Table It!...Part 13...Row Formatting

Row Tab

Going through the remainder of the Table Properties tabs will be much easier because the dialogs include fewer fields and buttons.

• Size: Fields in this group allow you to set a height for the row. I rarely use this setting, because if your text over fills a cell in the row, your reader won't be able to see all of the text by just looking at the table.
• Options: Allow row to break across pagesI routinely select this option when creating long tables. As I complete rows in a table and the table expands to the end of the page, when the text in a cell in the row goes to the next page, the entire row moves to the next page. Having Word automatically move the row gives your table the polished look of a professional document.
• Options: Repeat as header row at the top of each page
  I routinely select this option when creating long tables. Select a row in the table as the title row (usually the first row), display Table Properties, and then select this option on the Row tab. As the table gets longer and Word automatically moves the last row on one page to the top of the next page, Word also adds the heading row automatically. You need to note that you can only edit in the original heading row, and when you do edit, the changes appear in each of the automatically generated heading rows. Also, of note, you can select more than one row as heading rows (stacked headings).
• Previous Row/Next Row buttons
  When you are applying formatting using the Row tab, you can click these buttons to move from row to row. When you use the buttons, Word selects the entire row. By that I mean Word selects all cells in the row and the little square at the end of the row that you see when you turn on hidden codes.

What is important to remember about selecting the  entire row is that the little square at the end includes formatting codes for the row. The best way to see this is to add color to a row and then clicking to the right of the row (between the border and the little square at the end) to add a new row. The row that Word inserts includes the color as part of the formatting of the row. 

Column Tab
The Column tab simply has the option of setting specific widths for columns. I avoid this tab for the same reason that I avoid the Size field for a row. It's too restrictive.

Next Post
We'll look at the Cell tab, and then we'll start looking at menu selections that allow you do other table-related tasks; for example, rotate text in a cell.

Table It!...Part 6...Creating the Table

Brace yourself. This one is going to be a long slog. However, at the end, you'll have several new skills.

To construct this table, you need to open a new document and add the table. After the table is finished, we're going to turn the two pieces into graphics, and then rotate the graphics so that they fit on a portrait page. Here's what the final pages with the table graphics inserted will look like. Notice that you can use wrap options to type text on the right-hand page.

To set up the page:

1. Open a new Word document.
2. Reset all margins to .5 inches.
   Open the Page Setup dialog.
   --Word 2003: Select File, and then Page Setup.
   --Word 2007/2010: Select the Page Layout tab and locate the Page Setup group. Click the small arrow in the lower right of the group.
   The Page Setup dialog appears.
3. Enter .5 for top, bottom, right, and left.
4. Click the Landscape button.
5. Click OK.

To add the table:

1. Add the table title.
   --Type this text: 1850 Census Entries for McKee in Randolph County, Illinois--Apply a Heading 3 style, and then press the Enter key.
2. Display the Insert Table dialog.
   --Word 2003: From the menu, select Table, Insert, Table.
   --Word 2007/2010: On the Insert tab, click Tables.  
3. In Number of columns, enter 13.
4. In Number of rows, enter 10.
5. Under AutoFit behavior, click AutoFit to contents.
6. Click OK. The table appears in your document.
7. Save the document under a name you will recognize.

To add text to your table:

1. In the first row, type the 1850 census column titles.
   
   --Click in the first cell, and type the column title.
   --Press the Tab key to move forward to the next cell, and add text.
   --Press Shift + Tab to move backward to the previous cell.
   Notice that in the table I created I abbreviated Age, Sex, and Color. I've included all of the columns because while the census entries I'm looking at do not have entries in all columns that may not be the case for entries you are looking at.
2. In the second row, type the location description, and then merge the cells in row two.
   
   To merge, select the entire row. Move your cursor to the left of row two. Your cursor changes from an I beam to an arrow. Point the arrow at row two and click once to select the entire row. Word highlights the row. Right-click in the row to display the popup menu, and then select Merge. Word removes all vertical table borders except the end borders.
3. Add a gray fill to rows one and two.
   
   To fill, select rows one and two. Move your cursor to the left of row one. Your cursor changes from an I beam to an arrow. Point the arrow at row one and click once. Hold down the mouse button and drag your cursor down to the second row. Word highlights rows one and two. Right-click in the highlighted rows to display the popup menu, and then select Borders and Shading. The  Borders and Shading dialog appears. Select the Shading tab. In the Fill drop-down, select one of the shades of gray. You add a bit of color to a heading (gray if you are printing to paper) so that your reader has a visual break that they can use to identify titles and locations.
4. In the third row, start adding census data. You can add the data I show in the sample or your own data.
5. When you have a new location (township), add the location, merge the fields, and fill with gray to provide a visual break for your reader.
6. Continue adding entries. When you table breaks to page two, just let it break. After you have two pages of entries, we have two problems to fix: 1) row splitting across page break; 2) no titles above page 2 columns.
7. To stop a row from splitting across a page break, complete these steps.
   
   --Select the entire table. Click once anywhere in the table, and then right-click to display a popup menu. Click Select, and then Table. Word highlights the entire table.
   --Display Table Properties. Right-click anywhere in the highlighted table to display the popup menu, and then select Table Properties. Click the Row tab.  In Options, remove the check mark from Allow row to break across pages. Depending on what you've done, you might see the check box filled in with color. Click it twice to remove all marks. Click OK to save the change. The table will allow only entire rows and will not split a row across a page break. Click anywhere outside of the table to remove the highlight.
8. To add a title row to page two, repeat header rows.
   
   --On page one, select row one (the title row) of the table.
   --Word 2003: From the menu, select Table, Repeat Header Row.
   --Word 2007/2010: On the Layout tab, click the Repeat Header Row button  in the Data group.
   
   Regardless of how many pages of census entries you enter, the heading row will appear at the top of each page.

So are you exhausted yet? I know I am. So I'll save turning the table into a graphic for the next post. After you have the table you want, turning the pages into graphics, rotating them, and inserting the graphics into a document is a minor task. So until the next post, happy table making.

Table It!...Part 3...Resizing Columns

I'm assuming in this post that you've added a table to a Word document (accepting the default settings) and that you have the ruler displaying at the top of the page.

One of the tasks necessary when working with tables in a Word document is resizing columns and rows. For the most part, you should leave rows alone. Adjusting the row height can cause hidden text in cells...not a good thing and you'll go crazy looking for text you know you added. 

In the case of columns, you'll want to make adjustments. As is the usual case with MS Word, you can make adjustments in a number of ways. It's important to understand which adjustment method to use to get the desired results.

The most common method is simply to point your cursor at a column line to display the double arrows with the column marks. Click your mouse to grab the line and then move it right or left. For simple tables, this method is fine. However, as your tables become more complicated, you need to know about another method for moving columns.That method involves using the ruler to resize columns. I've posted limited information on the ruler. See Using the Ruler if you want to refresh your memory.

Displaying the Ruler and Moving a Column

• In Word 2003, click Insert, and then Ruler.
• In Word 2007 or 2010, click the View tab, and then click Ruler on the Show pane.

A ruler appears above the document with another ruler running down the left side of the document. The ruler above the document is the one of interest. The white area of the ruler is the typing area on your page.

Click in any cell in the table and the Move Table Column buttons appear in the ruler. Point your cursor at a Move Table Column button and double arrows with a tip popup appear.

To grab a button and move a column, point at the button in the ruler and click your mouse. Move your mouse right or left to move the column.

Why is this method important?
As your tables become more complicated (for example, when you merge cells in the middle of a table), the Move Table Column buttons serve as the master control for resizing columns. The more complicated your table becomes the more important it becomes to know when to use the buttons on the ruler to adjust columns.

You can see this in action by completing these steps.

1. Click your cursor in the third row of column one.
2. Hold down your mouse and move it to the right to select the third row of columns one and two. 
3. Let go of your mouse. Two cells are selected (highlighted).
4. Right-click in the selected cells to display a popup menu.
5. Click Merge Cells. The two cells becomes one cell that is two columns wide.
6. Point your cursor at the row four column line between columns one and two. A double headed arrow with column marks appears.
7. Click your mouse to select the column line and move it right or left. Let go of your mouse.
8. Notice that the column lines in rows one and two above the merged cells did not move. 
9. Click Ctrl + Z to undo the change. 
10. Use the Move Table Column button to move the column line and all lines in the table move...regardless of the merged cells or anything else you've done to the table.

The Move Table Column buttons can also be used to align cells correctly when they just get out of whack...and that can happen to the most experienced of Word users regardless of how easy or complicated the table might be. 

I know this is tedious but if you're going to work with tables you need to know about the less obvious controls that can save your sanity on occasion.