Excel help

Category: Geeks r Us

Post 1 by blw1978 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Thursday, 14-May-2009 12:54:17

Hi, does anyone know to widen columns in Excel? I'm working on a spreadsheet, and want to make sure that all my data fits in a given cell. I can't seem to find any JAWS help for this problem. Any tips would be great. thanks!

Post 2 by flcomputergeek (Its my opinion, take it or leave it. ) on Thursday, 14-May-2009 13:57:14

Widening a column:
Changes affect the entire spreadsheet.
1. Press alt to open menus.
2. Right arrow to format.
3. Down arrow to column.
4. Press enter.
5. Your first option is width. Press enter.
6. Type in a number for the width. Be sure the number is larger than what is already there.
7. Tab to ok and press spacebar.

To return the columns to standard width, follow the above steps for widening a column but instead of pressing enter on width, down arrow to standard width
and press enter. Your columns will be reverted back to standard size.

Post 3 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Thursday, 14-May-2009 15:54:24

You can also merge several columns if you have a lot of text. Apparently i looks better sometimes. I]ll have to look but it]s somewhere under format I think. Either way, if you can have sighted person check over the spread sheet I think it]d be beneficial, make sure it looks ok, it]s impossible to tell from Jaws if something looks ok on a spread sheet. I coded for Excel for a year but always needed someone to check over the layout and look of the text.

Post 4 by blw1978 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Thursday, 14-May-2009 16:03:14

Thanks, I'll try these tips. Yeah, Jaws kind of sucks with reading in Excel, but I think it has gotten better.

Post 5 by blw1978 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Thursday, 14-May-2009 16:15:38

Okay, I've looked in all the menu options, and there doesn't seem to be a format option. I should clarify that I'm using Excel 20007 and Jaws 10.0. Help, I can't figure this out!! I want to redo a spreadsheet I'm working on for grant followup phone calls. aaaaah!

Post 6 by Chris N (I just keep on posting!) on Thursday, 14-May-2009 17:06:10

To murge: select all columns, control+1, arrow to alignment tab, alt+m to toggle murge checkbox, enter to close dialog.

You can also use AutoFormat, which I believe will at least make sure that the column widths are set correctly. alt+o for format, a for AutoFormat, select the type of format or leave the radio button on Simple, enter to close dialog. When sending spreadsheets I usually do this and then send it on its way.

Post 7 by blw1978 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Thursday, 14-May-2009 17:34:34

Does anyone know if there's a command or menu option to just widen a certain column, or do I have to widen the widths of all the columns in the spreadsheet? Thanks.