Is there a way to slightly shrink a table, including font size, to fit within the column boundaries?

Question

I have a table that is just a little too wide for a 3.33" column. Is there a way to simply shrink the table a little to make it fit? I'm OK if the 10pt font becomes 9pt-something. Here is an example.

\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{r|lll}
\multicolumn{1}{r}{}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 1}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 2}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 3} \\ \cline{2-4}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

Answer 1

You can resize it using \resizebox{<width>}{<height>} from the graphics package. The column width is \columnwidth and you can select ! for the height to make it scale along with the width.

\usepackage{graphics}
% ...

\begin{table}
\centering
\resizebox{\columnwidth}{!}{%
\begin{tabular}{r|lll}
\multicolumn{1}{r}{}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 1}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 2}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 3} \\ \cline{2-4}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3
\end{tabular}%
}
\end{table}

Should the table include verbatim or similar material than \resizebox isn't good enough. You can use the {adjustbox}{width=\columnwidth} environment from the adjustbox package instead. It is based on the same graphicx code as \resizebox but allows for any content.

Please do not use the center environment in floats (figure, table), it generates an extra margin and doesn't always work. Use the \centering macro instead.

---

Solution with adjustbox:

\usepackage{adjustbox}
% ...
\begin{table}
\begin{adjustbox}{width=\columnwidth,center}
\begin{tabular}{r|lll}
\multicolumn{1}{r}{}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 1}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 2}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 3} \\ \cline{2-4}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3
\end{tabular}
\end{adjustbox}
\end{table}

Answer 2

You can scale the whole table using \scalebox from the graphicx package.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\begin{center}
\scalebox{0.9}{
\begin{tabular}{r|lll}
\multicolumn{1}{r}{}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 1}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 2}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 3} \\ \cline{2-4}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3
\end{tabular}}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Answer 3

you can resize it to exactly the linewidth:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\noindent\hrulefill

\smallskip\noindent
\resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{%
\begin{tabular}{r|lll}
\multicolumn{1}{r}{}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 1}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 2}
& \multicolumn{1}{l}{Heading 3} \\ \cline{2-4}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3
\end{tabular}}

\end{document}

Answer 4

If the tabular only needs to scaled down very little, it might be worth trying out the widetable package which is like a tabular* but does not need \extracolsep and works by calculating the right value for \tabcolsep, i.e, stretching or shrinking the intercolumn space on either side of a vertical line (if the table has them). This way the fontsize will stay the same which may be an advantage. But of course the maximum shrink is to zero (and that is seldom a workable idea) so it only works if the amount is needed small and the table has many columns.

Answer 5

This is a visual comparison to show that just scale too wide tables (right column) is always the wrong approach. The solution should be reducing the font size, and the column separations if needed, and in case it is necessary also to fit the width of the table exactly, use tabular* environment or packages as tabularx, tabulary or widetable (left column), and when nothing is enough, redesign the table (not showed).

Do you see the problems at the right? Let me explain:

1. The rules are also scaled, giving inconsistent thin rules (ugly, right?).

2. The text of normal size scaled down do not look like small fonts (obtained with \small, \footnotesize, \scriptize or \tiny). It is less readable.

3. Worse, every scaled table will have a different font size: 40 tables = 40 font sizes, not 2 or 3 standard sizes through the whole document (very ugly, right?).

4. Worse, as you can scale down infinitely the table, the risk of allowing ridiculously unreadable small fonts sizes is high. Maybe you have noticed the that the last header if the left-bottom table have the wrong number, but... have you noticed that there are also four badly numbered cells in last table of the right column?

With the other approach, you decide the limit (note: the mine is \footnotesize) or if you lack common sense you cannot low to absurd limits. It is important to have that limit, because it will tell you when you have to pass plan B (redesign the table).

The code:

\documentclass[twocolumn,a5paper]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum,parskip,booktabs,graphicx,tabulary,tabularx}
\usepackage[margin=1cm,bmargin=7cm]{geometry}
\begin{document}

 \lipsum[1][1-3]    

\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{lXX}\toprule
& Heading 1 & Heading 2\\\cmidrule{2-3}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 \\\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}

% \lipsum[2][1-3]   

{\small\tabcolsep5pt 
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{}lXXX@{}}\toprule
& Heading 1 & Heading 2 & Heading 3 \\\cmidrule{2-4}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 \\\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}}

{\scriptsize
\tabcolsep1.7pt 
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{}lXXXX@{}}\toprule
& Heading 1 & Heading 2 & Heading 3 & Heading 4 \\\cmidrule{2-5}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 & Cell 1,4 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 & Cell 2,4 \\\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}}


{\tiny
\tabcolsep1.1pt 
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{}lXXXXX@{}}\toprule
& Heading 1 & Heading 2 & Heading 3 & Heading 4 & Heading 5\\\cmidrule{2-6}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 & Cell 1,4 & Cell 1,5   \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 & Cell 2,4 & Cell 2,5 \\\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}}


{\tiny\tabcolsep1pt
\begin{tabulary}{\linewidth}{@{}lCCCCCCC@{}}\toprule
& Heading 1 &  Heading 2 & Heading 3 &  Heading 4 &  Heading 5 & Heading 6\\\cmidrule{2-7}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 & Cell 1,4 & Cell 1,5  & Cell 1,5 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 & Cell 2,4 & Cell 2,5  & Cell 1,5 \\\bottomrule
\end{tabulary}}


{\tiny\tabcolsep1pt
\begin{tabulary}{\linewidth}{@{}lCCCCCCCC@{}}\toprule
& Heading 1 &  Heading 2 & Heading 3 &  Heading 4 &  Heading 5 & Heading 6 & Heading 6\\\cmidrule{2-8}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 & Cell 1,4 & Cell 1,5  & Cell 1,6  & Cell 1,7  \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 & Cell 2,4 & Cell 2,5  & Cell 2,5  & Cell 2,7  \\\bottomrule
\end{tabulary}}

\lipsum[2][1]
\footnote{Footnote as reference of reasonable and standard small font.} 

    \newpage \lipsum[1][1-3]    


{\centering
\begin{tabular}{lll}\toprule
& Heading 1 & Heading 2\\\cmidrule{2-3}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 \\\bottomrule
\end{tabular}\par}

\resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{%
\begin{tabular}{llll}\toprule
& Heading 1
& Heading 2
& Heading 3 \\\cmidrule{2-4}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 \\\bottomrule
\end{tabular}}

\resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{%
\begin{tabular}{lllll}\toprule
 & Heading 1 & Heading 2 & Heading 3 & Heading 4 \\\cmidrule{2-5}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 & Cell 1,4 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 & Cell 2,4 \\\bottomrule
\end{tabular}}

\resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{%
\begin{tabular}{llllll}\toprule
& Heading 1 & Heading 2 & Heading 3 & Heading 4 & Heading 5\\\cmidrule{2-6}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 & Cell 1,4 & Cell 1,5\\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 & Cell 2,4 & Cell 2,5\\\bottomrule
\end{tabular}}

\resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{%
\begin{tabular}{lllllll}\toprule
 & Heading 1 & Heading 2 & Heading 3 & Heading 4 & Heading 5 & Heading 6\\\cmidrule{2-7}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 & Cell 1,4 & Cell 1,5  & Cell 1,5 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 & Cell 2,4 & Cell 2,5  & Cell 1,5 \\\bottomrule
\end{tabular}}

\resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{%
\begin{tabular}{llllllll}\toprule
 & Heading 1 & Heading 2 & Heading 3 & Heading 4 & Heading 5 & Heading 6 & Heading 7\\\cmidrule{2-8}
Row 1 & Cell 1,1 & Cell 1,2 & Cell 1,3 & Cell 1,4 & Cell 1,5  & Cell 1,5  & Cell 1,5 \\
Row 2 & Cell 2,1 & Cell 2,2 & Cell 2,3 & Cell 2,4 & Cell 2,5  & Cell 1,5 & Cell 1,5  \\\bottomrule
\end{tabular}}

\lipsum[2][1-2]
\
\end{document}