Sunday, September 23, 2012

Word Tutorial: How to Create Great Tables in Word With Borders And Shading?


A newsletter created with Word tables and the Borders and Shading option

A table with a 3D border

A table with two color-shaded cells and a 3D border

Spruce up the tables you create in Word with borders and shades. These give great looks to the table and attract readers to the data in it. Through the Borders and Shading dialog create borders and shades for the table. Do you know you can even create newsletter templates, using tables and the borders and shading option? Its possible. Checkout the section Step-by-Step Procedure to Create a Newsletter Template using Tables and the Borders and Shading Option in Word.

Borders for a Word Table: Use a variety of styles for the border. Some of these are a dashed line, double lines with curves and 3D bars. Whats more, choose one of the two varieties of 3D style: a raised or inset bar.

Want to create borders only on the left and right side of the table? Thats possible too! Further, you can select a color for the borders from the color palette, and choose a line width different from the default size.

Shading for a Word Table: Make the table even more attractive with the shading effect in Word. Note you can either shade the entire table or just a paragraph or a cell.

Shades, like borders, give a new dimension to tables. Shades have creative uses. For example, for the mast of a newsletter create a 2 X 1 table. Remove its borders. Shade the table. In the first row, type the title of the newsletter. In the second, type info like the Volume and Issue number and Date.

Step-by-Step Procedure to Create a Table with Borders in Word

1. Start Word.

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2. Click the Table Icon. Move the cursor over the drop-down grid to highlight the cells to create a table with the required number of rows and columns. Click the last highlighted cell.

Click the Table icon, highlight the first four cells and click

For example, if you need a table with just one row and one column, highlight the first cell of the grid and click. To create a table with two rows and two columns, move the cursor over the first two cells of the first and second rows of the grid. Click the fourth cell.

For this tutorial, lets create a 2 X 2 table as above.

A 2 X 2 table created .......................................................................................................................................................

3. Create a border for the table: Right-click inside the table. From the menu, click Borders and Shading. The Borders and Shading dialog appears.

Right-click inside the table and select Borders and Shading

The Borders and Shading dialog .......................................................................................................................................................

4. Say you want to create borders on all sides of the table with a 3D style: Click the All swatch in the Settings frame.

Click the All swatch to create borders on all sides of the table .......................................................................................................................................................

5. From the Style pull-down menu, select a 3D style. For this tutorial, I have chosen the raised-bar 3D style.

Select a style from the Style pull-down menu

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6. From the Color pull-down menu, select a color if you want a color different from the default.

Select a color for the borders

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7. From the Width pull-down menu, select a width or accept the default.

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8. Click OK. Word creates a border on all sides of the table with the style, color and width you selected.

A 2 X 2 table with a green-color 3D border

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9. Use a different style for the border: Lets change the 3D border to a style to one with two curved lines. Click the Style menu down-arrow. Select the style. Click OK. Word applies the style to the borders of the table.

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Step-by-Step Procedure to Shade a Table Cell in Word

1. Lets shade the two cells of the first row of the 3D table:

Highlight the two cells of the first row of the table with the mouse.

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2. Right-click inside the table. From the menu, select Borders and Shading. The Borders and Shading dialog appears.

The Borders and Shading dialog

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3. Click the Shading tab.

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4. Click a color swatch in the palette in the Fill frame.

Select a color for shading from the color palette

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5. In the Apply to pull-down menu on the right, select Cell.

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6. Click OK. Word shades the cells.

The two cells of the first row of the table shaded ....................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................

Step-by-Step Procedure to Create a Newsletter Template using Tables and the Borders and Shading Option in Word

Lets use three tables to create a newsletter template. The first table will be a 2 X 1 table. It will be used as the mast for the newsletter. The second table (optional) is for placing graphics. The third table is for the newsletter content. This table will have borders on all sides, but not have the grid.

1. Create the first table, which will be used as the mast: Repeat Step 2 in Step-by-Step Procedure to Create a Table with Borders in Word above.

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2. Remove the borders of the table: Right-click inside the table and from the menu, select Borders and Shading. The Borders and Shading dialog appears.

The Borders and Shading dialog

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3. Click the three buttons in vertical orientation in the Preview pane to remove the left, middle, and right borders. Click the two buttons in horizontal orientation to remove the top and bottom borders.

Click the buttons in the Preview pane to remove the borders

TIP: If you want to display any border again, click the relevant button in the Preview pane.

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4. Shade the table: Click the Shading tab.

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5. Select a color from the palette in the Fill frame.

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6. In the Apply to menu on the right, select Table (if its not already the default).

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7. Click OK. Word shades the table.

Table shaded with green color

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8. Type the content for the mast of the newsletter.

Content typed for the mast in the two cells of the table

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9. Create the second table (optional): Repeat Step 2 in Step-by-Step Procedure to Create a Table with Borders in Word above and create a 1 X 2 table.

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10. Remove the borders of the table as above and place the graphics. To insert a graphic, click Insert > Picture > From File.

Graphic inserted in column 1 and 2 of the table .......................................................................................................................................................

11. Create the third table: Repeat Step 2 in Step-by-Step Procedure to Create a Table with Borders in Word above and create a 1 X 1 table.

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12. Apply a new border style to the table: Right-click inside the table and from the menu, select Borders and Shading. The Borders and Shading dialog appears.

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13. Select a style from the Style field. For this tutorial, I have used the line pair with curves.

Select a style for the borders

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14. Apply a new color to the borders: From the Color field select a color.

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15. Click OK. Word creates a new border with the chosen color.

The borders of the table for the content part of the newsletter

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16. Type the newsletter content.

A completed newsletter created using tables in Word





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