[Originally appeared 2000.]
A reader asked where to learn to be a system architect, a position described in Word of Law No. 19. Discussing this with a colleague recently, I said, “intense curiosity, self teaching and the good fortune to have a job that allows me to do it.” There is very little instruction or literature addressing Word in this way. It is one of my ambitions for this column to help fill that void.
The next several columns will focus on tables and Word. After those, I expect to tackle document comparison, including Word’s capabilities and those of third party programs such as CompareRite and DeltaView.
This discussion of tables starts with “why,” not “how.” I don’t intend to replace or repeat the kind of detailed instruction in the use of tables that appears in books such as Using Microsoft Office 2000 by Ed Bott and Woody. Instead, in this and the following columns, we will address at least these questions:
1. Why use tables?
2. What role should each of the types of users of Word play in the use, support, design and construction of tables?
3. What’s the difference between a table used for presentation and a table usedfor the organization and storage of data?
4. When should a spreadsheet or database program such as Excel, Access, Outlook or or a larger scale database be used instead of a table?
5. How can a firm or other organization standardize the formatting of tables?
6. What are appropriate formats for tables?
7. How helpful are the Table Autoformats?
8. How should styles be used in tables?
9. What can go wrong when formatting tables, such as strange behavior in inserts in rows and columns?
10. How does Word 2000 change table behavior? What happens when tables formatted in Word 6 and Word 97 get converted to Word 2000?
This week’s column covers the first two questions. The use of tables should be guided by the principles of all of The Word of Law columns. Organizations should design and promote use of Word that makes easy consistent formatting, makes documents as reusable as possible and enables documents to transform to the requirements of different groups or users. Along the way, there should be at least a few tips and tricks.
Why use tables? Tables should be used to organize and display structured information. Tables should be used where they offer the most effective and easiest solution to formatting a document. In some cases, tables also can serve to control a user’s navigation through a document, such as electronic forms.
Tables should be used for any columnar presentation of data, whether or not the table employs borders. The need is clear when the information consists of rows and columns of numbers. Tables offer the best solution any time text entries in columns must wrap across multiple lines. Although word processing has supported tables for at least 10 years, we still see examples of data formatted with tabs or even spaces.
Tables without borders can be used to solve a number of formatting problems difficult to solve with other techniques. A one row table can be used to format text that appears to be flush left and flush right on the same line or in the same paragraph. The text in the left cell would be aligned left, while that in right cell would be aligned right. This may be useful in headers and footers. A third cell in the center might be aligned center. While the same effect may be achievable with a center tab and a right tab on the right margin, such text can be harder to control and will not wrap in each column.
Tables without borders can be especially useful for memo headings, address blocks and signature blocks. In legal pleadings, tables have become a common tool for formatting the case caption.
Tables enable organized storage of information. The issue is not whether tables work, but are they sufficient for an organization’s needs when that stored information needs to be reorganized, filtered, analyzed, reused, maintained or shared.
What role should each of the types of users described in previous Word of Law columns play in the use, support, design and construction of tables?
General users should be able to insert tables, correctly formatted for the organization’s practice and type of document. They should be able to insert text and numbers in tables correctly, including a high degree of comfort in navigating around tables. They should know how to apply styles, when they are used to control formatting. They should be able to use tables for simple data storage and organization tasks. General users avoid the more difficult table tasks. For instance, they should not often need restructure table formatting, or master insertion of Excel tables into Word documents.
Master Users should be able to handle table formatting and structure thoroughly. Although they too should work with the organization’s standards created and maintained by the developers, specific documents often require variations. They need to master the skills for organizing information, such as sorting and filtering. Master users should be comfortable switching between Word and other applications, such as Excel or Access, and know how to present information stored in those files in Word. Advanced table skills are one of the keys that differentiate master users from general users.
Help Desk and Trainers need to understand all of the tables skills required of general and master users. They need a strong grounding in troubleshooting techniques. They need to understand the organization’s standards for table usage, and how to apply them to the variety of documents.
Developers need to understand how to mold Word to support standards for table formatting. They need a thorough understanding of the role of tables as formatting solution. Developers should support needs for custom design or configuration of spreadsheets and databases that need to connect to Word, especially the configuration for import and presentation of information from those programs to Word. Developers need to master the VBA, template and AutoText functions that can be brought to bear to support table use.
For starters, System Architects should know how to ask and answer all of the questions posed at the beginning of this column.
These suggestions are not intended to exhaust the topic.
One table oddity finishes this week’s column. The cursor position immediately following a table has a special function. In Word 97, the Insert Table command is disabled when the cursor is located at this position. In the standard Table menu, the “Insert Rows” command appears where the Insert Table command normally appears. The behavior of that command differs from its “normal” function within a table. Within a table, Insert Rows will insert the number of rows selected. If the selection is collapsed, one row will be inserted. If the cursor is located at the position following a table, and the Insert Rows command is selected, an Insert Rows dialog box appears prompting for the number of rows to be inserted. This dialog is not presented as even an optional choice for modification of the Table menu or a toolbar. It can be forced to appear in both Word 97 and 2000 with a macro command of the form: Dialogs(wdDialogTableInsertRow).Show
In Word 2000, this empty paragraph has similar behaviors, but the menu commands have changed, as we will explore in a later column. With the cursor at the position immediately following the table, the Table|Insert Rows Above command is enabled.
This 2000 article originally appeared in Office Watch. Subscribe to Office Watch free at http://www.office-watch.com/.