Professional Documents
Culture Documents
in Microsoft Word
By Saikat Basu
You just cannot create beautiful Word documents by cutting corners on tables.
On Word, tables are not just containers for data – they are essential formatting tools. Microsoft Word
2013 brought a new layout engine and finer controls for creating those little grid of cells. One of the
little improvements was that text inside tables is not forced to align with text outside the table.
Microsoft made it easier to create and format basic tables. Smart and subtle improvements are sure
to continue with the arrival of Microsoft Office 2016.
But let’s start with an apology. We haven’t covered tables as much as we would have liked to. It’s time
to correct that as the number of people asking questions on how to format tables properly is piling up.
Maybe these eight table tips can be an appetizer.
The quickest way to start is with Quick Tables. The built-in designs save you from the lack of design
skills. You can modify the designs by adding your own rows and columns or deleting the ones you
don’t need.
Word 2013 introduced the Insert Control feature for inserting a new column or row with one click.
Hover the mouse over a table. A bar appears right outside your table between two existing columns
or rows. click on it when it appears, and a new column or row will be inserted at that position.
The Table Properties dialog box is for precise control over the data and its display. Control the size,
alignment, and indentation of the table. Do remember that table margins by default extend from the
left margin to the right margin of the page. The Indent figure controls the distance of the table from the
left margin.
Position the table according to the text around it for a visually aesthetic look. Wrap text around tables
by dragging it by the handle. The text wrapping changes automatically from None to Around. From
the Table Positioning dialog box you can set the Distance from surrounding text for each side of
the table.
Hover the mouse over a border. When the double-arrow pointer appears, click the border and hold
down the ALT key. Word shows specific measurements on the ruler. Move the rows and columns to fit
your measurements.
Select the text. Go to Ribbon > Insert > Table > Insert Table
Word determines the required number of rows and columns by considering the text separators and
then auto-fits the contents. The Convert Text to Table dialog box allows you more control if the
previous operation doesn’t work out right. You can also choose how to fit the contents of the table on
the page.
Engineer the reverse process if someone asks you to send them files with comma separated values or
any other delineator. Select the entire table by clicking the “move” handle above the table.
Go to Ribbon > Table Tools > Layout > In the Data Group, click Convert to Text.
Create a new column for the serial numbers if it does not exist. Select this column by positioning the
mouse over the column.
With the column selected, go to Home > Paragraph > Click the Numbering button for inserting a
numbered list.
The first step is to specify a fixed size for the cells. Go to Table Properties > Row > Enter a value in
the Specify height box. For Row height is select Exactly from the dropdown.
Now, select the Table tab > click the Options button > uncheck the Automatically Resize to Fit
Contents check box.
This also solves the problem of inserting an image into a cell without the cell expanding to
accommodate the image. If the image is bigger than the available space in the cell, it gets cropped to
fit within the cell.
Dann shows how easy it is in Excel with this short tutorial on switching rows into columns. The
transposed table can now be copy-pasted back into Word.
Select and copy-paste the Excel table to a Word document with the source formatting. Now, copy-
paste from Word to Gmail. As you can see from the screenshot, the problem is solved. You might
have to tweak the more heavily formatted tables slightly, but most of the formatting is retained.
Select a table. Go to Ribbon > Insert > Text group > click Quick Parts > Save Selection to
Quick Part Gallery.
Use the Building Blocks Organizer to preview any table you created. You can also edit properties
and delete the tables from here.
Tables are one common area between Word and Excel. Excel is for power managing tabular data, but
doing them well in both is an essential Office skill. So, jump in with your input.
Are tables an important Microsoft Word routine for you? Which is the particular Word table annoyance
that confuses you? Maybe, we can help each other with tips in this article’s comment section.