Writer Guide

Figure 273: Table Format dialog box: Columns page
Right-click on the table and choose Table from the pop-up menu or
choose Table > Table Properties from the menu bar. On the Table
Format dialog box, select the Columns tab.
• Adapt table width: If a table already stretches to the page
margins, it cannot stretch any wider and the Adapt table width
option is not available. If the table is narrower, increasing the
width of a column will increase the width of the whole table.
If the table width already extends pasts the margins with the
Adapt table width option checked, attempting to change a column
width will automatically decrease that column’s size so that the
table will now shrink to the page margins while keeping any other
column sizes intact.
• Adjust columns proportionally results in all columns changing
their widths by the same percentage when one is changed. For
example, if you reduce by half the size of a column, all the other
columns sizes will be halved.
• Remaining space shows how much further the table can expand
before hitting the limit of the margins. This value cannot be
edited and will not be negative in the event that the table width is
already larger than the space between the left and right margins.
• Under Column width, each individual column can be adjusted. If
you have more than six columns, use the arrows at the right and
left to view them all.
Rather than start from the Table Format dialog box, it is often more
efficient to make rough adjustments to a new table using the mouse,
and then fine tune the layout using the Columns page in conjunction
with the Table page of the Table Format dialog box.
312 OpenOffice.org 3.x Writer Guide
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