I often create tables in Excel where some cells contain a lot of text while others just contain a single digit or some other short value. With wrap text in cells enabled and then a combination of increasing row height and autofit the width of the columns there is a lot of wasted space in my sheets.
I would like a "smart" function that minimizes the unused white space. Does something like that exist? Or is there a algoritm that is simple enough to perform manually even on bigger sheets?
A few samples of what I mean:
A lot of wasted space horizontally
Vertical wasted space
This is probably pretty good
With merged cells it is starting to get complex as seen in this and the next example
Thinking a bit more about this I have realised that the algoritm I am looking for can't be too naive and could/need different optimising strategies:
I would like a "smart" function that minimizes the unused white space. Does something like that exist? Or is there a algoritm that is simple enough to perform manually even on bigger sheets?
A few samples of what I mean:
A lot of wasted space horizontally
Vertical wasted space
This is probably pretty good
With merged cells it is starting to get complex as seen in this and the next example
Thinking a bit more about this I have realised that the algoritm I am looking for can't be too naive and could/need different optimising strategies:
- Naive: In extreme cases it could end up making a cell with a lot of text very high, e.g., with just one letter or at least one word per line. Obviously that is not desirable.
- Usually I believe a squarish shape of the whole active area would be the most efficient. In that case optimising the circumference is probably the best strategy. However, if you want to print on a rectangular paper or view on a rectangular screen, it would make sense to sacrifice some optimisation to make sure that the data fits on one paper/screen.
