The alignment of a table in Word is one of the simplest and most profitable tasks that we can carry out to modify the appearance of a document . This process allows the user to meet certain academic requirements or simply to customize the document by adding styles and table formats.
Next, in this article we explain step by step what you must do to align a table in Word and how you can take advantage of this property by placing tables and texts in specific areas of a document.
Index( )
- What is known as table alignment in Word and how to modify it?
- Alternatives to align and adjust tables in the Word program
What is known as table alignment in Word and how to modify it?
Table alignment in Word is an attribute or property that allows you to change the location of tables relative to a position in the document. This alignment process is carried out based on the margin that has been previously established, thus modifying the general appearance of the document with respect to its format.
The table alignment process is very simple. The text program Microsoft Word provides a set of properties that will allow you to move the table you have created on one or more pages adjusting its structure to the left, center or right of the document.
Before aligning tables you must create and edit the table in Word to be able to insert the corresponding values of each cell . If you haven’t done so yet, then access Word, locate the “Insert” tab and in the “Table” option click on “Insert table”. Write the number of columns and rows. Finally, press the “OK” button.
To insert all the data in the table, just place the cursor inside each cell and write the corresponding values in it. Once you have the table ready, proceed to perform the alignment process from the properties . It is important to note that it is not mandatory for the table to have data to apply its alignment.
Then, hover over the table and look at the four-arrow icon that appears in the top left. Right-click on this icon and click the “Table Properties” option. There you will find four tabs called “Row”, “Column”, “Cell” and “Alternate Text”.
Select the “Row” tab and locate the alignment section where you will see three options: “Left”, “Center” and “Right”. Choose one of them and press the “OK” button. Note the new location of the table relative to the document. Remember that the alignment is done based on the margins established by default or that you have previously applied.
Alternatives to align and adjust tables in the Word program
There is another way you can follow to achieve table alignment in Word. This consists of placing the cursor inside a cell of the table and looking for the “Presentation” tab, which appears just when creating the table. There, you will find a list of options where you must select the “Properties”.
You will see a new window with four tabs: “Row”, “Column”, “Cell” and “Alt Text”. Choose the “Row” tab and in the “Alignment” section click on the option of your preference: “Left”, “Center” or “Right”. Finally, press the “OK” button. To fit tables in Word, you must take into account the size of the table. If this is small and you don’t want the text it contains to take up a lot of space, then you need to locate the “Text Wrapping” option and click “Around”.
Subsequently, press the “Positioning” button and indicate the amount in centimeters where the table will be located. Another alternative is to drag the table with the mouse to the place you want, but make sure you organize the orientation of the sheets as there is a risk of totally altering the table with respect to the values that all the cells contain.
Remember that you can also align the text contained in the table from “Properties”. Locate the “Text Wrapping” section and choose the “None” or “Around” option depending on your needs and/or preferences. In this way we have finished this informative tutorial, if you have any doubt, you can leave it in the comment box.