How to reduce the height of empty cells in Word document

Syncfusion Essential DocIO is a .NET Word library used to create, read, edit, and convert Word documents programmatically without Microsoft Word or interop dependencies. Using this library, you can reduce the height of empty cells in Word document using C#.

Why does the table have extra height, even when empty?

• Cell margins: Default margins in each cell add extra space.
• Paragraph formatting: Even empty cells have paragraph break characters with formatting, including font size, which increases height.
• Row height setting: If the row height is fixed, it adds to the table’s height, regardless of content.

To reduce the height of the empty table, follow these steps:

• Retrieve the table you want to change.
• Set each row’s height type to “AtLeast” and height to 0, allowing it to shrink.
• Remove the top and bottom margins for each cell to reduce extra space.
• Set the font size of paragraph break characters to a smaller value, like 8, to minimize height.

Steps to reduce the height of empty cells in Word document:

1. Create a new .NET Core console application project.
2. Install the Syncfusion.DocIO.Net.Core NuGet package as a reference to your project from NuGet.org.
   
   

3. Include the following namespaces in Program.cs file
   C#

using Syncfusion.DocIO.DLS;
using Syncfusion.DocIO; 

4. Use the following code example to reduce the height of empty cells in Word document.
   C#

using (FileStream inputFileStream = new FileStream(Path.GetFullPath("Data/Template.docx"), FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite))
{
   //Opens the template Word document.
   using (WordDocument document = new WordDocument(inputFileStream, FormatType.Docx))
   {
       //Retrieve the last section of the document.
       IWSection section = document.LastSection;
       //Retrieve the first table from the section.
       IWTable table = section.Body.Tables[0];
       //Iterate through each row in the table.
       foreach (WTableRow row in table.Rows)
       {
           //Set the row height type to "AtLeast" and height to 0 to minimize height.
           row.HeightType = TableRowHeightType.AtLeast;
           row.Height = 0;
           //Iterate through each cell in the row.
           foreach (WTableCell cell in row.Cells)
           {
               //Remove top and bottom margins of the cell.
               cell.CellFormat.Paddings.Top = 0;
               cell.CellFormat.Paddings.Bottom = 0;
               //Iterate through paragraphs in each cell.
               foreach (IWParagraph paragraph in cell.Paragraphs)
               {
                   paragraph.BreakCharacterFormat.FontSize = 8;
               }
           }
       }
       //Save the document.
       using (FileStream outputFileStream = new FileStream(Path.GetFullPath("Output/Result.docx"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write))
       {
           document.Save(outputFileStream, FormatType.Docx);
       }
   }
}

You can download a complete working sample to reduce the height of empty cells in Word document from the GitHub.

By executing the program, you will get the Word document as follows.

Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed learning about how to reduce the height of empty cells in Word document.

You can refer to our ASP.NET Core DocIO feature tour page to know about its other groundbreaking feature representations and documentation, and how to quickly get started for configuration specifications. You can also explore our ASP.NET Core DocIO example to understand how to create and manipulate data.

For current customers, you can check out our components from the License and Downloads page. If you are new to Syncfusion, you can try our 30-day free trial to check out our other controls.

If you have any queries or require clarifications, please let us know in the comments section below. You can also contact us through our support forums, Direct-Trac, or feedback portal. We are always happy to assist you!