Structure Your Tables

Quick reference

• 00:04 There are many ways to display information in PowerPoint, whether it be charts,
• 00:08 pictures or various diagrams and this video is about one of those ways and
• 00:11 it's tables.
• 00:12 Getting them onto a PowerPoint slide, getting them designed very efficiently,
• 00:16 and generally working with them because sooner or later,
• 00:19 whether it's financial or scientific data, you'll probably need a table.
• 00:23 So there's a number of ways that we can insert a table.
• 00:26 Firstly we go to the insert tab of the ribbon, the table drop down button and
• 00:31 that gives us four different options.
• 00:34 We can insert a table by selecting from these pre-defined rows and
• 00:38 column ranges, and as I move my mouse over the cells, the highlight changes and
• 00:42 that shows us what we're going to select.
• 00:45 And notice also that the preview of the table on the slide updates as I move
• 00:49 my mouse around.
• 00:50 And when I select a particular range I would click on that bounding cell and
• 00:54 that table would be dropped on the select slide.
• 00:57 But alternatively, we can click the insert table menu item and
• 01:00 that gives us a dialog box to type into.
• 01:04 Or we can use the spinner to select a specific number of columns and rows.
• 01:08 Now notice that the default is five columns and two rows, so I'll cancel that.
• 01:14 We can draw a table with our mouse and our mouse cursor turns into a pencil, but note
• 01:19 that this is really about drawing only the outside boundary box of the table.
• 01:23 And we need them to populate our table with rows and
• 01:25 columns in order to get the cells that we need.
• 01:29 And also we can insert our Microsoft excel spreadsheet, now this option is not so
• 01:34 much about browsing to an existing file, but
• 01:37 embedding the Excel application within our slide to work within.
• 01:41 Clicking outside of the application returns us to PowerPoint, while double
• 01:45 clicking the Excel title like I can, takes up back into the Excel application.
• 01:50 In addition to the commands on the ribbon,
• 01:52 we can also insert a table from within a content placeholder on a slide.
• 01:57 Notice this insert table icon and that also gives us the same dialog
• 02:01 box that we saw before with the default five columns and two rows.
• 02:04 Now content place all this really the subject of another video.
• 02:07 And I'll just click okay but also we can of course copy a range of cells
• 02:12 from within say Excel, and then switch to PowerPoint and paste them in.
• 02:16 And we would use the Smart tag to select that paste options.
• 02:19 Such as whether we want to use the destination style or
• 02:23 keep source port adding, and so on.
• 02:25 And you can explore these options when you have time.
• 02:27 Now within this range of cells on the slide, I'm going to paste in some tabula,
• 02:31 or table-type information, that I already have on the clipboard.
• 02:35 So Control V and there's our information.
• 02:38 Now if we go to the very last cell, and that is the last column and
• 02:42 last row, which is really the last available cell.
• 02:46 Notice if I press Enter, I get a new line, to Backspace to take the new line out.
• 02:52 But if I press Tab on the keyboard, I get a new row, and that's a very
• 02:55 simple way to add new rows, so that you can put your information in the table.
• 02:59 So in the tables style option group we can highlight the header row,
• 03:03 the total row, and the rows to contrast the rows between each other.
• 03:09 Or we can highlight the first or last column as well as band the columns
• 03:13 to highlight the difference between the columns.
• 03:16 And so that's mostly about options to give you contrast in your table
• 03:20 to increase the clarity of when you present.
• 03:22 Notice also the various types of styles.
• 03:25 They help enormously with a formatting and to a certain the style of your table.
• 03:31 So once you change the theme, your table style will also change.
• 03:34 So I can select from a range of styles that are available such as best match for
• 03:39 the document or light, medium, dark.
• 03:43 So I am just simply going to select a particular style that works well.
• 03:47 Notice also options to change shading, borders and
• 03:50 various effects of the table and of course these options,
• 03:54 particularly the effects options, are not as extensive as working with shapes.
• 03:59 There are also options to draw a table, as well as an eraser.
• 04:03 Which will help you to remove cell lines which is equivalent to merging cells.
• 04:06 So Ctrl+Z to undo that, or this little Undo button on the Quick Access toolbar.
• 04:12 Another tab with exploring to the layout tab
• 04:15 which is all about manipulating the table itself.
• 04:18 So you can view the grid lines if they're available, you can delete rows and
• 04:22 columns as well as the entire table itself.
• 04:25 You could insert rows above or below or columns to the left and right.
• 04:29 Notice how the information in the current table moves
• 04:33 based on which option I select.
• 04:35 We can merge cells or split them, as well as ways to distribute rows and
• 04:40 cell borders and manipulate the alignment and the table size and so on.
• 04:44 There are various keyboard shortcuts that also work with text in our table.
• 04:48 If I type into this cell cities and then use the shortcut of Ctrl-E on the keyboard
• 04:53 which is to center text, it's immediately applied to the text within that cell.
• 04:58 I think keyboard shortcuts are well worth your time to explore and
• 05:02 you will get some experience with those over time.
• 05:04 And of course there are some options that are available if you right-click
• 05:07 on various parts of the table.
• 05:09 So, in summary, there's numerous ways to insert a table.
• 05:12 You can use the insert tab on the ribbon, or the little dropdown item, or
• 05:16 content placeholder, or even use an application such as Microsoft Excel.
• 05:22 On the design tab, you get table style options, as well as the table styles,
• 05:26 themselves and various formatting effects, and the ability to draw or
• 05:30 erase part of a table.
• 05:31 The layout tab is about working with the table itself such as rows and columns,
• 05:36 merging cells, or changing alignment and size and so on.
• 05:41 Naturally, you don't need to overuse tables, but they are important options to
• 05:45 use as part of a suite of text, diagrams, pictures, and charts, and
• 05:50 you could draw upon tables to use to effectively present your presentation.

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