Four Tricks for Working With Tables in Microsoft Word

Tables can be very helpful for presenting information or data in a document. As many of you know, working with tables can be frustrating when you can’t get them into the layout or format you want. So this week, I’m sharing four of my favourite tricks for working with tables in Microsoft Word.

Tabs are very useful for lining up information in a document. What many people don’t know is that you can use tabs within tables. To set a tab within a table, click within the table cell(s) that you want to include a tab(s). Next, select the type of tab, and click on the ruler in the location you want the tab to appear. Repeat for multiple tabs within the same cell(s).

The one thing you have to remember when working with tabs within a table is that simply pressing “Tab” will jump you to the next cell. You have to press “Ctrl+Tab” to move to a tab position within a table.

The second table trick relates to putting space before a table that is at the beginning of a document. If you need to add text before a table at the very start of a document, you must click within the first table cell and press “Enter”. This will move the table down a line.

Thirdly, remember that you can break a table into two parts. To do this, position the cursor in the cell where you want the break to occur. On the menu bar choose “Table”, then “Split Table” to accomplish this.

Lastly, when you want to make changes to the format or layout of a table, try right-clicking within a cell to see a context sensitive menu that will have all the settings you might want to change. This is far quicker than looking for them using the menu bar.