How to fit the text into a large table?

Question

I'm working on a large table and I use some tools to fit it into the default width text. However, one of its columns doesn't fit into the table's measures. How can I do this?

\documentclass[
% -- opções da classe memoir --
article,            % indica que é um artigo acadêmico
11pt,               % tamanho da fonte
oneside,            % para impressão apenas no verso. Oposto a twoside
a4paper,            % tamanho do papel. 
% -- opções da classe abntex2 --
%chapter=TITLE,     % títulos de capítulos convertidos em letras maiúsculas
%section=TITLE,     % títulos de seções convertidos em letras maiúsculas
%subsection=TITLE,  % títulos de subseções convertidos em letras maiúsculas
%subsubsection=TITLE % títulos de subsubseções convertidos em letras maiúsculas
% -- opções do pacote babel --
english,            % idioma adicional para hifenização
brazil,             % o último idioma é o principal do documento
sumario=tradicional
]{abntex2}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{adjustbox}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[!htbp]
 \scriptsize
 \centering
 \begin{center}
 \caption{Resultados das regressões utilizando Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários}
 %\scalebox{1}{
 \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{cccccccccccccc} \hline %{bss}
& $R^2 (%)$ & Int. & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R_{t}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R_{t-1}$} & \multicolumn{1} 
 {l}{$R_{t-2}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R_{t-3}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R_{t+1}$ } & \multicolumn{1}{l} 
 {$R_{t+2}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$|R_{t}|$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R^2_t$ } & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$% 
 \Delta OVX_{t-1}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$% \Delta OVX_{t-2}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$% \Delta 
 OVX_{t-3}$} \ \hline
 M1 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M2 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M3 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M4 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M5 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00 \ \hline

 \end{tabularx}
 %}
 \label{tab:Tabela 1}
 \end{center}
 \end{table}
\end{document}

Answer 1

Here are some options on how to make your table narrow enough to fit into the textwidth:

1. In the first example, I have replaced tabularx with the, in this specific case, more suitable tabular* and used \setlength{\tabcolsep}{0pt} in combination with @{\extracolsep{\fill}} in order to reduce the distance between the columns in order to make sure the table just fits into the textwidth. In this example, I have also kept the \scriptsize font size, but removed the redundant \entering command and center environment.

2. In the second example, I have additionally replaced the \hline commands with horizontal lines from the booktabs package in order to avoid overlaps between the text and the horizontal lines.

3. In the third example, I tried to shorten the column headers by moving repeated information into a shared header. With this approach, you can enlarge the font size to \small while still fitting the table into the textwidth.

4. In the last example, I have transposed the entire table.

(Red lines indicate margins.)

\documentclass[
% -- opções da classe memoir --
article,            % indica que é um artigo acadêmico
11pt,               % tamanho da fonte
oneside,            % para impressão apenas no verso. Oposto a twoside
a4paper,            % tamanho do papel. 
% -- opções da classe abntex2 --
%chapter=TITLE,     % títulos de capítulos convertidos em letras maiúsculas
%section=TITLE,     % títulos de seções convertidos em letras maiúsculas
%subsection=TITLE,  % títulos de subseções convertidos em letras maiúsculas
%subsubsection=TITLE % títulos de subsubseções convertidos em letras maiúsculas
% -- opções do pacote babel --
english,            % idioma adicional para hifenização
brazil,             % o último idioma é o principal do documento
sumario=tradicional
]{abntex2}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{showframe}\renewcommand*\ShowFrameColor{\color{red}}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[!htbp]
 \scriptsize
 \setlength{\tabcolsep}{0pt}
 \caption{Resultados das regressões utilizando Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários}
 \begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}cccccccccccccc} \hline %{bss}
& $R^2 (%)$ & Int. & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R_{t}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R_{t-1}$} & \multicolumn{1} 
 {l}{$R_{t-2}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R_{t-3}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R_{t+1}$ } & \multicolumn{1}{l} 
 {$R_{t+2}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$|R_{t}|$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$R^2_t$ } & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$% 
 \Delta OVX_{t-1}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$% \Delta OVX_{t-2}$} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{$% \Delta 
 OVX_{t-3}$} \ \hline
 M1 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M2 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M3 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M4 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M5 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00 \ \hline

 \end{tabular*}
 \label{tab:Tabela 1}
 \end{table}
\begin{table}[!htbp]
 \scriptsize
 \setlength{\tabcolsep}{0pt}
 \caption{Resultados das regressões utilizando Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários}
 \begin{tabular}{\textwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}cccccccccccccc} 
 \toprule %{bss}
 & $R^2 (%)$ & Int. & $R_{t}$ & $R_{t-1}$ & $R_{t-2}$ & $R_{t-3}$ & $R_{t+1}$  &

 $R_{t+2}$ & $|R_{t}|$ & $R^2_t$ & $%\Delta OVX_{t-1}$ & $% \Delta OVX_{t-2}$ & $% \Delta OVX_{t-3}$ \ \midrule
 M1 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M2 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M3 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M4 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M5 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00 \ \bottomrule
 \end{tabular}
 \label{tab:Tabela 1}
 \end{table}
\begin{table}[!htbp]
 \small
 \setlength{\tabcolsep}{0pt}
 \caption{Resultados das regressões utilizando Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários}
 \begin{tabular}{\textwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}cccccccccccccc} 
 \toprule
 & & &&&&&&&&& \multicolumn{3}{c}{$% \Delta OV$}\
 \cmidrule{12-14}
 & $R^2 (%)$ & Int. & $R_{t}$ & $R_{t-1}$ & $R_{t-2}$ & $R_{t-3}$ & $R_{t+1}$  &

 $R_{t+2}$ & $|R_{t}|$ & $R^2_t$ & $X_{t-1}$ & $X_{t-2}$ & $X_{t-3}$ \ \midrule
 M1 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M2 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M3 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M4 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00                                 \
 M5 & 0.00                      & 0.00       & 0.00                     & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00                       & 0.00

 & 0.00                       & 0.00                                        & 0.00

 & 0.00                                 & 0.00 \ \bottomrule
 \end{tabular}
 \label{tab:Tabela 1}
 \end{table}
\begin{table}[!htbp]
\centering
 \caption{Resultados das regressões utilizando Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários}
 \begin{tabular}{lccccc} \hline %{bss}
 & M1 & M2 & M3 & M4 & M5\
 \midrule
  $R^2 (%)$            & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  Int.                  & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $R_{t}$               & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $R_{t-1}$             & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $R_{t-2}$             & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $R_{t-3}$             & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $R_{t+1}$             & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $R_{t+2}$             & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $|R_{t}|$             & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $R^2_t$               & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $%\Delta OVX_{t-1}$  & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $% \Delta OVX_{t-2}$ & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \
  $% \Delta OVX_{t-3}$ & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \ 
  \bottomrule
 \end{tabular}
 \label{tab:Tabela 1}
\end{table}
\end{document}