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I'm using Word 2013's built-in citation management using the IEEE style, and including a built-n bibliography generated from the citations in my document. Unfortunately, the first column of the bibliography table is too narrow, so the citation numbers wrap if they exceed one digit. If I make the table column wider, it simply gets set back to the too-narrow column width as soon as the bibliography gets updated.

Is there any way to change the column widths in the bibliography table so they persist?

digitig
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  • You can generate the table by hand or update the table once the paper is completed. – Ramhound Oct 26 '15 at 14:54
  • When you say "generate the table by hand", do you mean type in the complete bibliography myself? That seems to defeat the purpose of using the citation manager. Updating the table once the document is completed won't work, because it has to go through various quality control processes within my firm before it can be issued, and it is likely to get updated (and so mis-formmated, and so rejected) at each step. Then if I can get through that and I deliver to my client, the client is likely to update the document, and my deliverable will look poor. – digitig Oct 28 '15 at 15:37
  • I don't know what to say. There is no way to generate or use your own bibliography template. – Ramhound Oct 28 '15 at 15:39
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    Well, if that's correct, it's exactly what needed to be said! If the supplied template is broken and there's nothing I can do to change it, I can abandon trying to use the built-in citation manager. – digitig Oct 28 '15 at 16:19
  • Was a little fast on that trigger. [This](https://bibword.codeplex.com/) is designed to manipulate and create citation and bibliography styles. It edits a .XML file that is created you create your first bibliography. [This](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/jj851016.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396) talks about the manual process. The tool has not been updated in years. Of course every machine that will look at the document, will need the style, otherwise it will not appear to be something they can refresh. Infopath is also good for custom designs like your seeking. – Ramhound Oct 28 '15 at 16:24

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Thanks to Ramhound for the link to something that would let me manage the bibliography format (and I'd give credit for answering the actual question I asked if I could, but it's posted as a comment, not a reply). But I found the answer to the underlying problem at http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-word/update-citations-and-bibliography-column-width/c16b8f08-3380-4ea6-8036-7ec78405c6e7?page=2&auth=1.

It turns out the citation numbers were wrapping because a URL in a citation was too long. Split that URL and the citation numbers formatted just fine with no need to edit any underlying XML.

digitig
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    The best way to split URLs is to insert a **zero-width space**, which means you can copy the URL without spaces but it still breaks across lines. To do this, search for "Character Map" in the start menu and open it. Then, in the "Go to Unicode" box, type `200B`, then click the first (blank) character in the table. Click "Select", then "Copy", then paste the zero-width space into your URL. – binaryfunt Feb 07 '19 at 18:12
  • Thank you both digitig and @binaryfunt . The zero-width space trick on the URL was what I needed to fix the problem with the ieee bibliography table – A. M. Oct 27 '20 at 12:36
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Found a proper solution!

At the top left of your references table, hover your mouse over your first reference. Look for a little box with cross arrows in it, just to the left.

Right click on the box. Go to 'auto fit' and select 'fixed column width'.

Now go to the references table and make sure all your references are highlighted in the dark grey.

Hover your mouse at the end of the first column with the reference numbers to show the normal column width symbol. You can now double click on this and move the column to the right to make it wider. Once you have it the right size so the reference number and brackets fit in, let go and it should now work!

This took me an hour of fiddling so I hope I have now achieved my life's ambition and made the world a better place! ;-)

Ps - i did this with IEEE style and square brackets.

bugsymalone
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    This doesn't persist when the bibliography is updated – binaryfunt Feb 07 '19 at 18:09
  • This is the best solution imo. I had to use a slightly different method: After setting fixed column width, I hovered just above the first column until the black down arrow appeared, clicked to select it, then went to "Layout", then incremented the "width" field until the brackets fit. Then I selected the second column and decreased its width (so that the width of the whole table stayed the same). – 0liveradam8 Jan 08 '21 at 14:05
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For people still looking for a one time workaround,

Wait till you have completed writing the whole document and you are sure that you don't want to update your Bibliography anymore, then follow the steps

  1. Go to top left of the table, and hover above the first reference index number 1, until you see bold black down pointing arrow and click it. This will select the numbering column of table.

  2. A formatting box appears right next to it, click on delete drop down and select delete columns. The numbering gets deleted.

  3. select all the references in table until they are dark grey, go to numbering options in the home tab and select the numbering style. IEEE style follows number within square brackets.

That's all! Just remember, updating bibliography will undo this

VaibhavBhasin
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