Most people know how to create a table in Word. But do you feel that your tables often look so boring, while they always look nicer on others or in magazines? There are a number of formatting tricks to give the rows and columns more pop. You can also create a table completely in Word, because this program has everything you need to create stylish tables.
1 Quick tables
The fastest way to create a beautiful table is through the function Quick tables to use. These built-in designs will save you a lot of hassle. Word stores these quick tables in a gallery of so-called building blocks. Go to Insert / Table / Quick Tables and select a ready-made design. Customize it according to the data by adding or removing rows and columns. Have you taken care of the table and do you want to keep it? Then add it to the gallery Quick tables by in that window Save selection to Quick Tables gallery to choose. In the Create New Building Block window, give your table a name.
2 Table style
The most common way to create a table in Word is through the tab Insert. Click on that Table and choose by hovering over the grid how many rows and columns you need. By default you just get a white table with black lines, but by clicking in the table, two extra tabs appear in the Ribbon: Table design (or To design) and Layout. You can change the appearance of the table on the tab To design Customize it in one of the many colors and styles to suit the purpose of your table. The tab Layout goes without saying, you can add, merge or remove rows and columns from your table, among other things, determine how the text alignment should be in the cells and so on.
3 Expand table
If you want to add columns and rows to your table yourself, you can do that with one mouse click. When you hover the mouse pointer on the left edge of the rows or just above the right side of a column, a plus sign appears in a circle. Click it and Word will add a new column or row in that place. That new row/column has the same formatting as the other rows and columns. You can easily add rows and columns at the end or middle of your table this way.
Mini Toolbar
When creating/formatting your table, the mini toolbar is very useful. You can use this to change the formatting of a cell (text color, font, lines). You can also add rows and columns very quickly. To use this helper, right-click in a cell next to, above or below where the extra row or column should be placed. In the pop-up window, choose the option Insert so that you get to the commands to add a row or column.
4 Ruler
To accurately position the columns, use the ruler in combination with Alt. If it is not already on, first bring out the ruler: go to the tab Image and check the option Ruler at. Then move the mouse pointer over an edge of the table. When the double arrow pointer appears, hold down the Alt key and drag the border. As a result, Microsoft Word will indicate to the millimeter in the ruler how the columns will be divided by dragging.
5 Table properties
If you use the table as an explanation of a piece of text, it is standard between the different text parts. But you can also choose to let the text flow around the table. The advantage of text around the table is that more text fits on a page. Right click on the table and select Table properties. Click below Text wrapping on all around. It is of course not the intention that the surrounding text sticks to the table. To create some space, click Placement. In this window you indicate the distance to the surrounding text. Make sure the option Move with text is checked so that the text and table stay together when you later change the content of the document.
6 Convert Text
If you have text data that is separated by tabs, you can easily convert that text to a table via Insert / Table / Insert Table. Word determines the number of columns on the basis of the tabs and puts the data neatly in each cell. The number of rows is determined by the number of lines you select. In addition to tabs, you can also generate a table using semicolons or underscores. Choose in the menu Insert / Table in front of Convert text to table then you can determine the appearance of the table yourself, for example by choosing a fixed column width or a width that adapts to the content.
7 Borders and Shading
If you want to make certain parts of your table more or less visible, play with the borders and hatching. This window of the same name can be found via the Table properties, at the very bottom of the tab Table. By default, the table consists of lines of the same thickness, but you can also, for example, only outline the outer frame and hide the inner lines. To do this, first click in the tab edges on the setting No. Then click on the button Frame followed by a line style, color, and thickness. You can also colorize cells, so you don't even need a grid to present the data in an orderly fashion. For example, select the top row and give it with the paint bucket (in the ribbon Start or via the Mini Toolbar) a color.
Free hand
It is also possible to draw a table freehand. Choose Insert / Table / Draw Table. Then you draw a rectangle after which you draw lines in it with the pencil to indicate the cells. Click to draw the line and release the mouse button to save the line.
This option is only interesting if you need a table in which not all columns or cells are equal. Or if you want to use oblique lines, because that is also possible!
8 Further formatting
If you choose to remove the borders of the table/cells, for example because you do not want them printed, it is useful to see them in Word while you are still working on your table. The button Show gridlines in the tab Layout.
If you have long title names in your table, you can change the text direction of those cells. To do this, right-click in the table and choose the Text direction command.
