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In Word documents, you can move tables, place them side by side, align them horizontally or vertically, or wrap text around them. You can also change a document's page orientation from portrait to landscape in order to create wider tables.

If you haven't created a table yet, see Create a table to get help.

What do you want to do?

Move a table

Place tables side by side

Align a table horizontally

Align a table vertically

Wrap text around a table

Change the page orientation to landscape

Move a table

1. In print layout view (Print Layout view: A view of a document or other object as it will appear when you print it. For example, items such as headers, footnotes, columns, and text boxes appear in their actual positions.), rest the pointer on the upper-left corner of the 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.) until the table move handle appears.
2. Using the table move handle, drag the table to the new location.

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Place tables side by side

1. In print layout view (Print Layout view: A view of a document or other object as it will appear when you print it. For example, items such as headers, footnotes, columns, and text boxes appear in their actual positions.), rest the pointer on the upper-left corner of the 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.) until the table move handle appears.
2. Using the table move handle, drag the table next to the table that you want it beside.

    Note   You may need to resize the tables so that they will fit side by side. See Resize all or part of a table to get help.

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Align a table horizontally

If a table's width is less than the width of the page, you can align the table horizontally so that it is located to the left, right, or center of the page.

1. In print layout view (Print Layout view: A view of a document or other object as it will appear when you print it. For example, items such as headers, footnotes, columns, and text boxes appear in their actual positions.), rest the pointer on the upper-left corner of the 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.) until the table move handle appears.
2. Click the table move handle to select the table.
3. On the Table menu, click Table Properties, and then click the Table tab.
4. Under Alignment, click the option that you want.
5. To indent a left-aligned table, enter a number in the Indent from left box.

    Note   If the Indent from left box is unavailable, click None under Text wrapping.

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Align a table vertically

To ensure that only the selected table is aligned vertically, Word creates a new page by inserting section breaks (section break: A mark you insert to show the end of a section. A section break stores the section formatting elements, such as the margins, page orientation, headers and footers, and sequence of page numbers.) before and after the table. Without the section breaks, all of the content in the document would be aligned vertically.

1. In print layout view (Print Layout view: A view of a document or other object as it will appear when you print it. For example, items such as headers, footnotes, columns, and text boxes appear in their actual positions.), rest the pointer on the upper-left corner of the 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.) until the table move handle appears.
2. Click the table move handle to select the table.
3. On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Layout tab.
4. Under Page, in the Vertical alignment box, select Center.
5. Under Preview, in the Apply to box, select Selected text.
6. Click OK.

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Wrap text around a table

1. Click in the table.
2. On the Table menu, click Table Properties, and then click the Table tab.
3. Under Text wrapping, click Around.
4. Click Positioning.
5. In the Table Positioning dialog box, do one or more of the following:
   • Set the horizontal position of the table relative to a column, margin, or page.
   • Set the vertical position of the table relative to a paragraph, margin, or page.
   • Set the distance of the table from the surrounding text.
   • Allow the table to move with text, or prevent it from doing so.
   • Allow the text to overlap the table, or prevent it from doing so.

   Tip  When you use the Draw Table tool to create a table, hold down CTRL while you draw the table within a block of text. This applies text wrapping automatically while you draw.

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Change the page orientation to landscape

If you are working with a wide table, you can change the page orientation to landscape — either for an entire document, or for specified pages only.

Change the page orientation for an entire document

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Margins tab.
2. Under Orientation, click Landscape.
3. Under Preview, make sure Whole Document (the default) is selected in the Apply to box.

Change the page orientation for specified pages only

1. Select the text on the pages for which you want to change the page orientation.
2. On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Margins tab.
3. Under Orientation, click Landscape.
4. Under Preview, in the Apply to box, select Selected text.
5. Click OK.

    Note   Microsoft Office Word 2003 automatically inserts section breaks before and after the text that has the new page orientation settings. If your document is already divided into sections, you can either select the text in a single section or select the text in multiple sections, and then change the page orientation for all selected sections. In the Apply to box, click Selected text.

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