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A couple of weeks ago, I was working in Microsoft Excel 2016 for Mac, using an Office 365 subscription in the standard channel. When I would select a column and then "Column Width", my recollection is that I would be able to specify the width of the column in inches.

However, I am now working in Excel—version 15.33 (170409), though I also see it on another computer that's on 15.32 (170309)—and when I select "Column Width", I now am getting the same sorts of numbers like I'd see in Excel for Windows; e.g., the default column width is "10".

I can find absolutely no documentation of this change.

Is my memory faulty, or did this change, and where is that documented?

Furthermore, is there a way I can change it back at will?

EDIT: I installed an old version of Excel (15.31 (170216)) and it does, in fact, still give me inches:

Excel 15.31 (170216) for Mac allowing column width in inches

But here is a screenshot from 15.32 (170309):

Excel 15.32 (170309) for Mac doing column width not in inches

So the change appears to be in the March release. Where is the documentation/rationale for this?

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  • I don't have 2016, but did you try File>Options>Advanced>Display>Ruler Units ?
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Apr 16, 2017 at 7:32
  • On the Excel menu, click Preferences.Under Authoring, click General Preferences button .On the Ruler units pop-up menu, click the unit of measurement that you want to use.
    – yass
    Commented Apr 16, 2017 at 21:07
  • The Ruler Units are and have been Inches this whole time. My only other options are "Centimeters" and "Millimeters". Changing that (just to make sure) does not make a difference to the number in Column Width; the default column width steadfastly remains "10". Prior to this, the default column width was something like 0.87".
    – Kate Bertelsen
    Commented Apr 18, 2017 at 3:44
  • @Tetsujin: This is on macOS; there is no Options item under File.
    – Kate Bertelsen
    Commented Apr 18, 2017 at 3:49
  • @KateBertelsen For MacOS, Go to Preference > General > Ruler Unit
    – c.sankhala
    Commented Jul 28, 2020 at 6:32

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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In Excel 2016 for Mac v16.10, column width units depend on VIEW mode. In Normal mode, the units are in default font characters (i.e. default of 10). In Page Layout view, the units match the ruler units set in preferences (e.g. inches or cm). Yes, this is a particularly annoying undocumented change.

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  • That's a really good catch! Thanks for pointing out that I can still use the units I prefer in Page Layout view. At least there's a workaround of some sort. I appreciate your letting everyone know :)
    – Kate Bertelsen
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 1:32
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The current behavior seems to be documented here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/214123/description-of-how-column-widths-are-determined-in-excel

"The standard column width in Microsoft Excel 2000 is 8.43 characters" etc.

But I can confirm that in the previous version of Excel (2011) that I have installed on another machine it was indeed shown in cm (the rule unit configured). Now in 15.33 this setting does not seem to have any effect for me, either.

Also, you can still enter the width you want explicitly. E.g. when I enter "5 cm" that's what I will get, even though after revisiting the dialog box again it will display "27,4".

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  • There was no Microsoft Excel 2000 for Mac. That was the Windows version; I am talking about the Mac version.
    – Kate Bertelsen
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 0:56
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In Excel 2016 for Mac version 15.41 (171205), I can type in inches in the width dialog and it is resized to match (at ~72 pixels per inch -- it's not exact).

E.g., when I type in 5.75" (be sure to include the double-quote mark), it resized the column to 418 pixels, and a character width of 68.83 (Arial 12). And it did the same when I typed 14.605 cm.

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  • However, when you bring up the Column Width after the fact, does it tell you the width in inches, or in points?
    – Kate Bertelsen
    Commented Jan 5, 2018 at 20:35
  • @Michael Gust, can no enter double quote in width dialog
    – c.sankhala
    Commented Jul 28, 2020 at 6:37

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