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Tips, tricks, and problem-solving for tables
| Applies to |
| Microsoft Office Word 2003 |
 |
This article was adapted from Microsoft® Office Document Designer by Stephanie Krieger. Visit Microsoft Learning to buy this book and CD set, which includes the Microsoft Office Document Designer (MODD) Tool Pack. |
In this article
Introduction
Troubleshooting table errors
Tips and tricks for simply fabulous tables
If you've used the other "How do I" tip sheets and articles on tables (Microsoft® Office Document Designer), you know that tables are my absolute
favorite tool for building documents in Word. They're superb document tools
because of their organizing ability and their flexibility. But mostly, tables
are the greatest document tool in Word because they simplify
so much of what you can do in documents!
Simplify is the key word when it
comes to any work in tables, even troubleshooting the table itself. You can bet
that if your solution seems like a lot of work, there is a better way! The
table that follows provides quick answers to common table troubleshooting
issues, and the second table provides my favorite tips for quick and easy table
editing solutions.
| The issue |
How to resolve it |
Why it happens |
|
Random borders appear on my table.
|
Just page down so that the table isn't in your view and
then page back to your table. The borders aren't really there, and the
appearance of them will go away when you refresh the view.
|
This is a known issue in Word tables since Microsoft Office 2000.
Borders appear to be on your table that you didn't apply and that don't
print. They're just screen junk, not actually borders at all.
Important If the unwanted
borders print, this isn't the issue. When printable unwanted borders appear
on a table (i.e., a new table, a newly pasted table, or a table that's had
rows or columns added or removed), the issue is Table Styles. See the item Use Table Styles to save time below.
|
|
The error message "A table in this document
has become corrupt…" appears when the document is opened.
|
First of all, the error message
recommends converting the table to text as one of your options, but please don't do this! You'll end up spending so much
time trying to recreate your formatting, and you still might not get rid of
the corruption — because the corruption is as likely to lie in the table's
content as in its structure!
Instead, close the document and open it again using the
Open and Repair feature in Word:
On the File menu, in the Open dialog box,
select the document and then select Open and Repair from the drop-down list available at the Open command button.
When the document opens, a dialog box will appear to show
you the repairs the document has made. Don't worry about what's listed in
that dialog box, even if the list is long. Just close it and then save the
document to make the repairs permanent.
|
The most common causes of table corruption in Word
documents are tables improperly pasted from the Web and tables that use the
Text Wrapping, Around feature in Table Properties (Table menu).
For help troubleshooting issues caused by Web content in
your Word documents, check out the tip sheet "You Don't Know Where It's Been! Troubleshooting Stuff You Copy from the Web"
(Microsoft Office Document Designer).
When you need content beside a table, nest tables instead of clicking Text wrapping
and Around. For instructions on creating and managing nested tables, check out
the article "Never Leave the Nest!"
(Microsoft Office Document Designer).
More info: If the Open and
Repair tool sounds too good to be true, it almost
is! This tool is a lifesaver that can resolve many document stability issues.
Check out the tip sheet "Common Document Errors: Their Causes and Simple Solutions" (Microsoft Office Document Designer) for more information on this fantastic tool!
|
|
There's a frame around my table.
or
The document crashes when I click into the table.
or
The content of my table looks garbled!
|
For any of the three issues at left, first follow the
instructions for using Open and Repair. This will make it possible to access
most any table that crashes a document, and will enable you to fix the other
issues as well.
Once you've saved the changes after running Open and
Repair, click into the table and, on the Table menu, click Table Properties. On the Table tab, select None under Text wrapping and then click OK.
If content that was beside your table now moves above or below it, see the
article "Never Leave the Nest!" (Microsoft Office Document Designer)
for
instructions on nesting tables, which offers a simpler solution for getting
tables side-by-side with other content in your documents.
If a visible frame still remains, right-click the frame
and select Format Frame. In the Format Frame dialog box,
click Remove Frame.
|
The Around
option, available under Text wrapping (Table Properties
dialog box, Table tab) or by clicking and dragging the table with the Table Move Handle,
has most likely been turned on for this table. While this is a cool feature,
it makes the table behave like a floating graphic object — and that can be
difficult to manage in a document, causing these types of errors.
Note This feature causes the
table to behave like a graphic because it places the table inside an
invisible frame. A common occurrence when a table becomes unstable is for
that frame to become visible.
When you need content beside a table, try nested tables
instead, as referenced here.
|
|
When I try to add or remove columns,
the table looks all out of whack!
|
When removing a column causes this behavior, see Split the table for easy editing of its structure below.
If inserting a column caused this behavior,
see Use Draw Table to add columns or split
cells.
|
When cells are merged across columns, adding or removing
columns can seem hazardous, but have no fear!
You can split off the merged portions to make your edits
and then rejoin the table portions in a cinch, or use Draw Table to add
columns easily above or below merged cells. Remember, if your solution feels
like a lot of work — there is a better way!
|
|
Tables that should be separate have
become attached.
|
Click into what should be the top row of the bottom table
and then select Split Table from the Table menu.
|
Tables require a paragraph mark or a hard break (such as a
page break or a column break) between them to keep them separate. In fact,
when you use the instruction at left to split the tables, this command simply
places a paragraph mark between the tables.
Note When a paragraph mark
or hard break separates tables, they are independent tables. So, columns
can't be selected past the separation, and heading rows won't repeat past the
separation.
If you meant to nest one
table inside the other and the tables became attached instead, type a single
space or hard return inside the cell where you want to place the nested table
before you paste. If this adds an unwanted return above the nested table, you
can simply delete it after pasting the table.
|
|
Cell shading doesn't shade space
before or after the paragraph.
|
Place extra paragraph spacing before or after in the cells
above or below the affected cells as needed, instead of using space before
and after in cells where this occurs. Or set Row Height to create the extra
vertical space in the row instead of paragraph spacing before/after.
This issue will only occur in cells where paragraph
borders and cell shading are used together.
|
This is a longstanding known issue in Word tables. To
avoid it, you only need to avoid placing paragraph borders and shading in the
same cell where space before or after paragraph formatting is used on the
text.
Caution Some, but not all,
printers will correct for this issue. Because of that, don't leave this issue
in your table even if you like the way it looks. Instead, create the same
formatting using a method that you can be sure will consistently look the
same regardless of how the document is viewed or printed.
It's never a good idea to depend on formatting you know to
be unstable when it matters how your document looks!
|
 Top of Page
| The tool |
What it can do for you |
How to use it |
|
Convert Text to Table
|
The Convert Text to Table command can be a great help
whenever you need to organize existing document content into a complex layout
or even just into columns. But this feature has more creative, timesaving
uses as well.
For example, say you're responsible for tracking training
costs in your company. You've kept a spreadsheet all year and submitted a
report. Only, your data lists each employee's full name in one column, first
name followed by last — and the finance department sent the report back,
requesting that the names be listed last name, first name. Well, considering that your spreadsheet is 15 pages long, you
can either look forward to a nice long night of retyping, or you can take a
few steps using the Convert Table to Text/Text to Table commands and be outta
there by happy hour!
|
To convert text to a table, you just need consistent
characters to separate text where you want table columns and rows. For
example, place a tab wherever a new column should start and a paragraph
return where each row should start. Be sure to have an equal number of tab
characters in each row and you'll get exactly what you want! Then, select the
text to convert and click Insert Table 
on the Standard toolbar (or, on the Table menu, point to Convert, click Text to Table, and click OK).
To use these conversion tools for reorganizing content,
such as in the training cost report example here, check out the sample
document you'll find at Table to text sample.doc in the MODD
Samples folder (Microsoft Office Document Designer). The sample document will walk you through the steps of
converting text for this purpose, using a small piece of the spreadsheet
mentioned in this example.
|
|
Split the table for easy editing of
its structure
|
When cells are merged across columns, deleting or moving a
column below the merged cells can seem nearly impossible, causing your table
structure to go absolutely haywire! Well, Word is just trying to do what you
tell it to. Remember those merged cells belong to more than one column, so
Word might be confused about exactly what you want to move or delete.
Instead, just split the table below the merged cells and
you can edit as you need — move or delete complete columns, then readjust the
portions and reconnect them! No fuss, no muss, no stress!
|
- Place your insertion point in the top row below the merged cells and
select Split Table from the Table menu.
- Delete, move, or otherwise edit columns as needed.
- Resize columns as needed in the table portion above the split so that
it aligns correctly with the revised structure on the bottom.
Tip Hold down the ALT key
while resizing the top portion, to align the columns precisely with the table
portion below the split.
- Delete the paragraph mark between the portions of the table to
reconnect them.
Tip If you can't see the
paragraph mark that the split placed between the table portions, turn on your
nonprinting characters by clicking the paragraph's Show/Hide button on the
Standard toolbar.
|
|
Use Draw Table to add columns or split
cells
|
Well, Draw Table isn't the most practical or efficient way
to create a table, but boy-oh-boy is it a handy editing tool to have around!
Have you ever tried to add a column beneath a merged
heading cell? If so, you're probably rolling your eyes in frustration just
thinking about it! Well, why fuss and stress for something so small? Just draw
that extra column!
Draw Table is a great way to split cells, too. Unlike the
Table menu, Split Cells feature (which always splits cells equally), with Draw
Table you can draw the split exactly where you want it to occur.
|
- Zoom as closely as you can to the area where you want to draw. (It
might be necessary to zoom in order to draw as accurately as you need.)
- Click Draw Table on the Table menu, or, if the Tables and Borders
toolbar is already open, click Draw Table
 .
This will attach the pencil tool to your mouse pointer.
- Drag the mouse pointer over the area where you want the new split to
appear, just as if you were drawing a line with a pencil.
When you see a dotted line that extends the length of your
desired split, release the mouse. That's all there is to it!
Note Draw Table will add a
printable border, as well as splitting the desired cell(s). Delete the
border, if it's unwanted, as you would any cell border. The split will remain
intact.
|
|
Use Table Styles to save time
|
Just as all text uses paragraph styles whether or not you
apply them (paragraphs use Normal style if no other style is applied), all
tables use a table style whether or not you apply one.
All new tables you create have a single line grid of
borders by default, because the Word default table style is Table Grid. If you prefer to start with a table
that contains no borders, change your default table style to Table Normal. You can also modify existing table
styles or create your own custom table style to set as the default.
Tip If you paste tables into
Word from other applications or the Web, they might take on your default
table style depending on how you paste them. Similarly, when you change a
table's structure (i.e., add or remove rows or columns), the existing table
style might be reapplied. If you get unwanted borders when executing any of
these actions, just set Table Normal as your default table style for all
documents.
Note Table styles were a new
feature in Microsoft Word 2002.
|
You can access table styles through the Styles and
Formatting task pane, but the fastest route is Table AutoFormat (Table menu). All table styles available to your active document
are listed in the Table AutoFormat dialog box, along with access to modify or
create new table styles exactly as you create or modify paragraph styles.
For more information, see the article
"You've Got Style, Kid!"
(Microsoft Office Document Designer) for help creating styles
using paragraph styles as the example. Or, for help understanding the basics
of how all Word styles work, check out the article
Understanding paragraph, character, list, and table styles.
To set a table style as the default for all documents,
select any style listed in the Table AutoFormat dialog box (Table menu), and click Default.
The Default Table Style dialog box will give you the option to set the style
as a default for the active document or all documents based on the active
template.
|
About the author Stephanie Krieger is a Microsoft MVP, professional consultant, trainer, and writer who specializes in creating solutions with the Microsoft Office System. She helps clients customize software and design templates and also provides train-the-trainer services.
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