Mediaboss Marketing

February 12, 2013, 11:14 AM PST

Takeaway: Words table tools are fairly straightforward, but there are a few tricks to using them efficiently.

Turning data into a table is a task most Word users learn right away. But although tables are easy to implement and format, not all table tasks are obvious. These tips will help you work more efficiently with most any table.

Perhaps the simplest way to generate a table is to select text and convert it. Word does a great job of interpreting the data and defaulting to the right settings if youre consistent during data entry. Specifically, insert one delimiting character between each item, and enter a single paragraph return (press Enter) between each row, as shown in Figure A.

To convert a list, select the text. Then, click the Insert tab and click the Table drop-down (in the Tables group). From the resulting list, choose Convert Text To Table. In Word 2003, choose Convert from the Table menu and then select Text To Table. You shouldnt have to adjust the default settings (Figure B) much if you use delimiters consistently. Interpreting the tabs and returns, Word can detect that there are two columns and five rows, as shown in Figure C.

The quickest way to select a table is to click its Move handle. Click anywhere in the table to display this handle the small square icon at the top-left corner, shown in Figure D. A single click of the Move handle will select the entire table, so you can do the following:

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10+ tips for working with Word tables