Tables consist of rows and columns which intersect to form boxes known as cells.
|
You can insert text or graphics into cells.
|
Using tables helps you to organize and present information in a structured way.
|
Word 97 allows you to create tables directly in your documents.
|
And you can use different methods to do this, depending on the complexity of the table.
|
You can insert tables quickly using the Standard toolbar.
|
Or you can use the menu bar to insert tables with more precise measurements.
|
To create more complex tables Word provides you with the equivalent of a pencil and eraser to enable you to draw tables of any size or shape.
|
You can easily add or insert as many rows or columns as you want, using the keyboard and shortcut menus.
|
You can change column width manually by simply dragging a border with your mouse.
|
Or you can do this automatically using the menu bar.
|
You can type text directly into the cells in your table.
|
And you can use the Formatting toolbar to make changes to text in a table just as you would in other parts of a document.
|
Text in any cell, column, or row can be realigned easily using the Formatting toolbar.
|
And you can center the table, or align it on the left or right, in the same way.
@@
Ken Schultz has been in contact with David Branham of Morgan Hill Catering about the menu for the CTI Awards Dinner.
|
He has written a letter to Mr Branham informing him that the Planning Committee has selected Morgan Hill as their caterer.
|
Enclosed with the letter will be a provisional order form, to be approved by the committee after its members have sampled some of the menu items.
|
Ken places the insertion point where he wishes the list of menu items to be sampled to appear, and creates a space.
|
He can create a table using any one of four methods:
ò selecting ^UTable - Insert Table^u from the
menu bar
|
ò selecting ^UTable - Draw Table^u from the
menu bar
|
ò clicking the ^UTables and Borders^u button
|
ò clicking the ^UInsert Table^u button
|
Ken could choose ^UTable - Insert^u ^UTable^u from the menu bar.
|
This brings up the Insert Table dialog box.
|
Here Ken could specify the number of rows and columns by typing in the spin boxes.
|
To create a more complex table, Ken could choose ^UTable - Draw Table^u.
|
Or he can choose the ^UTables and Borders^u button from the Standard toolbar.
|
The Tables and Borders floating toolbar appears with all the table tools displayed together, and the document is now shown in Page Layout view.
|
The mouse symbol changes to a pencil and Ken can draw a table.
|
Starting with the border, he can draw rows and columns by drawing horizontal and vertical lines inside the border.
|
And he can erase using the ^UErase^u tool in the same way.
@@
Ken wants to create a simple table, so he clicks the ^UInsert Table^u button in the Standard toolbar.
|
This brings up a grid.
|
He highlights the first two columns of boxes to create a 4 x 2 table.
|
He clicks once, and an empty table appears.
|
It consists of four rows and two columns, giving eight cells in total.
|
The insertion point automatically appears in the first cell.
|
Ken types ^RItem^r in the first cell.
|
To begin typing in the next cell, Ken could position his mouse just inside it and click.
|
Pressing the right arrow on the keyboard will also bring him to the next cell.
|
But when he presses ^UTab^u the insertion point automatically appears in the next cell, and he types in ^RServings^r.
|
He presses ^UTab^u again and fills in the next three rows in the same way:
ò ^RCrab Cakes, 8^r
ò ^RSalmon, 7^r
ò ^RChocolate Decadence, 11^r
@@
Ken has some more items to put into his table, so he needs to add another row.
|
With the insertion point in the bottom right-hand cell, Ken presses ^UTab^u, and a new row is added to the bottom of the table.
|
He fills this row in as well.
|
Ken realizes he should have typed the words "Roast Chicken" instead of "Salmon".
|
He positions his mouse to the left of the letter "S" until the mouse symbol changes to an arrow, and clicks once to highlight the entire cell.
|
And types in ^RRoast Chicken^r.
|
Ken would like to insert another item between Crab Cakes and Roast Chicken.
|
He places his mouse to the left of "Roast Chicken", and when his mouse symbol has changed to an arrow, he double-clicks to highlight the entire row.
|
Ken right-clicks any highlighted cell to make a shortcut menu appear, and selects ^UInsert Rows^u.
|
A new blank row has been inserted.
|
And Ken fills this in too.
@@
Ken wants to improve the appearance of his table.
|
For example, the columns are too wide for the text he has inserted.
|
To change the width of the first column, Ken first highlights it by holding down the ^UAlt^u key and clicking once on any cell in the column.
|
There are other ways of highlighting a column:
ò place the mouse at the top of
a column until it changes to
a black down-pointing arrow,
and then click
ò drag down a column
ò choose ^USelect Column^u in
the ^UTable^u menu
|
He points to the gridline separating the two columns until the mouse symbol changes to a double-headed arrow.
|
Ken then drags the box to the left until it's a bit wider than the longest word in the column.
|
When he releases the mouse button the column is resized.
|
You can resize columns automatically.
|
To resize the second column, Ken highlights it, and chooses ^UTable - Cell^u ^UHeight and Width^u.
|
In the dialog box that appears, Ken clicks the ^UAutoFit^u button in the Column tabbed page.
|
And the column has been adjusted.
|
To select an entire row, click outside the table to the left of the row required, or highlight the row with the mouse.
@@
To improve the appearance of the header row, Ken first highlights it.
|
And clicks the ^UBold^u, ^UItalic^u, and ^UCenter ^ubuttons in the Formatting toolbar.
|
Ken centers the numbers in the same way.
|
Ken wants to center the entire table on the page, so he first highlights it by holding down the ^UAlt^u key and ^Rdouble^r-clicking any cell in the table.
|
Ken could center the entire table by using the ^UCenter^u button in the Formatting toolbar.
|
But to do it another way, he chooses ^UTable - Cell Height^u ^Uand Width^u.
|
Having selected the ^URow^u tab, he clicks the ^UCenter^u radio button in the Alignment section, and clicks ^UOK^u.
|
The table is now centered and Ken removes the highlighting.
|
To see how the table will look without the cells being outlined, Ken highlights the table again, and clicks the down-pointing arrow beside the ^UOutside Border^u button.
|
He selects the ^UNo Border^u button from the drop-down box.
|
When he makes the highlighting disappear, he can see that the borders have gone.
@@
Now that you've seen how to create a table, let's put the theory into practice.
|
The following exercise will allow you to create a table and insert a row into it.
@@
Now that the table has been created, an extra row is needed for the column headings.
|
You will now insert an extra row at the top of the table.
@@
In Word 97 you can make various layout and formatting changes to a table to improve its appearance.
|
You can move columns about, using the Cut and Paste commands.
|
And you can use the ^Rdrag-and-drop^r feature to change the order in which rows appear in a table.
|
You can rearrange the order of items within a table automatically by using the ^RSort^r feature.
|
And numbers can be aligned on their decimal points, using the ruler.
|
New columns can be inserted in a table using the menu bar.
|
And you can merge cells within a column to make larger cells.
|
Outside text can be brought into a table using the Cut and Paste commands.
|
You can make new text fit a cell.
|
And you can change the orientation of text within a cell by rotating it.
@@
On the second page of his letter to Morgan Hill Catering, Ken has created another table to show the final menu list.
|
He would like to make some improvements to the appearance of this table.
|
It's easier to work with the gridlines visible, so Ken chooses ^UTable - Show Gridlines^u.
|
And now the gridlines appear on the table.
|
Ken decides to move the first column to the right, to make it the second column.
|
So he highlights the column and right-clicks any highlighted cell to bring up a shortcut menu, and clicks ^UCut^u.
|
And the column disappears.
|
Columns are pasted to the ^Rleft^r of a highlighted column, so Ken highlights the second column, right-clicks, and clicks ^UPaste Columns^u.
|
The Description column now appears in its new location.
|
The newly pasted column has taken on the width of the column to the right of it and is too narrow.
|
To widen it while it's still highlighted, Ken chooses ^UTable - Cell Height and Width^u.
|
In the dialog box he clicks the ^UAutoFit^u button.
|
The column width is adjusted.
@@
Ken has forgotten to put in the number of units required for the second item.
|
As he needs 200 units, which is the same number needed for the first item, he can use drag and drop here.
|
Ken first highlights the number.
|
Then, holding down the ^UCtrl^u key, he drags the number down to the empty cell and releases his mouse button.
|
The number 200 has now been copied.
|
The order of the first and second items should be reversed, so Ken drags the highlighted second row until the mouse symbol appears just to the left of the number 1334.
|
When he releases his mouse button, the first two rows have been reversed.
|
Ken would like the items in the table rearranged so that they are listed by code number.
|
To do this, he must first designate the top row of the table as a heading, so he highlights it and chooses ^UTable - Headings^u.
|
Nothing appears to have happened, but if he brings down the ^UTable^u menu again, he will see a checkmark beside ^UHeadings^u.
|
And Ken can now sort items under each heading.
|
Instead of dragging and dropping the items, he can sort them automatically.
|
To do this he clicks any cell in the table and chooses ^UTable - Sort^u.
|
In the Sort dialog box, in the Sort by section, the word ^UCode^u appears (the heading of the first column).
|
In the Type section, ^UNumber^u is selected.
|
And the code numbers will be sorted in ^UAscending^u order.
|
These are the settings Ken wants, so he clicks ^UOK^u.
|
And the table is now sorted by code number.
@@
Ken adds another row to the bottom of the table, and types in the total price of $4,615.00.
|
To align the numbers in the Price column on their decimal points, he first highlights the prices, then chooses ^UView - Ruler^u.
|
The ruler appears, and the symbol for a ^ULeft Tab^u tab stop is displayed on the button on the very left-hand side.
|
Ken clicks this button three times until it's set to ^UDecimal Tab^u.
|
When he clicks the place in the ruler where he wants the decimal points to be aligned, a guiding line appears to help him position correctly.
|
He releases his mouse button, and the numbers are now aligned on their decimal points.
|
Ken removes the highlighting, and aligns the numbers in the third column in the same way.
|
Now Ken wants to center the code numbers in the first column, so he highlights them.
|
When he clicks the ^UCenter^u button the code numbers are centered.
@@
Ken would like to move the words "Final Menu List" to a new column on the left-hand side of the table.
|
To do this he highlights the left-hand column and chooses ^UTable - Insert Columns^u from the menu bar.
|
In the ^UTable^u menu the options ^UInsert Columns^u and ^UDelete Columns^u appear only when a column is selected.
Similarly, when a row is selected, the options ^UInsert Rows^u and ^UDelete Rows^u appear.
And when a cell is selected, the options ^UInsert Cells^u and ^UDelete Cells^u appear.
|
A new column appears.
|
Ken needs to merge the cells in the new column to create one cell.
|
He ^Rright^r-clicks on any item in the toolbar to bring up a shortcut menu, and chooses ^UTables and Borders^u.
|
The Tables and Borders floating toolbar appears.
|
He clicks the ^UMerge Cells^u button.
|
And the internal cells in the new column disappear.
|
Ken highlights "Final Menu List" and ^Rright^r-clicks the highlighted word to bring up a shortcut menu, and chooses ^UCut^u.
|
He right-clicks in the new cell, and chooses ^UPaste^u.
|
The words are now pasted into the new cell, but Ken wants to reposition them.
@@
Ken can rotate the newly pasted words vertically inside the cell using the ^UChange Text Direction^u button in the Tables and Borders toolbar.
|
Word automatically changes the view to Page Layout, and Ken sees that the text has been rotated vertically within the cell.
|
Ken clicks the button again to have the words face the other direction.
|
Then, to size the cell, he chooses ^UTable - Cell Height and Width^u.
|
In the Column tabbed page he clicks the ^UAutoFit^u button.
|
In the toolbar he clicks the ^UCenter Horizontally^u button.
|
And now the text is centered.
|
Ken chooses ^UView - Normal^u to go back to Normal view.
|
He notes that the text does not appear rotated in this view.
|
However, it will print out in its new format.
@@
You can carry formatting your tables a stage further by including some borders.
|
These can be outside or inside your tables, around different cells or sides of cells, and can vary styles and thickness.
|
You can enhance your tables even more by introducing some shading.
|
Text, cells, rows, or columns can be highlighted in black or different shades of gray.
|
Using the Page Layout view, you can easily move from table to table on different pages of your document while adding changes to them.
@@
Ken's business letter is almost ready to send.
|
But first he would like to add some borders and shading to the tables.
|
Ken clicks the ^UView^u menu and chooses ^UPage Layout^u.
|
Now he can see the letter as it will be when printed, with a gray area round the top and sides to show the edges of the page.
|
On the scroll bar, Ken clicks the ^USelect Browse Object^u button.
|
A pop-up menu appears, and Ken clicks the ^UBrowse by Page^u icon.
|
This brings the next page into view.
|
Then he uses the down-pointing arrow on the scroll bar to scroll down a bit.
|
As the gridlines will not print, Ken would like to create a border around the table.
|
First he highlights the table using ^UAlt^u and double-click.
|
Then he clicks the ^UTables and Borders^u button in the Standard toolbar.
|
The Tables and Borders floating toolbar appears.
|
Ken clicks the ^UOutside Border^u button on the Tables and Borders toolbar.
|
When he removes the highlighting, the table displays a border.
@@
Ken turns off the gridlines by choosing ^UTable - Hide Gridlines^u.
|
He highlights the table again, clicks the down-pointing arrow next to the ^UOutside Border^u button, and a drop-down box appears.
|
Ken would like to surround each cell with a border.
|
He clicks the ^UInside Border^u button.
|
And now each cell is outlined.
|
The combined effect of outside border and inside border can also be achieved by choosing the ^UAll Borders^u button.
|
Ken would like to emphasize the price column by shading it gray.
|
He highlights the Price column, then clicks the down-pointing arrow next to the ^UShading Color^u button, and a drop-down box appears.
|
Ken chooses the second gray square in the second row (20% gray).
|
And the Price column is now shaded.
@@
To call special attention to the Total cell on the bottom right, Ken highlights it and clicks the down-pointing arrow next to the ^ULine Weight^u drop-down list, which currently displays a width of 1/2 pt.
|
Then he chooses the single line with a width of 2 1/4 pt.
|
He clicks the ^UTop Border^u button.
|
And the fourth gray in the third row (50% gray) of the Shading Color drop-down box.
|
The Total cell is now highlighted.
|
Ken would like to change the heading so that it has a black background and white text.
|
To do this, he highlights the heading row and, from the Shading Color drop-down box, clicks the first color on the first row (Black).
|
When he removes the highlighting he sees that Word has automatically changed the text to white.
|
Many other formatting changes can be done automatically.
|
To try this out, Ken closes the Tables and Borders toolbar, and clicks the ^UPrevious Page^u button on the scroll bar.
|
This brings him back to page 1.
|
He presses ^UPage Down^u on his keyboard to see the smaller table.
|
Ken ^Rright^r-clicks any word in the table, and chooses ^UTable^u ^UAutoFormat^u from the pop-up menu.
|
In the Table AutoFormat dialog box, he chooses ^USimple 3^u.
|
He clicks ^UOK^u and sees that the table has been formatted automatically.
