Inserting and Manipulating Tables

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About this lesson

How to add and customize tables to a Keynote presentation.

Quick reference

Topic

How to add and customize tables to a Keynote presentation.

When to use

Some stories are better told in Keynote using a table, especially when we are displaying a series of data points.

Instructions

Inserting a new table is easy in Keynote.

  • simply click on the Table button on the toolbar
  • choose the table style you want to add to the canvas
  • this will place that new table on your canvas

Regrinding the design of new shapes:

  • the style options for new tables may differ depending on the Keynote theme you chose to create your new file with
  • if we change our theme at a later time and we haven’t customized our table properties, the table’s style will auto-adjust to the new theme
  • we can swipe left and right on the table picker tool to choose variations of our theme’s styles

Using a table in Keynote is very much like working with a spreadsheet. Simply highlight a cell and begin typing.

If you plan on using numerical values in your table, you will be happy to know that you can also use formulas:

  • to begin a formula, we would start by typing the “=“ key
  • this will indicate to Keynote that we want to use a formula

To add rows or columns to our table:

  • click on the circle button at the end of the row header or bottom of the column header
  • add or remove rows or columns by using the stepper buttons up or down

Note: we can also insert a row or column by right-clicking on the row header or column header and choosing “Add Row” or “Add Column”

There are two ways to resize the height or a row or the width of a column:

  • click and drag the row or column separator to the desired width or height
  • highlight the row or column then adjust the width or height using the formatting pane

Changing the color of a cell (or a range of cells) is simple:

  • select the cell (or range of cells)
  • click on the cell tab on the formatting pane
  • expand the fill section and choose your desired fill style and color

Borders can be modified on the formatting pane under the Cell tab:

  • select the cell (or range of cells) that you want to add a border to
  • select the border of the cell (or range of cells)
  • choose the border style on the formatting pane under the Cell tab

Note: because there’s not an option to change the top and bottom border of a cell or range of cells at the same time, we will need to adjust those independently.

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  • 00:05 Presentations are incredibly powerful for telling a story.
  • 00:09 Some stories are better told with images and videos,
  • 00:12 while others are better told using data.
  • 00:14 In this lesson, we'll be talking about how we can use tables in
  • 00:17 Keynote to tell about our story using data.
  • 00:20 When we're done you will realize just how easy it is to use tables in your slide
  • 00:24 deck, so let's get started.
  • 00:26 Just like text boxes and images which were covered in previous lessons,
  • 00:30 tables can be easily inserted by choosing a table tight from our Keynote tool bar.
  • 00:35 You'll notice that we have several design options to choose from.
  • 00:38 The style that you'll want to choose at this point should match what envision your
  • 00:42 finished product will look like.
  • 00:44 As you would expect, we can scroll through the list, left and right, for
  • 00:47 additional design options to choose from.
  • 00:50 Once we have settled on a design that will work best for
  • 00:53 us, we simply click on it to insert it onto our slide.
  • 00:57 Now that our table is on our slide, it's time to start adding data and
  • 01:00 tweaking the design.
  • 01:02 Adding data to our table is really pretty straightforward.
  • 01:05 If you have ever used a spreadsheet of any kind before, you'll know what to do.
  • 01:09 We simply select a cell and start typing.
  • 01:13 If you're working with numerical values,
  • 01:15 you'll be happy to know that we can also create formulas in these cells as well.
  • 01:19 To do this, we begin by typing the equals sign.
  • 01:23 This will tell Keynote that we are entering a formula
  • 01:26 We won't go into formulas in this section, but we will in a future lesson.
  • 01:30 As we enter our data, we will inevitably need more than just a few rows or
  • 01:34 columns to work with.
  • 01:36 We can add more rows or columns by clicking the circle at the end of the top
  • 01:40 row or the bottom of the left-most column.
  • 01:43 We can also add a row or a column by right clicking on a row or
  • 01:47 column header and choosing to insert a new row or column.
  • 01:52 Now that we have entered our data, let's look at a few visual formatting options.
  • 01:56 To change the row height or column width, we can either click and drag the row or
  • 02:01 column separator to our desired width or height.
  • 02:05 Or we can select a row or
  • 02:07 column, then change the values in the formatting pane in the table tab section.
  • 02:13 This method allows you to have a little more control over the values
  • 02:16 if you're looking for more precision.
  • 02:19 Changing the color of a cell is simple.
  • 02:22 First, we need to select either a single cell or
  • 02:24 a range of cells we want to manipulate.
  • 02:28 Next, we will head over to the formatting pane and click on the cell tab.
  • 02:33 When we expand the fill section we will see the standard set of fill options
  • 02:36 including solid colors, gradients, etc.
  • 02:41 Next, let's talk about borders.
  • 02:44 A strong border strategy can go a long way to helping your audience understand
  • 02:47 the data that you're presenting to them.
  • 02:50 Borders can be modified on the formatting pane under the cell tab.
  • 02:54 Modifying a border is a three step process.
  • 02:57 Step one, select the cell or range of cells that you want to affect.
  • 03:02 Step two, select the border of that selected cell or
  • 03:05 range of cells that you want to affect.
  • 03:09 Step three,
  • 03:10 choose the type of border style you want to apply to that selected border.
  • 03:14 Let's walk through an example together.
  • 03:17 In this case, we want to add a heavy border on the top and
  • 03:20 bottom of a particular range of cells.
  • 03:23 Once we have selected the range of cells,
  • 03:26 we will now select the border that we want to effect.
  • 03:29 Because there's not an option to select the top and bottom borders simultaneously,
  • 03:33 we will need to make this change twice.
  • 03:36 Once for the top and once for the bottom.
  • 03:38 With the top border selected we can now adjust the border style, color and weight.
  • 03:44 Once we have made the change for the top border
  • 03:47 we can now choose the bottom border and the make the same changes to match.
  • 03:52 That's it.
  • 03:52 Now, we can go on to make other border changes.
  • 03:56 As you can see, inserting and manipulating tables in Keynote
  • 03:59 isn't exactly rocket science, but it certainly helps to know where to look.
  • 04:03 That's half the battle.
  • 04:05 The other half comes down to personal creativity, which is up to you.
  • 04:09 Now that you know how to create, edit, and
  • 04:11 modify tables, it's time to get to work creating your own.
  • 04:15 Take a few minutes right now to practice creating your own tables.

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