Create a table - Help and How-to - Microsoft Office Online

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Create a table

Applies to: Microsoft Office Word 2003

Microsoft Word offers a number of ways to make a table (table: One or more rows of cells commonly used to display numbers and other items for quick reference and analysis. Items in a table are organized into rows and columns.). The best way depends on how you like to work, and on how simple or complex the table needs to be.

Click where you want to create a table.
Click Insert Table on the Standard toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.).
Drag to select the number of rows and columns you want.

You can also do any of the following:

Show Use the Insert Table command

Use this procedure to make choices about the table dimensions and format before the table is inserted into a document.

Click where you want to create a table.
On the Table menu, point to Insert, and then click Table.
Under Table size, select the number of columns and rows.
Under AutoFit behavior, choose options to adjust table size.
To use a built-in table format, click AutoFormat.

Select the options you want.

Show Draw a more complex table

You can draw a complex table — for example, one that contains cells (cell: A box formed by the intersection of a row and column in a worksheet or a table, in which you enter information.) of different heights or a varying number of columns per row.

Click where you want to create the table.
On the Table menu, click Draw Table.
The Tables and Borders toolbar appears, and the pointer changes to a pencil.
To define the outer table boundaries, draw a rectangle. Then draw the column and row lines inside the rectangle.
To erase a line or block of lines, click Eraser on the Tables and Borders toolbar, and then click the line you want to erase.
When you finish creating the table, click a cell and start typing or insert a graphic.

Note Hold down CTRL to automatically apply text wrapping while you draw the table.

Show Create a table inside another table

Create nested tables (nested table: A table inserted within a table cell. If you use a table to lay out a page, and you want to use another table to arrange the information, you can insert a nested table.) to design Web pages. Think of a Web page as one big table that holds other tables — placing text and graphics inside different table cells helps you to lay out the different parts of your page.

On the Table menu, click Draw Table.
The Tables and Borders toolbar appears, and the pointer changes to a pencil.
Position the pencil in the cell where you want the nested table (or a table inside another table).
Draw the new table. To define the table boundaries, draw a rectangle. Then draw the column and row lines inside the rectangle.
When you finish creating the nested table, click a cell, and start typing or insert a graphic.

Note If you have an existing table, you can copy and paste it inside of another table.