Cannot resize table columns in word 2013

Anonymous
2015-01-15T19:51:53+00:00

I have just recently started using MS Office 2013. In the past, it was EASY to create a table and then highlight a column and hover over the vertical line between columns, the mouse pointer would change to the nifty little arrow line arrow pointer, and then you could drag the column and change its width. it was easy, intuitive, simple, -- a total no-brainer.

Now in Word 2013, that no longer works. I cannot drag the column widths, and I cannot change the width at all for the columns in my table.

I have looked for settings in many places, but I cannot seem to get the table to allow me to drag and resize the columns in any way.

It is very annoying that such simple intuitive functionality from past versions does not work anymore in Office 2013, Word 2013.

Stefan's answer is only a partial answer. no idea why the tables were locked, but the long urls was a side issue related issue.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-02-02T11:25:20+00:00

    Great tip, but a rather bizarre solution.

    thanks

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  2. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2017-01-25T02:03:15+00:00

    If you send me a copy of the document, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will investigate the issue.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-01-24T14:28:09+00:00

    I just had the issue on Word 2016. I disabled the "Different odd and even" header and footer option under Page Setup and the tables became editable. It is such a prohibitive bug ... seems like people usually do not use different formatting for odd and even pages (apart from publishers, which is why I stumbled accross this bug).

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-01-09T07:12:08+00:00

    Hi, sorry I might have understanding problem with your remark on inserting textbox.

    Im using Ms Words 2016, and I had used this morning to re-do the table & submitted my report. I also had deleted the copy with problem (I have a practice to clear my desktop of any redundant docs). Sorry im not sure how I can replicate this problem...

    I created one table for my report & I will occasionally update the table with more info / delete some of the details inside.

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  5. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2017-01-09T06:58:05+00:00

    I never said, or implied, anything about setting up a text box in tables.  The purpose of the text box was to avoid having to set different Left and Right margins IF for some reason, the required layout could not be achieved by setting a gutter margin.

    Based on what you are saying in your second paragraph it seems that you are facing an issue that is different from that raised earlier in this thread, particularly if you have not set different left and right margins.

    Can you advise what version of Office you are using and give a full description of the problem.  

    In the original thread, it was only with the table on Even Numbered pages that there was an issue.   Is that also the case for you?

    If you send me a copy of the document, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will investigate the issue.

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