you
when you're working with PowerPoint
usually your goal is to communicate
something to an audience that something
can be communicated in a list or a
SmartArt graphic another way to present
it is in an organized table I want to
share our book store sales figures over
the last five years from 2006 to 2010 I
think a table would be the best way to
present that to insert a table all you
have to do is go to insert table then
move your mouse over the squares for the
number of columns and rows you want the
table I need is going to be pretty big
six columns by six rows now click and
you can start entering your data but
first why don't we reposition the table
so it fits better on the slide just
place your cursor on the edge click hold
and drag it to the new location then let
go to adjust the size use the sizing
handles on the sides of the table or in
the corners now we can enter some of our
text you can click any cell to select it
or use the arrow keys on your keyboard
to navigate right now I'm using the down
arrow to make my way down this column
adding more columns or rows to a table
is easy I'd like to try inserting one
below the row that starts with mystery
so I'm going to right-click and go to
insert my options include inserting a
column to the left or right of where my
cursor is or a row above or below
if I click below a row appears under
mystery where my cursor was just a
minute ago alternatively if you want to
delete a row or column all you have to
do is select a cell right click and then
delete it
let's fast forward to the finished table
with all of the sales figures in place
now that the data is complete I thought
we'd take a look at the Layout tab and
the design tab that appear whenever you
have your table selected notice how my
table has a nice gray color that matches
the slide that's not an accident it's
already using a table style that looks
good with our current theme to check out
the other styles mouse over for a
preview or open the full menu 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 display special
formatting for the header row or the
first column these will all have a
different effect depending on the table
style you're using so you might need to
experiment to get the look you want you
may have noticed that this table has a
border on the top and bottom but not in
between the cells to add or change the
border anywhere on your table just
select the cells then go to draw borders
you can select a line style line weight
and a color for your border now go to
the borders drop down menu and choose
where you want the border to go I want
mine on the inside or in between these
cells there we go you can make further
adjustments to things like the size and
layout of your table by going to the
Layout tab the first thing I'd like to
do is make the table a little bigger
instead of using the sizing handles like
before I'm going to adjust the
measurements here then click distribute
rows to make the rows even again next
going to combine these two cells into
one cell by first selecting them and
then clicking the merge cells command
the last thing I'd like to do is select
the entire table to change the text
alignment using these icons in the
alignment group
I think centered looks the best as you
can see the Layout tab gives you lots of
options for customizing your table so it
works for you and the information you
want to share with your audience like
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