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My apologies that I'm a bit late in blogging on table styles as promised a couple of posts ago. Hopefully, the tips here will be worth the wait :)

Tables styles, like list styles, arrived on the scene in Office XP. Less like list styles, however, table styles have a handful of very cool timesaving capabilities that can be great to have in your arsinal -- particularly on long or complex documents ... or when moving information between Word tables and Excel worksheets.

Essentially, table styles are an advancement in the Table AutoFormat feature (combined with the underlying timesaving and consistency concepts of Word styles). And, if you're not familiar with Table AutoFormat, it is the best place to go to manage your table styles. But, there's much more benefit to them than what most people think of as AutoFormatting ...

This article will give you some quick basics about using table styles -- followed by a few key tips and tricks that make them really useful timesavers -- and a potential pitfall keep in mind. Check it out (if you already know the basics of creating and using them, skip right down to the good stuff)...

Creating and Using Table Styles

If you've got a long Word document with a slew of financial tables, if you're moving a bunch of tables from an Excel workbook into a Word document (as tables), if you want to keep your tables looking consistent across all documents, or if you regularly use the same table formatting for specific purposes (like when you use a table as a page layout, or when creating a host for nested tables) -- table styles can save you a tremendous amount of time and work.

Create a table style using the same New Style dialog box that you use to create a paragraph, character, or list style. You can access New Style from the Styles and Formatting task pane, or by clicking New from either the Table AutoFormat dialog box or the Style dialog box (the latter is now accessible by selecting Custom from the Show dropdown list in the Styles And Formatting task pane, then clicking the Styles button from the Format Settings dialog box that appears).

In the New Style dialog box, when you select Table as the Style Type, the available options will become those offered to table styles. (No need to make a selection if you access this dialog box from Table AutoFormat -- tables are the only type of style you can manage there).

You can include formatting from the Table Properties dialog box (such as column width, cell alignment, or cell margins), Borders And Shading, as well as Font and Paragraph formatting. However -- be careful here! If you'll be using paragraphs styles in your tables ... you're much better off leaving font and paragraph formatting out of your table style. (See the note below on potential table style pitfalls to avoid.)

One of the nicest things about table styles is that you can set specific formatting just for certain parts of the table (though those are limited to table segments that can be the same for all tables ... such as heading row, left column, right column, etc.)

Like other style types, you can also modify table styles through the Modify Style dialog box accessible from the Styles and Formatting Task Pane or Table AutoFormat. And, you can add them to the active template or leave them for just a single document ... just as you can with other style types. Note, however, that table styles can not automatically update.

So, how do you apply a table style? Simple! Click into any cell of the table (a table style always affects the whole table, so no need to select the table) and either select (or type) the style name in the Style box on the formatting toolbar, select the table style name from the Styles And Formatting task pane, or select it from Table AutoFormat.

Tips and Tricks for Making the Most of Table Styles

Table styles are great for helping to keep your tables consistent ... but they can be a phenomenal help in cleaning up tables you inheret or those that are pasted into Word from Excel or other sources (such as the Web). And, they can even help save you cleanup time on Word tables that you paste into Excel worksheets. Here you go:

Set a Default Table Style

Through the Table AutoFormat dialog box (accessible from the Table menu), you can select a table style as your default for new tables in the active document or for all documents attached to the active template. So, instead of the default black grid border you get when you create a new table -- new tables will take on the formatting of the default style you set. This can be a very nice timesaver if you don't often use that grid border (I know I never do!), and particulary if you have certain formatting elements in common across most tables you create.

Note that you can also set a default table style from the style's dropdown list in the Styles And Formating task pane. However, one of the most handy table styles (Table Normal, discussed directly below) is not accessible in the Styles And Formatting task pane.

Using Table Normal Style

Like Normal paragraph style, Table Normal exists as a clean style on which other table styles can be based. Note, however, that Table Normal style can not be modified. Table Normal takes on the font and paragraph formatting properties of Normal paragraph style, uses default cell margins (.08" left/right), default cell alignment (top), and no borders and shading. It's what I use as my default table style for all new tables I create in Word (saves me having to remove or mess with that grid of borders on the out-of-box default table style (which is Table Grid)).

Unlike most table styles, Table Normal won't mess with paragraph styles applied in your table, or any font or paragraph formatting for that matter. So, you can apply Table Normal to those messy tables in the document you just inhereted ... or to the scary-formatted table you pasted from the Web into your Word document ... or to the messy table you pasted from an Excel workbook ... and it will do a bit of the cleanup for you in one quick step. Applying Table Normal to an existing table will reset all cell margins to the default (even those cells set to have different cell margins from the table's setting!),will reset all cell vertical alignment to top, and will remove any borders and shading from the table.

Please keep all of that formatting in mind! Table Normal is only a super-quick cleanup timesaver when you want it to do all of these things! For example, I've created a separate table style for host tables (i.e., tables that will contain nested tables) and any table used for page layout ... that style sets all cell margins to zero so that nested tables, graphics, or anything I put into a cell can utilize the full space of the cell.

By the way -- after you apply Table Normal style to a table, the style box on the formatting toolbar will just indicate Normal style when you're clicked into any cell of that table.

Using Table Styles to Save Time When Moving Content to Excel

If you copy a Word table (or part of a Word table) and paste it an Excel worksheet (using Ctrl+V or Edit, Paste), does it sometimes take on borders that weren't there, or lose some that were? Avoid having to reformat the borders and shading of Excel workbook content that you paste from Word tables by applying a table style while the table is still in Word. When you use a table style for your borders and shading (including applying Table Normal or a similar style to ensure that there are no borders or shading added), you will get exactly the cell borders and shading that you intend when that table is pasted into an Excel worksheet.

Avoiding the Big Pitfall of Table Styles

As mentioned earlier in this article, table styles can include font and paragraph formatting. But, there's a danger here that could prove more frustrating than never using any styles ... so beware!

When you apply a table style that includes font or paragraph formatting, and then apply paragraph styles in that same table ... the table style will take precedence in some cases, and the paragraph style in others. There is a logic to this -- but it can prove frustrating if you aren't completely comfortable with it.

For example:
- If the paragraph style uses the same font as the Normal paragraph style, the table style's font will supercede the applied paragraph style's font.

- If the table style uses more space before or after the paragraph than the paragraph style, the table style's paragraph spacing will take precedence.

Though there is a logic here, if it doesn't seem totally intuitive to you ... your best bet is to keep font and paragraph formatting in your paragraph styles, and table structure formatting in table styles. After all, if it doesn't save you time and get you better results ... why use the feature at all?!

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If you have questions, frustrations, exclamations of delight, or other issues with table styles that I didn't address here... post a comment or drop me an e-mail!

Posted by Stephanie

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