Adding a Line Before a Table

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated October 23, 2014)

4

If you have a table at the beginning of your document, and you are using Word 2000 or later versions, adding a blank line before the table is easy--all you need to do is position the insertion point at the start of the first cell and press Enter. It doesn't work that way in Word 97, however. There you need to use a different approach. Any of the following will do the trick:

  • Position the insertion point at the start of the first cell in the table and choose Split Table from the Table menu.
  • Position the insertion point at the start of the first cell in the table and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
  • Position the insertion point at the start of the first cell in the table and insert a column break. (Choose Break from the Insert menu, then click on Column Break, then on OK.)

The result is that Word inserts a Normal-formatted paragraph prior to the table.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1372) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He  is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Understanding Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes and endnotes are often used in scholarly and formal writing as a way to provide additional information about a ...

Discover More

Removing Pictures from Multiple Files

Working with a single document is easy. Working with thousands of documents becomes much harder. If you need to get rid of ...

Discover More

Automatic Selection of Portrait or Landscape

Should you print in portrait or in landscape? The decision can greatly affect the way your printout looks. Wouldn't it be ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Converting a Table into Text

Word includes a power table editor that allows you to create and work with tables easily. At some point, however, you might ...

Discover More

Centering a Table

Left-justified tables are great for many document designs, but you may want instead to center a table between the margins of ...

Discover More

Erroneous Table Math

Depending on the type of data you have in your table, the SUM(ABOVE) function might return incorrect results. Here's an ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 8Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is eight more than 8?

2017-01-23 05:45:04

kaka

This also works when adding a line before a table at the top of ANY page, not just the beginning of a document.

2016-12-09 11:36:36

Janice

I used to love tables. What have you done? Nothing is easy.

Things were fine until I installed 2010. I am so frustrated. It takes me all day to print tallies for euchre.

2016-09-29 07:30:33

ak

thank you!!! I was so frustrated with it!

2015-03-18 11:55:11

Tony

Thanks, that had been driving me crazy!

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2017 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.