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Word 2007: Are Table Styles safe to use now?
AndyM:
I would have to say, though, much of the reasons provided for Word being "easier" is because of lack of knowledge
-steeladept (May 27, 2010, 01:38 PM)
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I wasn't trying to come up with any comprehensive list, only tossed out a few things that came to mind after reading the posts. My "knowledge" is based on what I have found useful. In any event, I've used tables extensively in Word, and "tables" extensively in Excel. My successful experience with both is making it difficult to persuade me that there is any validity to the idea that tables should rarely if ever be used in Word. I'll listen to the arguments, but so far they are not consistent with my experience, which is that tables in Word are often handy, useful, and the right tool for the job.
Word tables can be handy for entering data or for composing/designing when you know you will have some kind of row/column setup but not sure what the final layout will be. The kind of thing I have in mind would be tedious using tabs (which most definitely have their place - tables aren't always the best tool).
-AndyM (May 26, 2010, 10:03 PM)
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Word was never designed for final layout inline with composition anyway, so this really is something of a non-issue. If you create the data, then apply formatting, you are following the workflow Word was designed for. If you are creating the layout and then filling in the content, tables are much more efficient, and that is the way Excel is designed and should be used - hence my statement about using the correct tool for the job.
-steeladept (May 27, 2010, 01:38 PM)
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Not sure you and I are talking about the same thing here. When I say compose, I mean something from scratch, all sorts of different things. If I am manipulating primarily text - text that I am writing, importing, or both - nine times out of ten I will find Word to be the more suitable tool, Excel only rarely.
Re "Word was never designed for final layout inline with composition..." , what do you mean by "final layout inline with composition?"
AndyM:
Here's an example of what I'd like the glossary to look like. This is done in excel: (see attachment in previous post)
-superboyac (May 27, 2010, 06:09 PM)
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What happens when you copy that table from Excel and simply paste it into Word?
And when you talk about "headers" I only see the one (Item Description) at the top of your sample. I assume there are others since it's easy to make the first row/rows of a Word table repeat at the top of each page.
kfitting:
Thanks for the info on setting up tabstops... I'll have to keep that in mind when I next use word....
superboyac:
Here's an example of what I'd like the glossary to look like. This is done in excel: (see attachment in previous post)
-superboyac (May 27, 2010, 06:09 PM)
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What happens when you copy that table from Excel and simply paste it into Word?
And when you talk about "headers" I only see the one (Item Description) at the top of your sample. I assume there are others since it's easy to make the first row/rows of a Word table repeat at the top of each page.
-AndyM (May 27, 2010, 11:35 PM)
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When I paste from Excel, it seems to work fine. I haven't had any problems yet. From the articles, it seems like you get more problems when you edit the table within Word (move cells, add rows, columns, drag drop text, etc.) So now I'm doing everything in Excel and then copy/paste to Word. It's easier in Excel anyway.
I didn't know about this headers on top of each page. I'm going to do that!
superboyac:
ARmando! i totally missed your long post above. Thanks, it's good to know how you do things. So is that what you would do? Use html export from IQ, and then paste in Word and apply a table style?
Could you maybe post a screenshot of a finished product table you've inserted using this method? I'd appreciate it.
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