Changing the Width of a Column

If a column is too narrow, your screen reader will not be able to read all of the information. To prevent information from being lost, you can widen the columns. If you know exactly how many characters make up the information, you can enter that number. If you are not sure, use the Best Fit option for best results.

Note: To change the width of field columns, you must first change the graphic image or icon fields to text fields, close the Format Columns dialog box, and then perform the following procedures. For more information, see Changing a Graphic Image or Icon Field to a Text Field.

The View Summary dialog box

Screen shot of the Outlook View Summary dialog box

The Format Columns dialog box

Screen shot of the Outlook Format Column dialog box

Step

Mouse actions

Keyboard actions

On the View menu:

Point to Current View.
Select Format Columns.

To display the View menu, press ALT+V.

Move to Current View by pressing V.
Select Format Columns by pressing M.

In the Format Columns dialog box, in the Available Fields list:

Select the field whose width you want to change.

In the Format Columns dialog box:

Move to Available Fields by pressing ALT+V.
Select the field for which you want to change its width by using the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys.

In the Format Columns dialog box, in the Width area:

If you know how many characters wide you want your column to be:

Select Specific width.
Type the number of characters you want in the box.
If you want Outlook to adjust the width automatically:
Select Best fit.

In the Format Columns dialog box, in the Width area:

If you know how many characters wide you want your column to be:

Select Specific width by pressing ALT+W.
Press the TAB key, and then type the number of characters you want in the box.
If you want Outlook to adjust the width automatically:
Select Best fit by pressing ALT+B.

To close the Format Columns dialog box:

Select OK.

To close the Format Columns dialog box:

Press ENTER.