Shrinking Cell Contents

Thanks Joe - for my part I was actually looking for a way to control the internal margins of a cell in the way you described for a shape.

I have since done some research on the issue, and Microsoft says it's not possible because "it's not required for interoperability" (this is 'geek' for 'it's not my J-O-B to accommodate your whims, only to produce a stable application).

What you can do is set alignment values - but Excel won't accept a negative alignment value that would, in a Word table, override the 0 left indent value.

So I think we're out of luck here; Microsoft is sticking to the core functionality of Excel which is to function as a flat database, not a word processor or graphic-based application.

But I would be delighted to be wrong about that, so if anyone can find another solution, you'll be a hero :).

For Jennifer and Roland, regarding controlling the padding values:

1.Right-click the border of the shape or text box you want to adjust the margin for and then click Format Shape.

Format Shape command on the shortcut menu, triggered by right-clicking a shape border


2.Click the Size & Properties icon (Layout & Properties in Word) Layout & Properties tab , and then click Text Box.

Text Box options on the Format Shape pane


3.In the box for each margin, click the down arrow to decrease the distance. The change is applied immediately, so you can tell when you’ve got it right.

This is an interesting tip. However, Shrink To Fit does not affect the behavior of auto-sizing a column width (i.e. double clicking the column divider to automatically change the column width to fit the widest cell in the column). The cell still acts as if it is full size and the column width is expanded to fit it.

Like Roland, I would like to know about controlling padding values if possible -- maybe this could be another tip from Allen but if someone knows, thanks!

Good to know about this. Say, do you know of any way to remove the padding from a cell in Excel? I would like to insert a font character that takes up the entire cell, in two adjacent cells. I'd like them to display without any break in between. But the padding in Excel forces a physical separation.