Horizontal ruler in word not aligning with columns

Question

Employed as a tech editor/word processor, I work with tables in Word a lot. A lot of times the horizontal ruler gets completely misaligned from the columns, as you can see below:

This behavior is frequently associated with me copying information from another table (saying, trying to create a "clean" table in new document from information from an old document created in an archaic version of Word; I make a fresh table in the most current version of Word, copy info from old doc, paste, select all and click "clear formatting," overwrite as new style). Because the behavior with the ruler usually happens with "insert as new row," I try to paste as "overwrite cells".

But somehow the settings on my current doc got screwed with. Now every time I try to create a fresh table, before I even fill the cells, the horizontal ruler hides the first couple columns. I find it easiest to adjust column width using the horizontal ruler rather than the dialogue box, so this ruler is extremely annoying and inefficient. How do I get the ruler to be aligned with the columns?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi Word Processor,

I got the same issue for the first time about 5 days ago (about the same time as you by the looks) I don't know if this is a result of an update or not, but for me it coincided with purchase of a new Surface Laptop also so I spent a while checking settings.

Anyway, I seem to have been able to resolve the issue in my document by turning tracking from "Simple Markup" to "No Markup". There seems to be a bug in the display of rulers when the comment/ track changes panel is displayed on the right hand side of the page.

I hope this helps.

Cheers.

Answer 2

Dear Word Processor,

Welcome to the forum here.

From your description, it seems that you want to paste the table as follows.

If yes, I'd like you to first check whether you are using the latest version of the Office applications. If no, update the version, restart the computer and then do a test to see the result. Meanwhile, upload a full screenshot of the Account page in the Word application you are using for our reference.

Note: Remove any private information before uploading the screenshots.

Then I suggest you log into the computer with the administrator account>go to Control Panel>Programs>right-click on the Office applications' icon>Change>check whether there is an Online Repair option. If yes, run it and restart the computer. 

Finally go to %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates>move the Normal.dotm file out>run the Word application>insert a table to see if the ruler can be aligned with the table.

If yes, do a test to see the result.

Best Regards,

Cliff

Answer 3

Hi, Cliff. 

Thanks for the quick response.

I had identified myself as running the latest version of Word. I have omitted any identifying info from the following screenshot at bottom. 

I did run "Repair" and the issue still happens. I work for a large organization with a competent IT department that regularly updates all software.

We don't work in Normal.dotx because we really like our organization's established styles and templates. Yes, the report template was created in an earlier version of Word, but it was upgraded to newest file format and saved in 2019. Whenever I save documents made from this template, I save it in the very latest version of Word.

Beyond that, I don't think you understand my question. I just want to be able to fix the ruler so I can see the whole thing align with the columns and use it to work on a table.

This issue with the ruler happens a lot. It most often occurs when I insert a column with text/formatting from another document into a new document, or insert a fresh column into a table that already has text and formatting (therefore, I try not to do these things). 

As I described, to eliminate issues with bugs coming from documents created in archaic editions of Word (coding can be hidden in tables, they're not safe to paste whole cuz version conflict can make a document unstable or change styles/template), I try to avoid pasting a whole table in. Instead, when I want that info, I create a fresh document with our template in the latest version of Word. I make a brand-new table, no styles, and copy the text from the old table, overwriting the cells (avoiding the "insert column" so I don't get those bugs). I select all, click "clear formatting," and apply my new style. And yet somehow a bug got in this document so the horizontal ruler is misaligned. Given that the document shown is too much work to make new again, is there a simple way to just align the ruler with the columns? Does MS Word have this feature?

Another example below from a different document. A colleague sent me a table, to the left, created in latest version of Word today in Normal.dotm template. I was supposed to paste it in another document, to the right, which I created a couple days ago in latest version of Word and o far all the text and tables had been behaving because they were "fresh," no formatting from other documents. As soon as I paste this table in, you see that the ruler is not aligned with the columns.

 I work with documents that sometimes have dozens of tables, which I have to reformat as they are edited. It would be really great if MS Word had a way that I could fix the ruler when it does not align with the columns so that I could format the columns with the ruler. 

Thanks

Answer 4

Dear Word Processor,

Thanks for your updates.

As you are using Office 2016, I'll move the thread to the Office 2016 category for you to get expert help.

Best Regards,

Cliff

Answer 5

That helps. Thanks for the advice!