Friday, January 15th, 2010

Select a table cell contents in Word 2007

image

Confession time. I had a picture in a table cell in Word and try as I might I couldn’t get the little black angled cursor to appear so I could select the cell’s contents. Frustrating – yep, I’d say so.

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Nope – wrong arrow, the image is so close to the table cell it’s almost impossible to get the cell select arrow to appear.

 

imageThis is what it should  look like. 

Then I remembered the new feature in Word 2007 – it’s on the Table Tools >Layout tab (so you have to have a table and click in it to see this option). On the far left is the Select button – new to Word 2007. Click it and you can select what to select. Oh! let’s back up a bit  here – it would be a good idea to click in the cell you want to select before you begin – forgot that bit.

Using this you can select a cell then right click and, as I did, choose Copy to copy its contents. Don’t be fooled by the fact that not everything in the cell looks like it is selected – just trust that it is.

There are other options there that include Select Row, Select Column, Select Table – much easier than trying to juggle those little arrows when they just won’t appear.

Helen Bradley

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Word does Math – in tables!


Lots of folk do things like use Word for invoices simply because it’s easy to do. When it comes to laying out data for an invoice a table makes a good choice as everything looks very neat.

It is also a good choice because, once your data is in place, you can get Word to do the calculations for you.

So, for example if a column contains a series of numbers that you want to add up, click in the blank cell at the bottom of the column of numbers and choose Table > Formula (in Word 2007 choose the Table Tools > Layout > Formula button). Make sure the formula reads =sum(above) and click Ok. Now the total is in place in the cell.

If you change the numbers in the cells above, you’ll need to recalculate the formula. To do this, click in the cell containing the formula and press F9.

The Table Formula dialog also includes an option for formatting the numerical result so it looks the way you want it to – with numbers after the decimal point and even a leading $ or £ symbol.

Helen Bradley

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

Images in Word tables

It is possible to place an image inside a table cell in Word. To do this, first create a table, click inside the cell and then choose Insert Picture > From File and select the image to insert. You can size the image inside the table cell as requiredby dragging on its sizing handles.

If you set the image’s Text Wrapping to Behind Text or In Front of Text the image will no longer be constrained to the table and will jump out of it and operate independently of it. To wrap text around the image inside the table cell use the Square or Tight options for best results. In Line With Text only wraps one line and it’s pretty awful.

Helen Bradley