There are many different ways to create table in Microsoft Word
Tables are best way to organize contents in your documents, when you need to enter data
in different columns and rows. In this video, we will discuss about creating new tables in your document using different
methods, and how to enter data in them effectively. To create a new table, click Insert tab from Ribbon, and then click Table drop down button
The first thing you will notice here is set of boxes, which represents number of columns
and rows. Let's say, you need a table of 2 columns and 5 rows
Then what you need to do is to, hover your mouse over these boxes, and you will instantly
see a live preview in your document. Click the left mouse button, and a 2 columns by 5 rows table will be draw in your document
The first thing to note here is, how Microsoft Word distribute or decide the columns width
To understand this, let's move to Page Layout section of the Ribbon
The first thing you need to check is the paper size that you are using for your current document
Like currently I am using Letter Size page, which has a width of 8.5 inches, and a height
of 11 inches. Now click the Margin drop down button, and check what margins are currently set for your document
For this document, they are set to Normal, and having an equal margin of 1 inch for all
4 sides of the paper. So, if you remove the total sum of left and right margins from the page width, which is
a total of 2 inches, then what left is, 6 and 1 half inches, and that is the actual
space you are having on your document to enter the data between the margins
So, when you insert a new table in your document, Microsoft Word divides the available width
to number of columns inserted, which in our case is 6.5 divided by 2, and we get 3.25
column width for each column. Let's undo this for a while, and do this again in a new document
Here, before inserting the table, I change the paper size and margins according to my
preferences, which in this example, going to be Ledger as paper size, and margin are
set to Narrow. Now I have a total of 10 inches space available in my document between the margins, and let's
say I insert a new table of 3 columns by 6 rows, and see what happened
Now, you can see that Word has divided the total available space equally to all the 3
columns, which is 3.33 for each column. So, this is how Word distribute and assign the column width, and you should take care
of the page width and margins before you actually insert the table
You can also adjust the column's width later on by moving your mouse pointer over the line
between the columns, and when your cursor changes to double arrow, then slide to left
or right side to adjust the width. You can also adjust column width from the Ruler
First make sure that Ruler is turned on, and if it is not, then click the View tab, and
make a check mark on Ruler. In the Ruler, you can see that the total page width has been divided into different column sections
Let's say if you want to adjust the width of the first column then, move your mouse
pointer over the first section, then move the table to adjust the width
Do note that, there is slightly a bit difference between both methods
If you adjust the column width from the Ruler, then you can see that, even though you are
adjusting the width of the first column, but the entire table is also being shifted along width
This is useful, when you need larger column's width and want to cover the blank area of
the margins as well. On the other side, when you adjust the column width from the line between columns, it only
affects a particular column width, not the entire table. Notice the maximum number of rows that you can insert while creating a new table is 8
and a maximum of 10 columns, when you insert a new table using predefined boxes from the
Table drop down menu. But if you need more rows and columns, and need to configure more settings while inserting
the table, then you can use Insert Table command. From the Insert Table dialog box, you can specify the number of columns and rows you
need in your table. Say, you need 8 or more rows, then you can either type the number, or can increase or
decrease the numbers using up and down arrows. The next thing that you can configure here is the Column Width behavior
The first option in AutoFit behavior is Fixed Column Width, which is set to Auto, and that
is how Word automatically distribute column's width, as I had described earlier
Or you can define a column width in inches here. Like, I need 3 columns of 2 inches each, then I can define the size here
Then you have other options in AutoFit behavior like, AutoFit to Contents and, AutoFit to Window
AutoFit to Contents will not create columns of a particular width, but will automatically
adjust the column size, and will wrap the text according to the contents that you will type
AutoFit to Window will adjust the column width according to available space divided by number
of columns, which is similar to when Fixed Column Width is set to Auto
The another way to insert a table is to use, Draw Table option from Table menu
When you click the Draw Table and move your cursor inside the document area, it changes
to a pencil, that you can use to draw a table. You can only draw a single cell table, or you can say, a 1 by 1 table, using Pencil option
If later on you need more columns, then you can draw a line between when it changes to
dashed line, to divide the single cell to multiple cells. From Office 2003 onwards, Microsoft totally changed, how the commands appear in Menu or Ribbon
Like you see different commands in the Ribbon according to contents that you are working on
Now, as I am working inside a table, you can see two new menus, Design and Layout
If I click outside the table, then they both disappear. So, if you need to use any command from Design and Layout menus, then make sure that your
cursor is inside the table. So, if you need to erase a line, make sure Layout menu is highlighted, and then click
Eraser, and then click on the line that you want to erase
For this lesson, I would like to tell you about one more interesting thing about tables
While entering the text in columns, when you need to move to the next column, you can press
the Tab key from the keyboard. If you want to move back to the previous cell, use Shift plus Tab key
This is why you see both Left and Right arrow on Tab key on your keyboard
Shift Tab can also be used in Microsoft Excel or other software, while working inside tables
If you need more rows in your table, then just hit the Tab key, and there you have one
new row available. The new row is inserted every time when you press Tab key in the last cell of the table
This is how you can begin working with tables. There are a lot more things that you can do with tables, that we will talk about in our
next videos. If you like this video, then don't forget to leave a comment and hit the like button
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