Tables: Formatting

⭐ Beginner Level

There's a few ways you can format (style) tables themselves, here's what this article explores:

Table shading
Table borders
Table styles

I want my content to be at the bottom or middle of cells, not fixed the top.

This is changed by altering the table cell alignment which is explored in the intermediate version of this article.

My copied text has line spacing I want to get rid of

Take a look at the intermediate version of this article in the section Remove Paragraph Spacing from Table.

Table shading

You can colour in the background of your table easily. First select the cells you want to colour by clicking and dragging on them. In this example I've selected the header row.

Demonstration of table cell alignment in Word

Next go to the Table Design tab on the ribbon and select Shading. This will bring up a menu colour palette to choose a colour from.

Select a colour from the palette and it will be applied to the table cells.

Note: If you need a particularly shade like your company brand's colour then from the Shading menu try seleting More Colours.... This up more detailed options to choose from including RGB and HEX values you can define if you have those:

Table borders

Make borders visible/invisible

You can alter borders appearing in tables with a handy drop down menu. Typically you'll want to apply changes to the whole table, so first hover over the table or click into it, then select the top left square icon to select the whole table:

From the Table Design tab on the ribbon select the bottom half of the Borders button with the arrow:

Table Design Borders option on ribbon in Word

This will bring up a menu of different options to choose from.

Try removing all borders first (No Borders), then applying what you want. Here's a demonstration:

Editing table borders demontration in Word

Colour border lines

You can colour border lines by selecting cells or the whole table and going to Layout Design > Borders > Borders and Shading...:

Table Borders and Shading option from Borders menu in Word

In the Borders and Shading window select the Colour drop down menu:

Table Borders and Shading window in Word

You can then select a colour for the border lines:

Table border line colour palette in Word

Note: If you want a more specific colour select More Colours....

Once applied it'll look like this:

Applied table border line colour in Word

Table styles

There are some preset table styles you can choose from to apply to your table. Just select the table (just click anywhere within it, you don't need to select the whole table), then under Table Design select a style from the Table Styles gallery on the ribbon. You can hover over the styles to see what your table will look like in that style. Click on a style to apply it.

Note: If you click the arrow to the right of the Table Styles gallery it will show a menu with more options to choose from.

In this article:

Table cell alignment
Table borders
Table shading
Remove paragraph spacing in a table
Bullet/Number lists in tables

Table cell alignment

You can alter how content is vertically and horizontally in the table cell via Table Layout > Alignment:

Table borders

You can choose whether to have table borders visible or not via options in Table Design > Borders drop down. The example below shows how these options work on a table that's been fully selected (hover over and click top left square):

Table Design Borders drop down menu on ribbon in Word

Demonstration of table border lines being edited in Word

Table shading

You can colour the background of cell with the Shading colour palette via Table Design > Shading:

Demonstration of table background colour shading being edited in Word

The example above is applying shading to a whole table but you might want to apply shading to just the header row like this:

If you're after a more specific colour (e.g. to match your company brand's colour) then you can click Shading > More Colours... which brings up more options including RGB and HEX values you can define as needed:

Remove paragraph spacing in a table

If you're coping a table from other Word document, Excel or a web browser it can come across with unwanted paragraph spacing. To remove this go to the Home > Paragraph options (bottom right corner button) and remove spacing 'points' as needed. Typically it's spacing after that needs reducing. Take a look:

Demonstration removing paragraph spacing from a table in Word

Bullet/Number lists in tables

You might find when applying a bullet list or number list to a table that the default indent Word applies isn't ideal in such a contrained space, see a quick fix here involving indent markers on the horizontal ruler: Table lists and indents.

List in a table selected with default indent marker positions in Word

Cut, copy and paste tables

When it comes to pasting tables you get some different pasting options. First there's a referesher on cut, copy and paste if you need it:

Cut: see Moving content
Copy: see Copying content
Paste: depending on what content you've cut or copied, and where you are pasting, you'll see different paste options in and around tables:

Paste icon	Definition
Pasting non-table content into a table
Paste - Keep Source Formatting	Pastes the content into the table retaining its existing formatting. Think about whether you want external formatting brought into your table before choosing this option.
Paste - Merge Formatting	Paste content into the table taking on the destination table's formatting.
Paste - Picture	Pastes content as an image. Note: Depending on the size images can alter the table layout pushing columns and rows out.
Paste - Keep Text Only	Pastes text into the table without any formatting, just it's character value. Note: The content will not take on any formatting inside the destination table.
Pasting cut/copied table content into a table
Paste - Nest Table	Pastes the table content as a table within a table. Note: A word of warning, this can get messy, if using this option choose what content you want to paste selectively, and consider which cell to paste it in with the insertion point beforehand. Less is more here as it will almost certainly expand the destination cell's column width and row height.
Paste - Merge Table	I'd recommend not using this paste option within a table, or at least use it cautiously as it can be quite erratic pasting certain cells. Generally it pastes copied/cut table cell content in the rows below where you've selected, overwriting the content in those cells rather than 'merging' it. If you select all the columns in the destination table then use this option, it will typically add the cut/copied table content as new columns on the left, subsequently pushing everything else right and likely off the page. If you find your table in this situation and can't immediately undo the damage see this article on how to fix it: Tables extending off the page.
Paste - Insert as New Rows	Pastes table content as new row(s) below the row you pointed the insertion point at.
Paste - Insert as New Columns	Pastes content as new column(s) left of the column you pointed the insertion point at.
Paste - Overwrite Cells	Pastes over the data in the table with the copied/cut table content. The table layout doesn't change but the data does; the new data bring its formatting with it into the table.
Paste - Keep Text Only	Pastes table content without any formatting it originally had, just the character value. Note: The content will not take on any formatting in the destination table.
Pasting cut/copied table content directly underneath a table
Paste - Keep Original Table Formatting	Pastes table content 'as is' with its original formatting intact. It becomes part of the table above as added rows/columns underneath. Note: With this paste option the column border edges of the pasted content sometimes don't quite align with the table above so you may have to tweak it.
Paste - Merge Table	Pastes table content which becomes part of the destination table above it as added rows/columns.
Paste - Keep Text Only	Pastes table content without a table frame around it, content is instead structured by tabs for columns and hard returns for rows.