Office X for Macintosh: The Missing Manual

chapter 4: styles, page layout, and tables 165

Tables

How do you use Word to create a résumé, agenda, program booklet, list, multiple-

choice test, Web page, or other document where numbers, words, and phrases must

be aligned across the page? In the bad old days, people did it by pressing the Tab key

to line up columns. As Figure 4-14 illustrates, this method is a recipe for disaster.

(Unfortunately, thousands of people still use this method—or, worse, they still try

to line up columns by continuously pressing the Space bar.)

Using Word’s table feature is light-years easier and more flexible. As illustrated in

Figure 4-14, each row of a table expands infinitely to contain whatever you put into

it, while everything else on its row remains aligned. Tables also offer a few simple

spreadsheet features.

Figure 4-14:

Top: If you use tabs to set up a

table, things may look good at

first—as long as every line fits

within its space and you never

plan to insert any additional

text.

Middle: Here’s what’s wrong

with the tab approach. When

you insert the word Understudy

into one of the columns, it

pushes too far to the right,

causing an ugly ripple effect

that will take you a long time to

straighten out.

Bottom: If you use a table, you

never have this kind of problem.

Just type as much text as you

like into a “cell,” and that row of

the table will simply expand to

contain it. (The light gray

gridlines don’t print unless you

want them to.)

Tables

166 office x for macintosh: the missing manual

Creating Tables

There are two ways to insert a table: You can let Word build the table to your

specifications, or you can draw it more or less freehand.

Inserting a table

The quickest way to insert a table is to use the Insert Table pop-up button on the

Standard toolbar (see Figure 4-15).

If the toolbar isn’t visible, choose Table→Insert→Table. The Insert Table dialog box

opens, also shown in Figure 4-15.

After choosing the number of rows and columns you wish to start with (you can

always add more later), click an AutoFit radio button to instruct Word how to size

the columns across your table. If you know how wide in inches you’d like each col-

umn to be, click “Initial column width” and set a measurement in the size box.

“AutoFit to contents” creates skinny columns that expand as you type into them,

and “AutoFit to window” (the easiest way to go if you’re not sure) spaces the selected

number of columns evenly across the page. The table appears in your document at

the insertion point when you click OK. Figure 4-16 depicts a small 6 x 4 table.

Figure 4-15:

Left: A quick way to make a small

table is to drag from the Insert

Table button on the Standard

toolbar. As you drag through the

resulting grid, you’re specifying

the grid size you want. (You can

drag beyond the boundaries

shown here, by the way, to specify

a 9 x 9 table, for example; the

pop-up grid grows as necessary.)

Right: If you frequently use the

same kind of table, check the “Set

as default for new tables” box to

make your favorite settings the

new defaults. They will appear in

this dialog box each time you

choose Table

→

Insert

→

Table.

Figure 4-16:

The light gray markings shown here appear when you click the

Show/Hide ¶ button on the Standard toolbar or Formatting

Palette. To select an entire column, click near the top of it; the

cursor turns into a tiny arrow. To resize a row or column, drag

the horizontal or vertical lines when the cursor turns into a

double arrow. The resize box at lower right keeps all rows and

columns in proportion as it expands or shrinks the entire table.

Tables