Microsoft Word Tables ITSW 1401, Intro to Word Processing Instructor: Glenda H. Easter

A Few Definitions, Please!!  A table is a grid of rows and columns that intersect to form cells.

Creating a Table  There’s more than one way to get there. You can create tables in the following ways:  Use the Insert Table button on the Standard toolbar.  Use the Insert Table from the Table menu.  Draw a table using the Tables and Borders toolbars.

Table Position  When you insert a table into an existing document, it extends from margin to margin by default.  When you adjust column widths, the table becomes left-aligned.

Creating a Table Using the Menu Option

Draw a Table  You can draw a table in your document using the Tables and Borders toolbar, which you open using the Tables and Borders button.  This toolbar offers convenient formatting features.

Drawing a Table

To Exit the Drawing Feature  After drawing a table using the Tables and Borders toolbar, you perform one of the following steps to exit from the drawing feature:  Close the Tables and Borders toolbar by clicking the x in the upper right-hand corner.  Press the ESC key to restore the normal pointer.  Switch to Normal view.

Keying and Editing Text in Tables  You can use the Insert and Delete keys exactly as you do when typing normal text in paragraphs.  If you hit the Enter key, you create a new paragraph within the same cell.  To move one cell to the right, click either  The tab key  The right arrow key

Moving Around in a Table

Selecting Cells, Rows, and Columns  There are several ways to select the contents of cells, rows, and columns.  Once selected, you can delete, copy, or move the contents or change the format.  End of cell markers   Indicate the end of each cell  End of row markers   Found to the right of the gridline of each row indicates the end of each row.

Selecting Text in a Table  Position the cursor between the cell’s left border and the first letter in the cell.  This unmarked area is the cell selection area.  When the pointer becomes a right-pointing arrow, click once to select the cell.  When the pointer becomes a right-pointing arrow, double-clicking the cell will select the row.

Selecting Text in a Table (Continued)  You can also click anywhere in the cell and use the drag method to highlight a selection of cells and rows.  Note, that when you use the drag method, it does not include the end-of-cell marker.  If you have the I-Beam within a cell, you can triple click to select that cell.

Selecting Text in a Table (Continued)  You can position your cursor within any single cell of text.  From the Table menu, choose Select Row.  The entire row of the single cell of text clicked previously will be highlighted or selected.  To select an entire column, point to the top border. When the pointer changes to a solid black down arrow  click to select the entire column.

Selecting An Entire Column at Once

Select Table Elements

Highlighting and Selecting Text  To select a cell, you can triple-click within the cell.  To extend a selection in a table (row, column, or cell), hold down Shift while pressing an arrow key.  You can also hold down Shift while clicking another location in the table.

Editing Table Structure  You not only can edit the contents of cells, you may also edit a table’s structure to add, delete, move, and copy cells, rows, and columns.  You can also merge or join cells and split cells and change a table’s position or dimensions.

Inserting Cells, Rows, and Columns  You can right-click after highlighting a cell.  A dialog box will open allowing you to Insert Cells.  You can select one of the shortcut menu items.

Insert Cells, Rows, and Columns  After clicking in a cell, you can use the Insert Cells button to open the Insert Cells dialog box.  A menu appears that allows you to select…  Shift cells right  Shift cells down  Insert entire row  Insert entire column

Insert Cells, Rows, and Columns (Continued)

Inserting a Row  You can insert a row in several ways.  You can press the Tab key while the cursor is positioned in the last cell.  You can click the Insert Row function.  You can also position your cursor to the left of the last paragraph symbol and click the Insert Rows dialog box.

Inserting Columns  You can insert columns using the Insert Columns Button.  The new column appears to the left of the selected column.  Note: Columns are normally inserted to the left of the selected column.  To insert a column at the end of a table, select all the end-of-row markers in the table and click the Insert Columns Button.

Delete Cells, Rows, and Columns  The features to delete columns and rows work the same as those covered in using the Insert function discussed on the previous slides.

Move and Copy Cells, Rows, and Columns  The move, and copy features can be obtained by using...  The toolbar  By selecting the appropriate function from Edit Menu.  The shortcut method:  Cut: CTRL/X  Copy: CTRL/C  Paste: CTRL/V

Move and Copy Cells, Rows, and Columns (Continued)  If you paste text in a Word table where there is not enough room for all the cells, Word adds additional columns or rows to accommodate the text.

Merge and Split Cells  When you select the Merge Cells from the Table menu, the cells merge into a single cell.  When you select Split Cells from the shortcut menu, you are allowed to split a column or a row into smaller units.

Change the Table Dimensions and Position Tables  You can adjust and position a table in several ways:  Change the width of columns, as well as the space between columns and the height of rows.  Use AutoFit to change the width of a column to fit the longest text.  Indent a table or center horizontally on the page.

Formatting Tables and Cell Content  You can enhance your tables and make them easier to read.  Some things that can enhance your table include:  Formatting table text  Aligning text within columns horizontally and aligning text within cells or rows vertically.

Formatting Tables and Cell Content  Some things that can enhance your table include (Continued):  Applying borders and shading.  Applying a Table AutoFormat which is a predesigned table style.  Changing the direction of text from horizontal to vertical.  Sorting table text.

Sorting Information in a Table

Sorting Text in a Table  If a table has a title in the first row and/or a header row, you must select the rows you want to sort.  If you do not have a title and/or header row, you can use the Sort Ascending button located in the Tables menu or on the Tables and Border toolbar.

Sorting Text in a Table (Continued)

Applying Borders and Shading

Use Table AutoFormat  You can select a pre-designed table format and apply to your table.

Converting Tables and Text  You can convert exiting tabbed text to a table, which can be faster than keying text into an existing table.  You can also convert an existing table to paragraphs of text.  You can choose to separate the converted text by paragraph marks, commas, or tabs.

Converting Text into Tables

Performing Calculations in a Table  Using formulas, you can add, subtract, multiply and divide in a table.  You can also calculate averages, percentages, and minimum and maximum values.  You can insert these calculations into any cell in a table.

Changing Data in Table Calculations  If you change data, you can update the result of a formula.  Simply right-click the field that contains the calculation and choose Update Field from the shortcut menu.

Performing Calculations in a Table

Performing Calculations in a Table (Continued)  When you click okay, the numbers are added and the correct numeric format is displayed.  An illustration is shown on the next slide.

Performing Calculations in a Table (Continued)