Changing a Field's Column Display Width

The column display width determines the amount of data in a field that will be displayed on screen. This setting also determines the amount of data that will be printed or exported to a text file, as these operations use only the data that is available for viewing.

Change the column display width for a single field

Steps:

1. Depending on your field type, select Input Fields, Database Fields, Formula Fields, Lookup Fields, Runtime Parameter Fields, or User Edit Fields from the Table Design ribbon. The list of fields displays on the fields selector.

2. Select a field. The field's properties display on the General tab.

3. Use the Display Width box to increase or decrease the column width.

4. Select Accept.

Change the column display widths for multiple fields

Steps:

1. Select Field List from the Table Design ribbon. The Field List window displays. This window displays the properties for all fields in the table, including the field types.

2. To change a field’s display width, click on the appropriate cell in the Display Width column, then type a new column width value. Press Enter or click outside the cell to accept the new column width value, or press Escape to restore the previous value.

3. Repeat step 3 to change the data length for additional fields.

4. Click Accept to close the Field List window and the changes to the table.

Changing the column display width of a character or date field

If the column width of a character field or a date field is not wide enough to accommodate a field value, the field value is truncated on screen.

Changing the column display width of a numeric field

If the column width of a numeric field is not wide enough to accommodate a field value, the field value displays as pound signs (####).

Note: The column display width setting affects only the appearance of data on screen; in all cases the underlying data is not affected.

Mouse shortcut

The mouse provides a faster method of changing a field’s column width. Move the mouse pointer to the right edge of the field title. The mouse pointer will become a resizing handle. Click down and drag left or right to resize the field. Although faster, this method is less precise.

Automatically adjusting column widths

Monarch Classic also includes an Autosize Column Widths feature that you can use to adjust the width of a field to match the width of its data and its field name. For details, see Automatically adjusting column widths.