Text in Table Appears in Columns in Word for Windows

Last reviewed: July 30, 1997
Article ID: Q47597
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Word for Windows versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.1a, 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c

SUMMARY

If the text in the cells of a table appears in columns instead of normal lines, the cell of the table may have paragraph formatting that includes an indent that is larger than the width of the column.

MORE INFORMATION

There are two methods to determine and correct this problem:

  1. Check the ruler by doing the following:

    a. Select the problem paragraph.

    b. Activate Paragraph mode by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+F10.

    Small triangles appear under the numbers on the ruler. The triangle on the right points left, and the triangle on the left points right, so that they point at each other. If this is not the case, the left paragraph indent is currently set larger than the cell width. The left triangle has two parts, which can be moved separately. The top section indicates the first-line indent and the bottom section indicates the left paragraph indent.

    The triangles can be moved with a mouse or the keyboard. When using the keyboard, the LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys are used to position the ruler cursor, represented by a rectangular box on the ruler. Once the cursor is moved, do the following:

    a. To change the left or right paragraph indents, press either the

          "L" or "R" key (respectively) to move the indents to the current
          cursor position.
    

    b. To change the first-line indent, press the "F" key to move the

          first-line indent to the current cursor position.
    

    Using the mouse to position the left and right indents is accomplished by pointing at the appropriate triangle and, holding the left mouse button down, dragging it to the new position on the ruler, as follows:

    a. To set a first-line indent, move the left indent to the position

          desired for the first-line indent.
    

    b. To move just the left margin indicator (the bottom section of

          the triangle), hold the SHIFT key down and drag it back to the
          left.
    

  2. Select the problem paragraph. From the Format menu, choose Paragraph. If there are measurements in the From Left, From Right, or From First Line text boxes in the Indents group box, the measurements should be reduced or removed.

If the problem occurs only on the first line of a paragraph, the cause is a first-line indent that is too large for the cell width.


KBCategory: kbusage
KBSubcategory: kbformat
Additional query words: 6.0 6.0a 6.0c 1.x word6
winword 2.0 winword2 2.0a 2.0a-CD 2.0b 2.0c
Keywords : kbformat
Version : 1.x 2.x 6.0 6.0a 6.0c
Platform : WINDOWS


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Last reviewed: July 30, 1997
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