Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Setting Stable Column Widths in a PivotTable.
Stuart has been building PivotTables for a charity so that they can report on donation patterns over time. The problem he has is that he wants to permanently set the column widths in his PivotTable, but whenever the filter variables for the PivotTable are changed, the column widths reset themselves. Stuart wonders how he can permanently fix all column widths in the PivotTable so they don't change.
This is very easy to do in Excel. After your PivotTable is set up and formatted just the way you want, follow these steps if you are using Excel 2007 or Excel 2010:
Figure 1. The Layout & Format tab of the PivotTable Options dialog box.
If you are using Excel 2013, follow these steps instead:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (759) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Setting Stable Column Widths in a PivotTable.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
PivotTables are great for digesting and analyzing huge amounts of data. But what if you want part of that data excluded, ...
Discover MoreWish there was a way to define how you want PivotTables formatted before you actually create the PivotTable? You may be ...
Discover MoreExcel allows you to link to values in other workbooks, even if those values are in PivotTables. However, Excel may ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2018-03-02 10:51:58
Charlie Arehart
Thank you for that. FWIW the steps for Excel 2016 also apply to what you show for Excel 2013.
FWIW, I wonder if you may want to revisit this post, to reverse the order and focus on later versions of Excel first. :-)
It does come up as the first result in a google search for "pivot table column width". Some may find it, and be frustrated (as I was) when the first set of steps don't work in their more modern version, because they didn't notice you indicating those were for 2007 and 2010.
Either way, thank you again for going the extra step to cover 2013 and above! :-)
2018-02-28 12:39:43
Keith
This was very helpful. I would like to add that if you have more than one pivot table sharing the same columns, you will have to clear the option for all tables.
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2018 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
Comments