To create a table, click in the document where the table is to be inserted. Click the Insert, Table button on the standard toolbar. Click and hold the left mouse button and drag down. We want four rows and four columns so you will drag to the right. Release the mouse button to create a table. Another way to create a table is to click Table on the menu bar, and from the dropdown list, click Insert. Select Table. In the Insert Table dialog box, enter the number of columns and rows, then click OK. I'll cancel since we already have a table on this page.
Before you can delete or insert rows or columns, you must first select a cell, row, or column. To select a cell, which is one block of the table, move the cursor until you see a diagonal pointing small black arrow and click. You will notice, it selects the cell. I'll move to another cell and click to select it. That selects one cell at a time. To select a row, move the pointer until you see an open diagonal arrow. Click and you will notice it selects a row. To select a column, place the cursor at the top of the row until you see a black, down-pointing arrow. If you move the cursor slightly, it will go away. Then click. You will notice that this selects a row. You can select multiple rows by selecting one row and holding the mouse down and dragging. We can select several rows at a time or several columns. Hold the left mouse and then drag to the right to select a column to the right of the original selection.
To insert a row or column after a table has been created, select the row, right click, and choose Insert, Rows. The row is inserted above the selected row. To insert an additional column, select the column, right-click, and choose Insert, Columns, and the column is inserted to the left of the selected column. It is also possible to choose Table, Insert Rows, and choose to have the row inserted above or below. I will insert a row below the selected row. Or, we can choose Table, Insert Column. and here we have a choice of whether to place that column to the left or right of the selected column. Another option is to select a row and use the Insert Row button on the standard toolbar. Another quick trick is to click on the last cell in the last row of the table and touch the Tab key to create a new row. As I continue to tab from column to column, and once I get to the last column and last cell, then touching the Tab key will create a new row. That can be done only at the end of a table, not between rows that already have content. To delete a row or column from the table, first select a row or column. I'll select the third row. Click the right-mouse button and choose Delete Rows. The row is removed. The same thing works with a column. Select the column, right-click, and choose Delete Columns. Now one column and one row has been removed. Another way to delete a row or column is to select the row or column--and here I am selecting a row. Choose Table, Delete, Row. If I want to remove another column, select the column and click Table, Delete, Column.
To change column width, move the cursor over the vertical dividing line until you see the double-pointing arrows. Hold the left mouse and drag to the desired width. Another way to adjust the width of a table is to click on Table and choose AutoFit, and you have choices whether to autofit the contents, the window, etc. That will adjust each column based on the width of the text within the column. If you were to want all of your columns exactly the same width, you could choose Table, AutoFit, and choose Distribute Columns Evenly. Every column would be exactly the same width based on the space between the left column and the right column.
To align text in a table, select the cells that contain the text to be aligned. You can do so by dragging over the cells and then selecting the alignment style. Center will center the text in the cells; likewise, align left and align right will move it to the left or right.
To merge two or more cells into one cell, select the cells to be merged, right-click, and choose Merge Cells. Another way to merge cells is to select the two, click on Table, Merge Cells. I'll repeat that process. Table, Merge Cells. Once the cells are merged, the text can be type in them. In this case, we want to put "tests" as a general heading over the Test 1 and Test 2 columns.
To split a cell into two or more cells, select the cell, right-click, and choose Split Cells. In the dialog box, enter the number of columns. In this case, I'll split it into four columns and one row and click OK. We now have four separate cells rather than one cell.
To add borders and shading to a table, click anywhere within the table. Choose Format from the menu. Select Borders and Shading. Click the Borders tab and select the desired style of border. If we want a border around every cell, we could select that or only the out box. There are a variety of choices for borders. I'll select one consisting of three lines. Click the Shading tab to set the background color for the table. A light yellow will work with black text. This makes our table nicely displayed.
To set table properties, click on the table, right-click, and choose Table Properties. Click the Table tab. You can select the type of alignment and whether the table will be at the left of the page, center, or the right of the page. Text wrapping will determine whether the text will be placed above and below the table or whether text on the page will display around the table. I will leave that at "none." We can also set the size by setting the number of inches in width. I'll deselect that and keep the same size I have set. Then click OK. This table, if displayed on a full screen now would be centered on the page. To quickly format a table, you can use AutoFormat. Click inside the table. Choose Table, Table AutoFormat. There are a number of choices here. Let's select "Colorful 1." Notice also that you can choose to apply special formats to various elements of the table. If I deselect "heading," then special formatting assigned to the heading will not display. Click first column, last row. You will notice the differences here--and the last column. I will leave all of those "as is" and click Apply. We now have a nicely formatted table, all in one step.