Formatting Tables

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Formatting Tables' topic. Click the article's title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

Adding Diagonal Borders
Want to add a border diagonally, through the middle of a table cell? It's easy if you follow the formatting steps presented in this tip.

Adding Gridlines to a Table
You can easily add borders to your table cells. This tip shows you how.

Adjusting Table Row Height
When working with tables, you can adjust the height of individual rows. How you go about such adjustments depends on the version of Word you are using.

Aligning Decimal Numbers in Tables
Need to align numbers around their decimal point within a table? It's easy to do by using the three simple steps provided in this tip.

Aligning Positive and Negative Whole Numbers in a Column
When you use a table to present numeric information, you may want to have Word align the numbers in the table. This can be a challenge in some situations, such as if your negative numbers use parentheses around them. Here's how to align such numbers properly within the table.

Changing Cell Alignment
Individual cells in a table can be aligned any way you desire. As pointed out here, just select the cell and apply the formatting.

Changing Spacing Between Table Cells
Need to adjust the space between individual cells in a table? Word gives you a good deal of control over this spacing, as discussed in this tip.

Distributing Table Rows Evenly
If you've adjusted the height of your table and the rows within the table, you might want to later return all those rows to a uniform height. In Word this is referred to as "distributing" rows, and it is an easy task to do, as discussed in this tip.

Formatting an ASCII Table with Spaces
When you get a text file from a program other than Word, tabular information may be formatted with nothing but spaces in between columns. You can easily convert such information to Word's native table structure by using the macro in this tip.

Formatting Currency
If you need to format a number so that it appears as currency, it is not as easy to do in Word as it is in Excel. You can use the technique introduced in this tip (utilizing fields) to control exactly how you want that number displayed.

Formatting Lots of Tables
Do you need a quick way to format your tables? Believe it or not, there are several tools you can use from Word's arsenal to make table formatting easier and easier.

How to Keep Table Rows Together
Word will keep either entire tables or table rows together for data continuity.

Keeping Table Rows Together
When you create a table that extends beyond a single page, you may want to make sure that the information in a table row doesn't span a page break. You can make sure that Word presents the table the way you expect by adjusting the table formatting.

Keeping Tables on One Page
Got a short table that you want to keep on a single page? You can use some of the paragraph formatting techniques you already know in order to accomplish the task.

Last-Row Border Formatting
How to make the border on the last row on a page look right.

Quickly Inserting Table Rows
Need to pop a few extra rows into a table? It is easy to do using the same tools you used to create the table in the first place. This tip explains how you can add the rows you need.

Quickly Removing Table Borders
Insert a table in your document and Word assumes that you want borders around the table and its cells. Here's a shortcut that allows you to easily remove those borders.

Repeating Table Rows with Manual Page Breaks
Do you have a table that extends more than a page in length? If so, you may be frustrated in making the table break where you want it to and having repeating rows at the top of each page. This tip examines ways you can get the tables to break properly, all while including the repeating rows as you need.

Resizing Table Columns with the Mouse
Once a table is inserted in your document, you can use the mouse to adjust the width of columns. The effect the mouse pointer has on column widths depends, primarily, on your use of keys such as Shift and Ctrl.

Resizing Your Table
Need to make your table a different size? It's easy to do, using the same general technique you use when resizing a graphic. This tip walks you through the steps to do the resizing.

Setting a Default Table Border Width
When you insert a table into your document, it uses a standard-weight line around each cell in the table. If you want to change that default line weight, you may be out of luck. Here's a couple of macros you can use to make it easier to change the line weight.

Setting Consistent Shading
Formatting tables can be very time consuming. When you get a document from another person, you can spend a lot of time formatting their tables, as well. Here's a couple of ways you can shorten the table-formatting time you need to spend.

Shading Rows in a Table
Need to format the rows of a table so that your data is showcased better? Here are a few ways you can get the shading you need.

Space after a Table
Those familiar with styles are used to setting vertical spacing before or after paragraphs. You can get just the look you want when it comes to spacing, except in regard to tables. Getting a certain amount of space after a table can take some trial and error, as detailed in this tip.

Tables within Tables
Inserting a table in a document is easy. Did you know that you can also insert a table within another table? Word allows you to easily nest your tables, as described in this tip.

Taming Unruly Tables
If you make structural changes to your table by adding new columns here and there, you could easily end up with a table that is wider than what can be displayed on-screen. Here's how to get your table back into view.

Vertical Lines in Word
Lines are a common addition to documents. Word provides several different methods by which you can add vertical lines to your document. This tip describes each of these methods so you can pick the one that best matches your needs.