how can I automatically straighten columns of information within Microsoft Word 2013?

Hi dovidf

OP stated he has 3 columns of data, and said nothing about a table.  How do you propose the OP converts the 3 columns of data into a table?

Seeing that it would be very time consuming to manually take each one to straighten, I am wondering if there might be some automatic way of straightening each column.  

Perhaps this bit that comes after conditioning was a little buried...

then you could select all the data and convert to a table...

This really depends on how you've created your columns of data.  And I don't think there is an easy solution if you have done what I think you've done.

If you've used tables then those should keep your data lined up straight.

If you've used tabs and selected the correct tabs to use and allowed sufficient space then those should line up straight.

If however you've used the spacebar to put spacing between your columns then there is NO easy solution.  Which is quite possibly what you have done.  This method DOES NOT work as font characters have different widths (unless you use fixed spacing fonts like Courier which are ugly).

Now how have you created your columns?

Hi Everyone,

            I am sorry but I should have been a little more specific with respect to how the columns were created.  They were created using the space bar and not the tab key.    I did experimentally try out the option of creating a table for this data.  While I did figure out how to match up the number of columns to my data, I am finding it a bit more complex for the rows.  For instance, what should I do if the number of rows exceed what is given with the built-in templates?  And, secondly, is it possible to simply highlight the data for each cell or block and drag it into the table?

           George

Yes. You can highlight the data then use 'convert text to table'

You can also click on the last row and select insert rows to add as many as you want

forgot to mention:
you can copy the columns into a new document to make the changes

once everything is done, select entire document and change font back to original

select the paragraphs and reformat as three columns

copy the columns back to original document

Hello and Good Evening Everyone,

           I guess hindsight is always 20/20.   I solved this problem by simply starting over from scratch and creating a table which is what I should have done in the beginning this project.  Inserting the data in each of the columns was easy in addition to the columns being straight now.  Whenever I needed to add rows, I simply clicked on the + sign at the lower left corner of the table template.  Everything turned out much easier than expected.  My project is now complete and I am happy :-)

            Thanks everyone for your attention and feedback given to my question.  

            George

Thanks