Dear Friends,

I need your help. I searched and was unable to find the help I need. I
also am a "supposed" Word expert -- but can not seem to fix this problem
without alot of manual work (which seems unnecessary - there must be a
faster/easier way).

The problem -- I have a document which is composed of many tables.
Different parts of the tables were done by different people -- and thus even
though a template was provided the final product contains columns of
different widths.

I cut and paste the pieces together and then find that my table has
different cells with different widths (due to being worked on by different
persons) - meaning that for example the first few cells of a column are one
size and the next fews cells under that are another size. When I go to table
properties and column width and select the size -- the cells change but the
lines of the table do not even up (the unalignment of the cells in the column
remains).

And, sometimes (can't figure out why) -- when I select multiple columns and
chose one size for all -- they do not all come out the same size! Even
though table properties says a column is a certain size it is not (or at
least its not visually the same size as its neighbor column).

I would think that there must be a way to select a column and if there are
cells within it that are offskew/or misaligned -- that it would even it up
for you. I have been trying to move the lines of the table manually but seem
to have trouble getting it exact (I use Ctrl Alt Shift) -- and the look is
unprofessional. Also if you select many columns and give one width that they
all should BE that width.

Also if I want the tables to be the same size throughout the document -- I
usually copy down what it says in the table properties per column and then
apply to the new table -- however it does not apply accurately and the tables
are not the same!

I hope you can understand what I am refering to. There is nothing in Help
on this --and it seems to me that this should be an obvious formatting option
in Word. I just want my columns to line up and the column widths to be
accurate.

Can any one help.

Thank you very much,
DENA

Word's table mechanism can be hell on wheels sometimes. To be fair, there
are LOTS of variables, apart from column width, that can be throwing things
out of kilter (such as the padding for the table as a whole, and for the
cells). Plus any number of strange things can happen if there has been
splitting and merging of cells. (Eg, you merge cells 2 and 3, then split
cell 4 -- which cell is in column 3?)

Suggest you might be better off, rather than trying to fix the tables, is to
copy the content into new ones, or convert to text then back to table and
apply a table style.



"Dena" wrote in message
news
Dear Friends,

I need your help. I searched and was unable to find the help I need. I
also am a "supposed" Word expert -- but can not seem to fix this problem
without alot of manual work (which seems unnecessary - there must be a
faster/easier way).

The problem -- I have a document which is composed of many tables.
Different parts of the tables were done by different people -- and thus
even
though a template was provided the final product contains columns of
different widths.

I cut and paste the pieces together and then find that my table has
different cells with different widths (due to being worked on by different
persons) - meaning that for example the first few cells of a column are
one
size and the next fews cells under that are another size. When I go to
table
properties and column width and select the size -- the cells change but
the
lines of the table do not even up (the unalignment of the cells in the
column
remains).

And, sometimes (can't figure out why) -- when I select multiple columns
and
chose one size for all -- they do not all come out the same size! Even
though table properties says a column is a certain size it is not (or at
least its not visually the same size as its neighbor column).

I would think that there must be a way to select a column and if there are
cells within it that are offskew/or misaligned -- that it would even it up
for you. I have been trying to move the lines of the table manually but
seem
to have trouble getting it exact (I use Ctrl Alt Shift) -- and the look is
unprofessional. Also if you select many columns and give one width that
they
all should BE that width.

Also if I want the tables to be the same size throughout the document -- I
usually copy down what it says in the table properties per column and then
apply to the new table -- however it does not apply accurately and the
tables
are not the same!

I hope you can understand what I am refering to. There is nothing in Help
on this --and it seems to me that this should be an obvious formatting
option
in Word. I just want my columns to line up and the column widths to be
accurate.

Can any one help.

Thank you very much,
DENA

Thanks Jezebel -- I appreciate the quick response and the reasonable solution
which I was going to do but wanted another way.

I have no merged cells - and also know of all the other things that can
throw it off. The question really was how to make it all nice, clean, and
even again -- without having to copy and paste into a new table -- because I
have over 20 pages of tables (its a big job).

Good news though -- I found the answer on the MVP Word website. I was just
being stubborn and wanted to find an answer - and when I saw the MVP site I
checked their FAQs.

Sure enough I stumbled on the right thing - amazing. It turns out that in
the newer versions of Word (after 2000) the Table Properties menu is not
accurate (as I discovered). The FAQ gave instruction on how to upload the
old menu from previous version (ie the Cell Height and Width menu).

I did that and it worked -- the new menu was accurate and made all the
columns even and the cells the width that is displayed in the menu. I had no
problems with Tables before - and am glad to know that it was due to bugs in
the new version.

Based on what I know now - I have no idea what Table Properties will ever be
good for -- I will continue to use the old menu from now on.

I also am very thankful to everyone that answers questions here - it is a
great resource. Also thanks to the MVP website and the time and effort they
put in placing such good advice which is easy to follow, and very useful.

I hope this may be useful to you in using tables if you have Word2000+.
What should have taken minutes instead of hours, was enabled due to this
discovery. I am surprised that nowhere on any Microsoft official help site
or help in the software is this problem mentioned -- as that is where I was
looking first.

I am glad that this platform exists though and it was actually the MVP
website and the article written by Dave Rabo that was a revelation.

Thanks,
DENA


"Jezebel" wrote:

Word's table mechanism can be hell on wheels sometimes. To be fair, there
are LOTS of variables, apart from column width, that can be throwing things
out of kilter (such as the padding for the table as a whole, and for the
cells). Plus any number of strange things can happen if there has been
splitting and merging of cells. (Eg, you merge cells 2 and 3, then split
cell 4 -- which cell is in column 3?)

Suggest you might be better off, rather than trying to fix the tables, is to
copy the content into new ones, or convert to text then back to table and
apply a table style.



"Dena" wrote in message
news
Dear Friends,

I need your help. I searched and was unable to find the help I need. I
also am a "supposed" Word expert -- but can not seem to fix this problem
without alot of manual work (which seems unnecessary - there must be a
faster/easier way).

The problem -- I have a document which is composed of many tables.
Different parts of the tables were done by different people -- and thus
even
though a template was provided the final product contains columns of
different widths.

I cut and paste the pieces together and then find that my table has
different cells with different widths (due to being worked on by different
persons) - meaning that for example the first few cells of a column are
one
size and the next fews cells under that are another size. When I go to
table
properties and column width and select the size -- the cells change but
the
lines of the table do not even up (the unalignment of the cells in the
column
remains).

And, sometimes (can't figure out why) -- when I select multiple columns
and
chose one size for all -- they do not all come out the same size! Even
though table properties says a column is a certain size it is not (or at
least its not visually the same size as its neighbor column).

I would think that there must be a way to select a column and if there are
cells within it that are offskew/or misaligned -- that it would even it up
for you. I have been trying to move the lines of the table manually but
seem
to have trouble getting it exact (I use Ctrl Alt Shift) -- and the look is
unprofessional. Also if you select many columns and give one width that
they
all should BE that width.

Also if I want the tables to be the same size throughout the document -- I
usually copy down what it says in the table properties per column and then
apply to the new table -- however it does not apply accurately and the
tables
are not the same!

I hope you can understand what I am refering to. There is nothing in Help
on this --and it seems to me that this should be an obvious formatting
option
in Word. I just want my columns to line up and the column widths to be
accurate.

Can any one help.

Thank you very much,
DENA