Special Edition Using Microsoft® Office XP

Advanced Table Formatting Options

A properly formatted table helps the reader (or surfer) absorb and understand the contents. You know your table hasn't been formatted well when a reader has to pull out a ruler to tell which numbers belong on what rows.

Letting Word Do the Work with AutoFormat

Word provides more than three dozen AutoFormat options that give you a good start on your way to table perfection. To use AutoFormatting, click once inside the table, and then choose Table, Table AutoFormat. (You can also bring up the AutoFormat dialog box when you create a table by choosing Table, Insert, Table.)

Table AutoFormatting comes in handy when you want to make your tables stand out—give them a personality, beyond the standard font—but you don't ...