Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 30, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365
It is not unusual to use macros to process data and format output in a workbook. If you use macros to do this type of work, you may be interested in changing the width of a column using a macro. If so, you should pay attention to the ColumnWidth property. This property, when applied to a Column object, indicates the width of the column in characters, based on the current font settings.
For instance, the following code snippet steps through the columns in a selection and sets the width of each column to 10 characters:
For Each c In ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Columns c.ColumnWidth = 10 Next c
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9333) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Setting Column Width in a Macro.
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2024-11-30 12:31:43
J. Woolley
The Tip refers to the ColumnWidth property as "the width of the column in characters, based on the current font settings." It is actually based on the width of the character 0 (zero) in the Normal style.
My Excel Toolbox includes the following macros related to this subject:
SetColumnWidthPixels - Set the width in pixels for all columns in Selection
SetColumnWidthByCell - Make the width of ActiveCell's column fit its contents
AdjustColumnWidths - Adjust the width of selected columns by a fixed increment or a proportional multiplier
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/
For more on this subject see https://excelribbon.tips.net/T006242 and https://excelribbon.tips.net/T011302
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