Exploring Office 2007: Word 2007 Table Tips & Tricks Adding Tables with Lines, Borders, and More Helen Bradley
Tables are a bread and butter tool for most Microsoft Word users. However, under the surface there are lots of things that you can do with tables that you may not initially realize. In this article we'll show you some techniques for working with tables that will ease your workload while also helping make your documents look more professional.
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Adding Tables
First, to create a table choose the Insert tab > Tables and either insert or draw a table in your document or choose Quick Tables to insert a custom-designed table into your document. When you do this, the table will be inserted at the cursor.
You can erase the data in it by selecting the table, clicking in it, and then clicking the plus sign in its top left corner. Now press Delete to remove its contents but not its formatting.
You can also type a pattern to create a table. To do this type a plus symbol to start and then a series of dashes the width of the first column. Type another plus symbol and dashes for each subsequent column and then finish with another plus symbol. The line should look something like this:
Now when you press Enter Word will automatically convert the text into a four column table with one row. To add more rows, click in the last cell and press Tab. If this process does not work, enable it by selecting the Office button, then choosing the Word Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > Auto Format as You Type tab, and finally clicking on the Tables checkmark.
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Adding Lines and Borders
Click in the table to display the Table Tools > Design tab and the Layout tab on the Ribbon. The Design tab has options you can use to draw and erase lines from your table.
You can use the draw tool, for example, to draw an angle line through a table cell so you can create both row and column headings in one cell — this is often used in the top left cell of a table. The line is only a visible divider and doesn't split the cell in two parts so you will need to right align one piece of text and left align the other to ensure the headings appear in the correct parts of the cell. Use the Borders options to configure borders for the selected cell, or select the table and use it to format the entire table.
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Totaling Numbers
If you have a column of numbers in a table you can add them using a formula. So, for example, to place at total in a cell at the foot of a column, click in the last cell in the column and from the Table Tools > Layout tab select Formula. Now type the formula:
Select a Number Format and click OK. The cell will now contain the result of the calculation. Note that if any of the values in the column change, you must recalculate the formula by clicking on it and press F9.
You can highlight cells that contain formulas so they are easy to see by clicking the Office button, selecting Word Options > Advanced, and selecting the Field Shading: Always option. This ensures that fields are shaded on the screen but they won't be shaded on the printed version.
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Repeating Headings
If your table spans more than one page, Word can repeat the header rows on each page to make the pages easier to read. To do this, select the rows that contain the header information that is to be repeated on each page and choose Table Tools > Layout tab and click Repeat Header Rows.
