Spotlight on Word Tables

I received an email recently from a catering company looking to entice us into changing from our current supplier for our delegate buffets. Now as any of you who have attended one of our courses will know, our lunches are lovely - with special mention of the homemade cakes! - but I'm always open to suggestions. I had a quick scan of the email and the opening gambit seemed extremely promising until I scrolled down to look at their price list......

Now you maybe thinking that it was the prices I was most interested in but I didn't even register these due to my overwhelming disappointment at the lack of any formatting of the table.

Any material, whether it is a quick letter or as in this case promotional material, is a reflection of you and your company and as such I'm a massive believer in creating consistency throughout and never sending out anything that hasn't had at least a touch of enhancement.

Just a few examples: 

Now I'm not saying that I would have changed our suppliers but had I been more impressed by their material I may have kept the original email in our records rather than dismissing and deleting it.

Table Tips

• Always size your columns appropriately
  Hover over the column borders until your pointer becomes a double arrow and either click and drag or try double clicking
  
  
• Increase all your row heights even if it's just by a degree
  Highlight all the relevant rows and choose Table + Table Properties + Row
  
  
• If you do increase your row height always set your Vertical Alignment to Centre
  Highlight all the relevant rows and choose Table + Table Properties + Cell
  
  
• When your table spans more than one page you need your header row to repeat
  Highlight your top row and choose Table + Table Properties + Row and tick the 'Header to Repeat at Top' check box
  
  
• Customised borders
  You can add any number of different border styles and widths
  At least highlight the whole table and choose Format + Borders and Shading
  Make sure you choose Custom from the left hand side and then choose a thick border and click the Outside button, then choose a thinner border and click the Inside buttons
  
  
• Table Shading
  Alternate rows are a great idea when you have a larger table
  Hold down your Control key to select rows that are not next to each other

As I look round my immediate vicinity I can see at least six or seven tables, varying from an enormous calendar on the wall to a small list of our important telephone numbers. We use tables all the time and I teach their intricacies in my Word Introduction course and I hope I've spurred you on to produce more interesting and professional tables in the future.