how do you keep excel columns expanded?

[mason79]

i get these spread sheets, they are crammed with data and many columns,

i drag them open it takes me forever.

when i close the file and open them up later all the columns are back to their skinny little selves, and i have to redrag them.

this needless to says is very frustrating,

is there a way to save this stuff the way i want it?

help and thanks

xs1100 forever!!!

[randy]

The sheet may be protected. In the TOOLS tab, unprotect the cells. Before you do your 'dragging open', try clicking on the little square box at the upper left of the cell header, that will highlight the entire sheet then you can drag all of the columns open in one action. drag open one and the rest will follow.

[egleaves]

As Randy said, you need to make sure the sheet protection is turned off first.

A method I like for resizing column widths is to right click (i think) on the column header and there is a selection for adjusting the column width. If you click this you will get a small text box where you manually enter the width you want. Now here's the fun part; if you click on the next column you want to re size (just a left click to highlight the cells) and then press "ctrl+y" that column will then be set to the same width you entered into the last one. Ctrl+y will always repeat the last command or formatting you applied to a cell or group of cells. I use this a lot for repetitive spreadsheet tasks.

[ELDR]

You can also left click on the top header of the first column and the drag across to the remaining columns to select all you want. release the left click and then right click, select column width and enter a new width for all columns.

[Jerry]

Make sure you do a Save after expanding the columns, even if you have not changed any data.

[CatatonicBug]

My favorite method for expanding columns is to highlight all of the columns like ELDR said, then hover your cursor on the line between any two of the column headers (between the letters D & E for example) until the cursor looks like a bar with an arrow pointing in each direction. Then, double-click there. That will auto-fit all the columns to the size of the largest item in each column.

Saving is also required to keep the changes made. And remember that if you are getting these spreadsheets via e-mail, you need to save them outside your e-mail (like to your "My Documents") to save changes.

[mason79]

thanks gents any method was better than mine and i suffered for years, idiot, you see perfect example of a not asked question being stupid.

randy's solution was the best, 1 or 2 step process, won't save, but it's close enough, thanks!