How does Excel calculate how many pixels to add/subtract when switching from "Normal" view mode to "Page Layout" view mode?

Question

If you create a new table in Excel and look at the column width in "Normal" view mode, it will be 64px
Now if you switch to "Page Layout" mode and look at the column width, it will be 69px
That is, Excel added 5px (this is for the Calibri font, set to the default "Normal" style)

If you change the font for the "Normal" style from Calibri to Courier New (with same size and style), then in "Normal" view mode the column width will be 80px, and in "Page layout" view mode 78px
That is, now Excel has taken away 2px

If you change the font for the "Normal" style to Comic Sans MS (with same size and style), then both in "Normal" view mode and in "Page Layout" view mode, the column width will be 80px
That is, now Excel has not changed the column width

How does Excel calculate how many pixels to add/subtract when switching from "Normal" view mode to "Page Layout" view mode?

Answer 1

I believe the answer lies here.

The standard column width in Microsoft Excel 2000 is 8.43 characters; however, the actual width that you see on the screen varies, depending on the width of the font defined for the Normal style of your workbook. Changing the default font also changes the column width. This behavior occurs because of the way that Excel stores the column width information for individual fonts.

Depending on the fonts you use, column widths and line heights may be displayed differently when you view a spreadsheet in print preview. This behavior occurs when you use proportionally spaced fonts, such as a proportional TrueType font. This problem does not occur when you use uniformly spaced fonts (fonts with fixed widths), such as Courier New. The discrepancy in font metrics is a function of how Microsoft Windows reports font information to Microsoft Excel.