Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. 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 Column Width in a Macro.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 24, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. 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:
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, 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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2019-11-03 03:08:40
Thomas Papavasileiou
I frequently use a fairly large columns range with dates in dd/mmm/yy format and the "column width, best fit" option may result in a slightly different column withs, I wrote a macro that checks all the column widths in the range and sets that width to the maximum value registered.
The advantage of this formatting is purely a display that does not change when I scroll to the right of the sheet.
Macro also checks the maximum allowed by Excel column width and has a fancy answer as an ending message
If anyone may be interested, here is the macro
Sub idem_2_max_col_width()
If Selection.Columns.Count < 2 Then
ttl = "What a narrow selection..."
txt = "Selection is one columns wide." & vbCr & vbCr
txt = txt & "Macro ends."
MsgBox txt, vbOKOnly + vbInformation, ttl
Exit Sub
End If
mx = 0
With Selection
.Columns.AutoFit
sc = .Column
ec = .Columns.Count + sc - 1
End With
ad1 = Cells(1, sc).Address
sc_ = Mid(ad1, InStr(ad1, "$") + 1, InStr(2, ad1, "$") - 2)
ad2 = Cells(1, ec).Address
ec_ = Mid(ad2, InStr(ad2, "$") + 1, InStr(2, ad2, "$") - 2)
For i = sc To ec
mx = Application.WorksheetFunction.Max(mx, Columns(i).ColumnWidth)
' Debug.Print i, Columns(i).ColumnWidth
Next
If mx > 254 Then
ttl = "Maximum column width is 255..."
txt = "Macro detects a column larger then 254 and stops" & vbCr
txt = txt & "without any width modification "
MsgBox txt, vbOKOnly + vbCritical, ttl
Exit Sub
End If
Selection.ColumnWidth = mx
ttl = "Succesfull rum..."
txt = "Width of " & ec - sc + 1 & " columns " & sc_ & " to " & ec_ & " is identical and equal to " & mx
MsgBox txt, vbOKOnly + vbInformation, ttl
End Sub
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