Column width and a table heading · Martinとコード

When you cannot see a word, the column is narrow

Column A is narrow from the factory. English does not fit and the end disappears behind the edge. A number in B is fine — three digits fit. A heading and a long subject should be visible whole. Otherwise in a week you will guess if A4 is English or English language.

How you know: the text looks like it crawled into the next cell, or a grey line cuts it. If B4 is empty, English from A4 sometimes overflows across it and looks like it lives in two columns. It does not. It is still A4. Click B4, type 3 — the text in A is cut. That is a signal: column A is narrow.

A double-click on the line between letters A and B (at the top, between column headers) stretches the column to the longest text. The cursor changes to a two-way arrow. You can also grab the line and drag right by eye.

The same goes for row height — between numbers 1 and 2 on the left. When the font is big and the text has two lines, the row cuts it. A double-click on the line between 1 and 2 lifts the row.

Open sheet Grades. Find letters A and B at the top.
Hover the mouse on the line between A and B, until the cursor changes to an arrow left and right.
Double-click. Column A stretches. You must see the whole word Subject and the longest subject (English or Science).
If the double-click made the column too wide (half the screen), grab the line and pull it back a bit. You aim at “I see everything, but I do not have a desert”.

In Excel on a computer it is the same: double-click between letters. Right-click the column letter and you also find Column width and a number. You do not need that now.

💡

Select more columns (click A, hold Shift, click C) and double-click the line between them. They all stretch at once. That helps when pocket money has four columns.

The first row is bold

A heading is not decoration. It says what the column is. When you sort and filter, the spreadsheet takes the first row as column names. If A1 is empty and the heading is only in A2, the filter will think the columns are called Maths and 2. Chaos.

Bold type you know at a glance: this is a sign, this is data.

On Grades click A1. Hold Shift and click B1. A1:B1 is selected. Both headings, nothing under them.
On the bar click B (bold). In Sheets it is in the panel at the top. Keyboard: Ctrl+B (Mac: Cmd+B). In Excel the same B on the Home tab.
Click away on A2. A1 and B1 stay bold. Maths in A2 does not.
Widen column A if you have not yet. The heading Subject and long names must be whole.

On the screen you now see: the first row thick, under it ordinary subjects, numbers in B on the right. The table looks like a table, not a pile of words.

⚠️

Do not bold the whole column. When you select A and press B, Maths, Czech and twenty more rows go bold too. Then you cannot tell the heading. Ctrl+Z, select only row 1.

A heading for the whole table — optional

You can lock one cell as a heading for the whole table: into the row above the data. For example merge A1:B1 and type Grades — March. Then move column headings to row 2: A2 Subject, B2 Grade, data from row 3.

How to merge in Sheets: select A1:B1, on the bar the Merge icon (two arrows together). In Excel: Merge and center.

It is not required. For a mini table a bold first row is enough. Merging helps when you make a mini dashboard — one label across more columns. If you try it now and it confuses you, Ctrl+Z and leave row 1 as Subject | Grade.

💰 Pocket money — so it can be read

Open sheet Pocket. If it does not exist yet, plus → Pocket.

Row 1:

A1 Day
B1 In
C1 Spent
D1 Left

Select A1:D1, bold (Ctrl+B). Double-click between A and B, between B and C, between C and D — or select A–D and one double-click on the edge.

If you have days Mon–Sun in A from last time, check that In is not cut. The word is shorter than English, but a narrow column can cut even that.

You do not need numbers in B and C yet. Today it is about signs and width.

Second exercise: nothing hides

Go through both sheets with your eyes from a distance. Push the chair back. Can you still tell the columns?

On Grades Subject, English, Science must not be cut.
On Pocket In / Spent / Left must not be cut.
The first row on both sheets is bold. The second row is not.
Click A1 on Grades. In the formula bar Subject. Column width does not change the content. Only how you see it.

If the text still flows into B, column A is still narrow. Double-click again. If double-click does not work, drag the line right by hand until the word shows whole.

Now you 💪

Make the table readable. When you hand it in to a parent’s eyes (not a formula), they should know the columns in two seconds.

Grades: bold A1:B1, column A wide to the longest subject.
Pocket: bold headings Day, In, Spent, Left. Columns so wide the word is not cut.
No subject and grade in one cell. No whole column bold.
Click B1 on Grades. You see Grade whole. Click D1 on Pocket. You see Left whole.

✅

Check: At a glance you know which column is which. Nothing hides behind an edge. Cell kid 完了 — we go count. Formula kid starts with equals.

What to take from this lesson

A double-click on a column edge stretches it to the longest text. Dragging the line works too.
A bold first row = column names. Data under it is not bold.
A neat table is easier to check than a squeezed one. Cut text is a trap.
Width does not change the cell content. It only changes how much of it you see.
The mini grade table and the pocket skeleton have signs. When formulas come, you will know where they reach.