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The pure and simple logic of building extraordinary tables
| Applies to |
| Microsoft Office Word 2003 |
 |
This article was excerpted 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 tool kit. |
In this article
Introduction
Table Properties dialog box, Table tab
Table Properties dialog box, Row tab
Table Properties dialog box, Column tab
Table Properties dialog box, Cell tab
Newton, D'Alembert, Kant, Einstein, Mr. Spock…any great
logician would be awed by the elegant, simple logic of the Table Properties
dialog box. But you don't have to be a great philosopher, mathematician, or
fictional alien to make this little marvel work for you! The Table Properties
dialog box boils down most of what you can do to a table's structure into
simple arithmetic.
Sure, you could get away with never opening Table Properties
and still use Word tables somewhat. But you'll love the extra options,
timesavers, and great results you can get from a few clicks through this
powerhouse of a dialog box. And while much of Table Properties might seem
obvious, you'll be surprised at the superb timesaving tricks you can find in
the most unexpected places!
What might you want to know, for example,
about the apparently obvious table width setting on the Table tab of Table
Properties? You can measure your table width in your primary unit of measure
(i.e., inches, millimeters, etc.) or in percents. Using percents to measure
your table width can save a lot of editing time. Let's say you need a table to
be about three-quarters the width of your page. You could calculate how many
inches that would be and type that into table width. But if the margins or the
page orientation change, you'll have to resize the table again. Instead, just
type in 75 percent for table width and regardless of what happens to your page,
that table will remain at 75 percent of the width between the page margins.
Note For any math-phobics reading this, please
rest easy! Yours truly dropped pre-calculus three times in high school and
successfully avoided math until finally finding my math-mojo in grad school
thanks to an awesome economics professor. So, I know where you're coming from.
I promise you that if you can handle, for example, that 1 inch is 20 percent of
5 inches, that's just about as complex as this arithmetic
has to get.
When you set table width, keep in mind
that a percent width is the percent the table uses of its active window. In most cases, the window
is just the space between the page margins. But if the table is placed in a
text column, its window is the column in which it resides. If the table is
nested into a cell of another table, its window is the cell in which it
resides.
The top timesaving tips for each tab of the Table Properties
dialog box follow.
 Top of Page
| The command |
Essential tips |
More information |
|
Alignment
|
To align the entire table on the page, you can select the entire table (on Table menu, point to Select, click Table) and use the paragraph alignment keyboard shortcut (CTRL+L
for left, CTRL+E for center, CTRL+R for right)
or the paragraph alignment buttons on the Formatting toolbar, instead of
venturing into the Table Properties dialog box.
|
Be careful when
using the Indent from left setting on the Table tab of the Table Properties
dialog box. When you set an indent for the table, it doesn't resize the table
to accommodate your indent, it pushes it to the right, which can push it past
the page margin or even off the page.
Instead, just drag the left edge of the table to the right
as much as you need (hold the ALT key to move smaller distances), and then
readjust your column widths as appropriate.
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|
Text wrapping
|
Avoid the urge to use Around (under Text wrapping) for the table.
It is a cool feature, but tables with this formatting become floating
objects, which makes them tougher to manage in the document.
Instead, use nested tables for placing tables and other
content side by side. Check out the article "Never Leave the Nest!"
(Microsoft Office Document Designer) for step-by-step, simple instructions.
|
If you pick up and move the table by the Table Move Handle
in the upper-left corner of the table, "text wrapping around" is automatically
enabled. Get more information on when to use and when to avoid the Table Move
Handle in the tip sheet "Table Essentials: Essential Table Do's, Don'ts, and How To's" (Microsoft Office Document Designer).
|
|
Default cell margins
|
Each table cell acts like its own page in that it has
top, bottom, left, and right margins. By default, top and bottom margins are
zero, left and right margins are 0.08 inches (or 1.9mm).
You can change cell margins for all cells in the table
through the Options button at the bottom of the Table tab of this dialog box.
When you're using a table cell as a placeholder for other content (such as a
graphic or a nested table), setting left and right margins to zero maximizes
the room in your cell and lets your content fit snugly to the table layout.
|
Changing cell margins is not always the simplest solution
for making the space you need!
For example, if you're using paragraph borders on your
heading cells and want to increase the space between the borders of each
column heading, changing paragraph indents is less work than changing cell
margins. Paragraph borders in tables stretch by default from the left to the
right cell margin, just as they stretch from the left to the right page
margin in body text. When you adjust the left and right paragraph indents to
increase space, you can add that setting to a paragraph style for consistency
across multiple tables, allowing quick and easy updating, and you avoid
having to go back and forth to Table Properties, Table, Options when trying
to determine the right amount of space.
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|
Default cell spacing
|
Spacing between cells is called cell padding in Web documents (HTML), and that's the purpose of this
command.
Though you can use this feature in tables for Word
documents without ill effect, it gives you less control than using cell
margins and/or paragraph indents to manage the space between cells of your
table, and it makes the tables more complicated to edit.
|
Because this is a Web feature, when tables are pasted from
the Web into Word, they usually contain spacing between cells. Since tables
pasted from the Web are a common troubleshooting issue in Word documents
(when not pasted correctly), the existence of spacing between cells is a
quick and easy way to spot that you probably have a Web table when trying to
resolve issues in a problem document. Avoid using spacing between cells in
your Word-based tables and you'll more easily be able to spot Web tables that
require clean-up.
For more on
resolving issues in Web tables, check out the tip sheet "Troubleshooting Stuff You Copy from the Web
(Microsoft Office Document Designer).
|
|
Automatically resize to fit contents
|
This check box is selected by default for all tables, and
accessible from the Table Options dialog box (click Options at the bottom of the Table tab).
When you're not sure of the table space or layout you
need, it's a nice helper. But, when you're using the table as a layout or
placeholder for other content, it's a good idea to clear this check box, so
that you stay in control of the width of your table.
|
Note that this option toggles between the
options AutoFit to Window and Fixed Column Width (on the Table menu, point to AutoFit).
It's also important to note that if you clear this
check box and then use the AutoFit to Window command, this
check box is automatically reselected.
Fixed Column Width
doesn't mean that the column widths can't be changed. Rather, it means that
Word won't automatically change the column widths
when the table is moved or otherwise altered, but you can still change them.
The command is on or off for an entire table, so selecting columns isn't
necessary.
|
Top of Page
| The command |
Essential tips |
More information |
|
Row height settings At least vs. Exactly
|
When you drag the bottom of a row to resize it, row height
is automatically set, and the setting option will be at least the height you set. On the Row tab of this dialog box, you can
specify whether the height you set is a minimum for the row (At least) or
precisely the measurement you want (Exactly).
Avoid row height Exactly unless you need to constrain the
height of your table, as any text or other content that exceeds the height of
a row set to Exactly will be hidden.
|
Before setting any row height, decide if that is the most
efficient option for the formatting you want. Often, adding paragraph spacing
before or after the content of each row can be a simpler, more precise, and
easier-to-edit solution.
|
|
Allow row to break across pages
|
If you place a page break inside a table, it actually
breaks the table in two. When that happens, heading rows set to repeat won't
continue to repeat past the page break, and table formatting you apply won't
be applied past the page break.
Instead, to control how your content breaks, clear the
Allow row to break across pages check box on
the Row tab of the Table Properties dialog box.
|
Keep in mind that this is a setting you can apply to only
some rows in your table, as needed. Select the rows for which you want to
disable this setting, or use the Previous Row and Next Row buttons to cycle
through the table and find the applicable rows. To quickly apply this setting
to the entire table, select the table before opening the dialog box.
|
|
Heading Rows Repeat
|
Instead of venturing into the Table Properties dialog box
to set repeating heading rows, select this command directly on the Table menu.
Just be sure to select at least one cell in each row you want to repeat, and
include the top row of the table in your selection.
|
Tip If your heading rows are
set to repeat but don't repeat across all pages, check for page breaks,
section breaks, column breaks, or paragraph marks in the middle of your table.
None of these formatting marks are actually in the middle of a table when one appears between table
pieces. The existence of any of these between parts of a table actually
separates the table in two. Heading rows can't be carried across multiple
tables.
|
Top of Page
| The command |
Essential tips |
More information |
|
Preferred width
|
I loved the name "preferred" column width when this
feature first appeared in Word 2000. It seemed as though Word was saying, "You
tell me your preference, I'll consider it…and then I'll do what I want!" Of
course, Word is a far more logical creature than that, and there is a simple
answer to what might seem to be inconsistency in this command's behavior.
First, it's important to know that when you see a column
width in this dialog box, it includes the left and right cell margins. When you view column width on the ruler bar, that
measurement does not include the cell margins.
Second, Word can't bow to your wishes here if, for
example, you tell a table that's set to 4 inches wide to have a column that's
5 inches wide. Your settings must fit the available space, or Word will
adjust them accordingly.
|
Keep in mind that you can set column width in your primary
unit of measure or in percents, just like table width. This is great if you
want, for example, to ensure that noncontiguous columns of a table remain
equal width without having to put your math hat on and calculate the width of
each. Just choose a percent for each of the columns that are to be identical,
and the remainder of the table will adjust automatically.
|
Tip The Previous
and Next commands on the Row and Column
tabs of Table Properties can be terrific
tools. Use them to cycle through all rows and columns in your table and set or
confirm each setting as you go. The best thing about Previous and Next is that
the settings you make will update as you switch rows or columns, so you can see
your changes as you make them and do needed adjustments without having to
switch between the table and the dialog box.
Top of Page
| The command |
Essential tips |
More information |
|
Preferred width
|
If you have split or merged cells in a column, you'll see
that preferred column width is unavailable. In
that case, use preferred cell width instead to set the width of cells that
are not equal throughout a column.
|
Since there is no Previous or Next button on the
Cell tab of this dialog box, when you need to change column width for part of
the column it's usually a lot faster to split the table just below (or above)
the portion of the column you need to set, then set the width you need on the
Column tab, and rejoin the table.
To split a table, just place your insertion point in the
row below where you want the split and select Split Table on the Table menu. All this
does is place a paragraph mark between the two table pieces. When you're
ready to rejoin the table, just delete that paragraph mark.
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Set Cell margins for only part of the table
|
When you go to the Options dialog box in Table Properties,
be aware of whether you've selected Options from the Table tab or the Cell
tab.
In the Options dialog box available from the Cell
tab, you can still change margins, but they will change only for selected
cells.
|
Changing cell margins only for some cells of the table is
often a more complicated solution than needed because it can make editing the
table confusing later on. Instead, consider whether paragraph indents can do
the trick for the formatting you need.
|
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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