Thank you Suzanne, this was very helpful. I have Word 2003

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

If you have Word 2002 or above you can create a table style with alternating
shading. In Word 2000 you can choose from among various Table AutoFormats,
many of which have this type of shading.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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"Carol" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to create a table that is easy to read. I want to set up
alternating background fill colors (shading) for each row without having
to
individually format each row. I tried to create a pattern and copy that
throughout the doc with format painter. It doesn't work.