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MS Office 101

MS Word Tables - What are they and why do you need them?

Remember the tables you made in math or science class? The ones full of data you collected? (And for those of you who groaned at the mention of a math class - I, the math teacher, heard that.)

Anyway, this is the same idea, except it's better. An MS Word table is an organizational tool that lets you present your information in an interesting, easy-to-read format. The cool part is that this isn't just for data collected from an experiment, it's for anything you can think to create.

MS Word tables can be a great way to present numbers, but it also does a great job of presenting text and graphics. Just about anything can be put into the table. It's all up to you. (I know, I know. Decisions. Decisions.)

A great feature of MS Word tables is they will not only organize your data but they will also allow you to sort data. Often the sorting of a very long list can be done with a couple clicks of the mouse button.

I like to use tables for lists that contain more than one piece of information for each main entry. For example, I often use it at work to present activities attended by the staff on any specific date. I use one column for the date and another to list all of the activities attended that date.

Or, another big use is when I need to give the staff a checklist to organize their information concerning several different files. I use a column for each file and the checklist of tasks down the left side. The middle of the table becomes a multiple use checklist. They love it - less paper in the overfilled-to-the-point-of-exploding mailbox, less paper to shuffle and less paper to eventually misplace.

In short, a table is a collection of rows and columns that allows you organize text, graphics and data.

There are an infinite number of uses. As many as you can invent, so let's begin the inventing!

Office Tip of the Day

MS Word Table Mania - Part 1 - Inserting Tables

Well, with the introduction of tables complete let's get down to business. Tables are a rather long topic to discuss so it will be divided into a couple of parts. Even after that there will be some extras that will need to be addressed in the future.

To begin with we need to look at ways, and there are several, to insert a table into a document.

One way is to use the button on the standard toolbar for Inserting Tables.

When you click on the button a drop-down screen will appear. This allows you to choose the number of columns and rows to be initially created in your table. While still holding the mouse button, simply drag the mouse pointer into the drop-down screen. The blocks will be highlighted, representing the number of rows and columns your table will contain. (It will also tell you this information across the bottom of the drop-down screen.)

When clicking on the Insert Table button, do not release the mouse button. This will allow the drop down screen to expand as far as your monitor will allow. The advantage you ask? You will be allowed to initially create larger tables with the expansion of the drop down screen. This minimizes the need to add rows and columns at a later time.

Once you've selected the table size, a table will be created in the document. Tables are inserted where the cursor is when you begin the process. Be sure to place the cursor where the table should be inserted before starting.

The second way to insert a table would be to go to the Table menu, and choose the Insert Table option.

A window will come up where you can dictate the initial settings for your table. You can set the number of columns, rows and determine column width options.

In MS Word 97 you can choose to leave the column width at Auto or set an exact width. Auto will get you a table that fills the page from the left to right margin with the columns at equal widths. If you set a specific width then columns will be created with your exact measurements.

In the newer MS Word versions you can choose to set:

• Fixed column width: width doesn't change to accommodate data, the rows grow deeper as data is wrapped within the current cell.
• AutoFit to contents: columns will keep getting wider to accommodate data
• AutoFit to window: widths will change to keep the table within the margins of the page.

Once these options are determined click on OK. The table will be inserted at the point where your cursor was in the document.

And finally, a third method for creating a table in MS Word is to draw the table using the tools available in either the Table menu or the Tables and Borders toolbar. (Edit menu, Toolbars, select Tables and Borders.)

To begin drawing a table you will need to click on the Draw Table tool.

This will replace your regular pointer with a pencil pointer. To draw tables simply click (and hold) in the document where a corner of the table should be then drag diagonally in a direction that completes the size and placement of the table.

This creates the outer border of the table. Then, using the same tool, draw lines through the table to create rows and columns.

Do not worry about drawing them evenly spaced, which would be next to impossible anyway. Once the rows and columns are drawn, highlight either rows or columns. Then click on the option to evenly space rows or columns in either the Table menu or toolbar.

(To highlight entire rows or columns run pointer on edges of table to get arrows that when clicked will highlight entire rows or columns. Holding the left mouse button and then dragging will highlight multiple rows or columns. This is a skill that may take some practice.)

Inevitably there will be an OOPS. Should you make a mistake, and need to erase lines, click on the eraser tool and then click on the lines that need to be erased. (Good thing too, if you're like me there's always a mistake that needs to be fixed.)

Ok, so there's three ways to insert a table.

There's so much more to discuss. So many tiny details to be found. We'll continue this discussion next issue, but in the meantime, explore. You'll find lots of things between the Table menu and the Tables and Borders toolbar that can be used to make the table an efficient, organized and attractive way to present your information in a Word document.