|
A table in Word is a grid. It has rows and columns into which you can place text or graphics or even mathematical formulas. Word gives you the basic table layout, which you fill with text. The next thing you can do, after filling the tables with text, is to give them style. To help you do so, two Table Tools tabs appear in the Ribbon whenever you work with a table: the Design and Layout tabs.
 | The Table Tools tabs show up only when a table is being edited or selected. Use the Table Tools Design tab to format your table. The Table Styles group can quickly apply formatting to any table. Choose a style or click the More button to see a whole smattering of styles. As with Quick Styles, as you point the mouse at a table style, your table is updated to reflect the new style. |
Settings chosen in the Table Style Options group determine how the table styles shape up. Choose an option to apply that type of formatting to the table styles, such as Header Row to format a separate header row for the table.
Setting table line styles
The lines you see in a table's grid are the same borders you can apply to text with the Borders command button. The Borders command button chooses where the lines go; items on the left side of the Draw Borders group set the border line style, width, and color. The border changes you make apply to whichever part of the table is selected.
Removing a table's lines
Occasionally, you may want a table without any lines. To remove the table's grid, select the table and choose No Border from the Borders menu.
Having no lines (borders) in a table makes working with the table more difficult. The solution is to show the table gridlines, which aren't printed. To do that, select the table and choose the View Gridlines command from the Borders menu.
Merging cells
You can combine two or more cells in a table by simply erasing the line that separates them. To do so, click the Eraser command button found in the Draw Borders group. The mouse pointer changes to an eraser. Use that tool to erase lines in the table: Click a line and it's gone. Erasing the line between cells merges the cells' contents by combining the text. Click the Eraser button again when you're done merging.
You can't remove the outside lines of the table.
Splitting cells
To turn one cell into two, you simply draw a line, horizontally or vertically, through the cell. Do so by clicking the Draw Table command button in the Draw Borders group. The mouse pointer changes to the pencil pointer, which you can use to draw new lines in the table. Click the Draw Table button again to turn off this feature.
| 
