manually adjust a column’s width, Excel will no longer automatically adjust the column to accommodate
longer numerical entries. If you enter a long number that displays as hash symbols (#), you need to change the col-
umn width manually.
Changing row heights
Row height is measured in points (a standard unit of measurement in the printing trade—
72 pts is equal to 1 inch). The default row height using the default font is 15 pts, or 20 pix-
els (px).
The default row height can vary, depending on the font defined in the Normal style. In
addition, Excel automatically adjusts row heights to accommodate the tallest font in the
row. So, if you change the font size of a cell to 20 pts, for example, Excel makes the row
taller so that the entire text is visible.