Using regular text to compose your documents is fine in most cases.
But for something that requires more organization, you might want to try a table.
This will let you enter your text in columns and rows, instead of lines or paragraphs.
To create a new table, just go to Insert...
Table... then mouse over the grid to select the number of cells you want.
My table's going to be pretty big: 6 columns... by 6 rows.
Now click... and the table appears in your document, where you can start entering your
information.
If you already have some of your information listed, don't worry—you don't have to start
from scratch.
Take this version for example.
The schedule's kind of hard to read in its current format, but we can easily convert
it to a table in just a couple steps.
Start by selecting your text... then go to back to the Insert tab... and click Table.
Now click Convert Text to Table... and choose one of the options here for separating your
text.
This is how Word knows what to put in each column.
My text is separated by Tabs in this example, but paragraphs, commas, and other symbols
will also work.
When you're ready, click OK... and the text will appear in a table.
To enter information, just click the cell you want.
You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate.
To insert a column or a row, hover outside the table over one of the cell dividers.
Notice the plus sign that appears?
All you have to do is click... and Word will add a column or row in that location.
Deleting columns and rows is just as easy.
First, select a cell in the range you want to delete.
Then right-click... and choose Delete Cells from the menu.
In this example, I'm going to select Delete entire row... then click OK.
So this is looking pretty good.
I think I'm ready to add some formatting to make the table easier to read, and also give
it some color.
For that, you'll find everything you need on the Design tab or the Layout tab, which
appear anytime you have your cursor in your table.
Under Design, you'll find a wide range of Table Styles to choose from, which you can
mouse over for a preview.
For the full list, click the drop-down arrow in the corner.
How about this one?
Once you've chosen a style, you can customize the way it's laid out using the Table Style
Options here.
For example, you can decide whether or not to use special formatting on the first column...
or the header row.
These will all have a different effect depending on the Table Style you've chosen, so you might
need to experiment to get the look you want.
You may have noticed that this table has a border between most of the cells.
To add or change the border, just select the cells you want to modify... then look to the
Borders group.
Here, you can select a line style... line weight... and also a color for your border.
When you're ready, click the drop-down arrow under the Borders command... then choose where
you want the border to go.
I want mine around the outside of these two cells.
You can make further modifications to things like the size and layout of your table by
going to the Layout tab.
The first thing I'd like to do here is make the table a little bigger overall.
I'll start by placing my cursor in the bottom row, and then dragging the border to the size
I want.
When you're ready, click the Distribute Rows command... and the rows will re-adjust, so
they're all the same size again.
Next, I'm going to select the entire table... and then change the text alignment using the
options in the Alignment group.
I think centered looks the best.
Finally, I'd like to combine these two cells into one, also known as merging.
This option is useful if your table has data that spans several different columns or rows.
Just make sure your cells are selected... then click the Merge Cells command on the
Layout tab.
The Layout tab gives you many ways to customize your table, so it works for you and the information
you want to display.
There are still lots of other options to explore, so make sure you give them a try on your own.