A table is a structure that can organize data in rows and columns. Each entry in a table is called a cell and is independent of other inputs. The table can have almost any number of rows and columns, it also offers a very good control over the size and the cell formatting, using certain attributes. A cell of such a table can contain text, graphics, and almost anything that can be included in a document in Word. The only exception is that a table cannot contain another table.
To create a new empty table somewhere in the document, there must be made the following steps: place the cursor in the desired location in the document where you want to place the table, select Table, Insert Table, the screen will display the dialog box called Insert Table. In these boxes, you may select the number of rows and columns, by click the arrows or by enterring the number of rows or columns that you want the table to contain.
To apply an automatic formatting of the tables inside a Word document, click AutoFormat, select the desired format, then click OK. In the Column Width text box select the desired size of the columns. The Auto select box works if the user wants to divide equally the table, having a certain number of columns. After you click OK, Word will create an empty table having the cursor in first cell. To quickly create a table, click Insert Table button on the standard toolbar and draw in the document the number of rows and columns desired.
When the cursor is in a cell of the table, you can enter and edit text just as in any document. The text entered in a cell is automatically aligned. You can move the cursor in any cell by clicking where you want to go. If the cursor is at the edge of a cell, you can also use the arrow keys to move from one cell to another. To insert a tab in a table cell, press Ctrl + Tab.
Once the user creates the table, he can enter data in that cell. Below I will present some common editing and formatting operations that we perform regularly and we might even don’t know.
If you have a table and you want to delete the content inside the cells, there is nothing more simple. To remove the contents of a cell, select the cell and press the Delete key. Also, an user can eliminate entire rows and columns. In such a case, the columns on the right or the upper columns will move to occupy the space of the deleted row or column. To remove a row or a column in a table, you will perform the following steps: move the cursor in any cell in the row or column that will be removed, select Table, Delete Cells and the display will show the Delete Cells dialog box. Select the Delete Entire Row or Delete Entire Column, click OK, and Word will delete the row or column.
If the user wants to insert a single row or one column in a table, he will perform the following steps: the cursor must be placed in a cell next to the position where we want to insert a new column or below where we want to introduce a new row, select Table, Insert Column to insert a blank column to the left of the selected column or select Table, Insert Rows to insert a row above the selected row.
To insert multiple rows or columns inside a table, you will perform the following steps: select the number of the cells after calculating the number of rows and columns that we want to introduce. To select multiple cells, the mouse moves over them keeping the left button pressed, or select one of them and press down the Shift key. At the same time, you can use the arrow keys to expand the selection.
If you wish to insert a row at the end of the table, place the cursor on the last cell and press the Tab key. To insert a new column to the right of the table, you will perform the following steps: right click in the right frame of the table, select Table, Select Column and then Insert Columns.
Next I will present how to copy or move an entire row or column of a table in another table: select the column or row by dragging the mouse over the cell or click on the column or row and select Table, Select Row or Select Column. To copy a row, column or table, press Ctrl + C or click the Copy button on the Standard toolbar, to move, press Ctrl + X or click the Cut button, the cursor moves to the new position chosen for the column or row, where the user must press Ctrl + V or click the Paste button on the Standard toolbar.
You can quickly change the column width using the mouse. Place the mouse pointer on the box next to the right of the column whose width you want to change. It will take the form of a pair of vertical arrows with two peaks. Move by dragging the column border until you obtain the desired width. You can also use a dialog box to change the width of a column. To see how this works, you should perform the following steps: move the mouse cursor into a cell in the column you want to modify, select Table, Cell Height and Width. The screen displays the dialog box called Cell Height and Width. If not selected, click on the Column label to see the options for columns. When the Column Width text box is opened, For example, enter the desired width for a column or click on the arrows to change the value displayed. Note that you will modify the entire column width. It can automatically be changed to match the longest entries in the cells, if you click the AutoFit button.
The user can change the value of the space setween the columns. By changing this value, you can increase or decrease the space between the text in each cell and also the left and the right borders of the cells.
In default configuration, Word applies a thin frame, around every single cell in the table. However we can change the borders or remove them completely. The methods for working with frames are substantially similar to those in other applications. I will briefly present the steps to be taken into consideration when you want to do this: select the table cells whose borders you want to modify, select Format, Borders and Shading to open the Borders and Shading dialog box. Select the desired options using the Preview box to see how they will eventually show. Click OK.
In a table without borders, you can use a network of cells, that has the advantage of not being printed, if the user wants that. But in order to ease your work, you can select to see the lines of the table when you work at the table. Select Table, Show Gridlines to see the network lines. When finished working, select Table, Hide Gridlines to hide them.
