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
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Vertical wasted space
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This is probably pretty good
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With merged cells it is starting to get complex as seen in this and the next example
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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
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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.