MS Word

...and Position the Table's Contents Correctly

The Problem:

Okay, the table is in place, and I've got most of the text in the cells. Now all I need to know is how to lay out that text properly.

The Solution:

The Table Properties dialog box is also the key to positioning the contents of the table accurately:

  • Right-click in the table and choose Table Properties from the shortcut menu to display the dialog box. Click the Table tab, click the Options button, and specify the default cell margins and any default cell spacing in the Table Options dialog box (see Figure 7-4, top).

  • To override those default settings in a cell, select the cell, click the Cell tab of the Table Properties dialog box, click the Options button, and work in the Cell Options dialog box (see Figure 7-4, bottom). You can also turn off text wrapping from here, on those rare occasions when you want to prevent the text from wrapping within a cell.

    Figure 7-4. The Table Options dialog box lets you set default top, bottom, left, and right cell margins. The Cell Options dialog box lets you override the cell margins for particular cells.

  • To change the vertical alignment of a cell, choose the appropriate "Vertical alignment" option on the Cell tab of the Table Properties dialog box.

  • Within the cell, you can apply many types of standard paragraph formatting by using the controls on the Formatting toolbar or in the Paragraph dialog box (Format » Paragraph). For example, you can change the horizontal alignment, the indentation, and the line spacing.