How to Turn Off AutoFit Table Columns Feature in Word

Microsoft Word will auto adjust table column widths to fit the content you are entering. This is the default setting for a Word table. There are times you may not want this, instead, you want to control the column widths.

The default setting may push the table beyond the right margin or a column widens unnecessarily.

So, let’s see how to turn off AutoFit option and do table adjustments yourself.

This is for Office 365 Microsoft Word on PCs, Macs and similar platforms. Other versions of Word will be similar.

Turn Off AutoFit Feature

To turn off this feature, first, place your cursor anywhere in the table you want to change.

Next, go to the Layout tab located in right hand side, not to be confused with the other Layout tab to the left side of the screen. Note! This option only appears when you are in a table. Refer to below image:

Now, click AutoFit and select the Fixed Column Width option. See below image:

You can now drag the column borders to your desired width. The column borders you set will stay that way even if you enter longer text into them. See following image:

Now, you can control Word’s table column widths. That’s it.

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