Did Excel 2016 for Mac change its column width specifications from inches to something else?

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:

But here is a screenshot from 15.32 (170309):

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

Kate Bertelsen

Posted 2017-04-16T00:34:56.957

Reputation: 113

I don't have 2016, but did you try File>Options>Advanced>Display>Ruler Units ? – Tetsujin – 2017-04-16T07:32:43.900

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 – 2017-04-16T21:07:37.943

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 – 2017-04-18T03:44:25.827

@Tetsujin: This is on macOS; there is no Options item under File. – Kate Bertelsen – 2017-04-18T03:49:43.680

Answers

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.

Michael K.

Posted 2017-04-16T00:34:56.957

Reputation: 36

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 – 2018-03-10T01:32:36.967

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".

ttarchala

Posted 2017-04-16T00:34:56.957

Reputation: 771

There was no Microsoft Excel 2000 for Mac. That was the Windows version; I am talking about the Mac version. – Kate Bertelsen – 2017-05-03T00:56:10.347

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.

Michael Gust

Posted 2017-04-16T00:34:56.957

Reputation: 1

However, when you bring up the Column Width after the fact, does it tell you the width in inches, or in points? – Kate Bertelsen – 2018-01-05T20:35:08.327