Use Word's Tables and Borders toolbar to quickly merge and split table cells

by Mary Ann Richardson | Jun 14, 2005 1:26:00 PM

Tags: Mary Ann Richardson, cell, toolbar, Split Cells button, Borders Books & Music, Split Cells, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Office Suite Word Tips Newsletter

Takeaway: See how easy it is to use the Tables and Borders toolbar to merge cells if your Word table contains too many cells in a row or too many rows in a column. Also, learn how you can change table dimensions with this toolbar.

If you have too many cells across a particular row or too many rows in a column in your Microsoft Word table, a quick way to decrease the number of cells or rows is to use the Tables and Borders toolbar. To use the toolbar to merge cells, follow these steps:

1. If the Tables and Borders toolbar is not visible, right-click any toolbar and click Tables And Borders to activate it.
2. Select the cells you want to merge.
3. Click the Merge Cells button on the toolbar.

You can also quickly change the dimensions of your table by using the toolbar's Split Cells button. For example, to change a 2-by-2 table to an 8-by-8 table, select the table, click the Split Cells button, and enter 8 for the number of columns and 8 for the number of rows. If want to divide a single cell into two columns and two rows, follow these steps:

1. Click the cell you want to change and click the Split Cells button.
2. Enter 2 as the Number Of Columns and 2 as the Number Of Rows.
3. Clear the Merge Cells Before Split check box and click OK.

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Merge and Split Table Cells and Sorting grampy@... | 06/15/05