How to increase the size of columns in phpMyAdmin

Table of contents

1. Why phpMyAdmin does not show the full contents of a cell (column)

2. How to view the full contents of a cell in phpMyAdmin

3. Why does changing column widths not show the entire data?

4.How to increase the number of characters in cells in phpMyAdmin

Why phpMyAdmin does not show the full contents of a cell (column)

By default, table columns in phpMyAdmin show only 50 characters for non-numeric data.

Wide monitors will not correct the situation – even if there is only one column in the table and you are viewing the table on an ultra-wide monitor, only 50 characters will be displayed for the column.

How to view the full contents of a cell in phpMyAdmin

To see the full contents of a specific cell in phpMyAdmin, double-click on it and wait for the data to load.

Then left-click the lower right corner of the cell and drag down and to the right until the cell grows to the size you need.

The following short video will show you how to view the full contents of a cell in phpMyAdmin:

You can view the full contents of the cell. But be careful if you do not plan to edit the contents of a given cell, because if you change anything, then after you click anywhere other than the cell, the stored row will be replaced with its current contents without first asking the user's consent.

That is, all changes you make while viewing the full contents of a cell will be saved automatically.

Demonstration of saving edits in the active cell in phpMyAdmin in the video:

Why does changing column widths not show the entire data?

Experience in Excel (or Calc) suggests that to resize columns you need to drag the mouse on their edges in the column header. This doesn't work in phpMyAdmin.

More precisely, it works, but not in the way you expect. You can indeed stretch the column width, but this will not change the number of characters displayed.

By changing the column size you can change the ratio that different columns occupy on the screen. But, I repeat, this will not increase (or decrease) the amount of information shown.

Once the page is refreshed, any changes to column widths will be lost.

Demonstration of changing phpMyAdmin column width in video:

How to increase the number of characters in cells in phpMyAdmin

So how can you make phpMyAdmin show the full contents of the cells?

In phpMyAdmin you can change the number of characters displayed in a column (cell). This setting will apply to all tables in all databases at once – it will not be possible to make individual settings for different tables.

To change the number of characters displayed in cells in phpMyAdmin, go to the view of any table – only there a link to this setting appears.

In the upper right corner, find the gear symbol and click on it.

Find the “Limit column characters” setting (Maximum number of characters shown in any non-numeric column on browse view.).

Enter the desired number of characters to display in each cell and then click the “Apply” button.

Immediately after this, the cell size will increase. The column size will be the size of the widest cell. The number of characters displayed will not exceed the one you set in the previous setting.

This setting will apply to all databases and all tables. If you wish, you can specify any other value, or return the default value (50 characters).