Leading the way in Microsoft Office Development

Step 1 - Selecting a single cell

Before you can make any changes to the contents of a cell you must first select the cell.

To select a single cell, move the insertion point into it by clicking inside the cell.

You can do this either using the mouse or by using the Arrow keys.

Any commands you issue at this point will act on the individual cell and all its contents.

Step 2 - Selecting a block of cells

Using the mouse to select cells is convenient. You can select a range of table cells by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse over the cells.

Alternatively you can select cells by holding down the Shift key and using the Arrow keys.

Large ranges of tables cells can also be selected using a combination of the mouse and the Shift key.

Select the first cell using the mouse and while holding down the Shift key select another cell using the mouse in the table.

It is not possible to select a group of non adjacent cells.

Step 3 - Selecting a row

To select a whole row click any cell in that row and select (Table > Select Row).

You can also select a whole row by dragging the mouse across all the cells in that row.

put the mouse just outside the table at the top of the column you want to select - mouse cursor changes

Step 4 - Selecting a column

To select a whole column click any cell in that column and select (Table > Select Column).

You can also select a column by clicking just outside the top border of the column when the mouse pointer changes to a down arrow.

You can also select a whole column by dragging the mouse across all the cells in that column.

Step 5 - Selecting a whole table

There are actually two ways to select the whole table and the two ways are very different and are not equivalent.

The first is to select all the cells in the table.

This can either be done using the mouse to drag the mouse over all the cells or by using the shortcut key (Ctrl + A ).

When all cells in a table are selected the cells will have a black background.

Any formatting commands you apply will affect all the text in the table.

The second way is to select the actual table object.

This can be done by selecting (Table > Select Table) or by clicking on the outside frame of the table object.

You can also use the Select Table on the Table shortcut menu.

This method is only necessary if you want to move or resize the table.

When the actual table is selected none of the cells are highlighted and the cursor is not displayed.

Step 6 - Things to Remember

The Table drop-down menu can be found on the Tables and Borders toolbar and not at the top of the screen.

It is not possible to select a group of non adjacent cells.

Pressing the Down Arrow moves to the next row

Pressing the Up Arrow moves to the previous row.