Insert Table

 
To add a table select the tab “Insert” in the ribbon, and click the button “Table”.
The first option allows us to select the number of columns and rows. A table can be comprised of maximum of 10 columns and up to 8 rows.

When the mouse pointer moves over the settings, we can see a live example shown in our document.

Click the mouse when you’ve reached the correct setting.

This will automatically select the newly inserted table in our document.
You notice at the top of the ribbon that the tools for the layout of our table are displayed.
These “Tools” consists of two additional tabs, contextual tabs.
The first is “Design”, which is selected by default, and the second is “Layout”.

A second way to insert a table is by making use of the “Quick tables”.
Click on the “Table” in the ribbon, and place the cursor at the bottom on the “Quick Tables”.
This opens a submenu from which we can choose a table format by clicking on it.

Here again the “Tools” appear for the layout of our table with two additional tabs.
All the formatting of these “Quick tables” are already set, so the only thing you have to do is customize the text to your needs.

A third way to insert a table is by drawing one.
Click on the “Table” in the ribbon, and click the “Draw Table” option.
This changes the cursor into a pencil, then click and drag the cursor in your document.
Release the mouse button when you have reached the proper size for the table.

Click and drag the mouse pointer in the table to draw the lines of the cells.
With the “Eraser” option in the ribbon, you can remove lines from your table.
This way you can insert cells in any table.

Convert text into a table

It will so happen that you have all the information you have typed into a document, you want to place it in a table.
First select all the information you want to place in the table.

Click the button “Table” under the tab “Insert” on the ribbon, and choose “Convert Text to Table” from the menu.
This opens the dialog “Convert Text to Table.”

Word is smart enough to know how many columns we need. It relies namely on the number of tabs in our document.

Should it be that you want more or fewer columns, specify the number manually in the “Number of columns”.

The number of rows is also already completed and can not be changed, but it is a piece of cake to change it later.

In the section “AutoFit Behaviour” we have the option to choose a fixed column width, which is preset, AutoFit to contents “or AutoFit to Window.”

In the last section “Seperate Text At”, we determine which Word will refer to draw boundaries between the different cells.
Since my data is separated by tabs, I choose the option “Tabs”.
But this can also be a paragraph mark, a semicolon, or a different character.
In this case, check the radio button for “Other,” and type the character in the adjacent box.
Click OK when you’re done.

Even now the “Tools for tables”, plus the two associated contextual tabs appear in the ribbon.

Convert Table to Text

To convert a table back to text, place the cursor in the table, and click the button “Convert to text”.
This can be found in the contextual tab “Layout”.
In the dialog box that appears, seperate the character you want from the text and click OK.

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