alignment of cells in Word 2000

[bevaau]

I have a table in Word 2000 (data copied from Excel, if that makes a
difference), all text, but I cannot get the text in each cell to align with
the cell above it. Subsequent cells are just (very) slightly 'off' so that
when I print without the table borders, the 'columns' appear jagged on the
LHS. I have cleared all tabs, checked for left-over spaces, checked for no
spacing before and after paragraphs, aligned them again and again, etc. but
cannot get the clean look I want. Any suggestions?

 

[DeanH]

Under Table Properties, Options, ensure that both "Allow Spacing between
cells" and "Automatically resize to fit contents" are not checked.
Also have you tried the Distribute Columns Evenly button on the Tables
toolbar? This should help get the cell borders connected to each other
hopefully. You can do this in groups of two columns at a time if you don't
want the whole table distributed evenly.
Hope this helps
DeanH

 

[bevaau]

Thank you but that didn't work either! I have neither "allow spacing" nor
"automatically resize" checked (should I have at least one?) and I tried
"distribute columns evenly" but I can still see the uneven cell borders.

I did notice that when I click the side border of the cells to move it,
trying to align all the cell borders, it only moves in 'jumps' not smoothly.
Does that makes sense? Almost like it is set somewhere to 'align to the grid'
- although I don't know that that exists in Word.

This is big document (about 100 pages A4) and I really need it to look
'good' when it is done. Thank you for your help.

 

[DeanH]

I tend not to have either of these boxes checked. The "allow space between" I
only ever use for aesthetic reasons and only if the client wants it. I never
use "auto resize" as this only resizes horizontally which negates any attempt
to format the table nicely.

Dragging the cell horizontal border will jump to a grid that is "built-in"
to Word and is independant to the Grid function under the Drawing menu. Using
the Alt-drag will allow non-jumping adjustments of the borders. This is very
useful but may not fully solve your problem as this function does not ensure
that the borders "connect together" in alignment. Using the grid jump to get
the boders to connect is sometimes the only way to get the "little
so-and-so's" to behave, ie move one border to a jump position, then move the
one below to the same jump position, then move them together back to where
you want them.

When you did all the format and spacing checks did you also check that the
cell vertical alignment and internal margins are the same for the whole
table? This can be check under Table, Table Properties, Cell, check that
there is one of the Vertical alignment boxes selected, if not it means that
not all of the cells are in the same alignment. The Options button here will
show if all the cells in the table have the same internal margins, if any of
the four selection boxes is not populated, again this indicates that all the
cells are not the same. FYI the "Same as the whole table" tick box is
controled by the settings in the Table, Table Properties, Table tab, Options
dialog.

It may get to the point where you may want to start from a clean slate with
this table. You could select the whole table, then use the Table to Text, Tab
sperators, then convert back to a table. At least it will be a clean starting
point for you.
Lets hope you don't have to resort to this.

Hope this helps
DeanH

 

[bevaau]

Thanks for all your suggestions - but none of them did the job! In the end, I
did the table-to-text then text-to-table (with plenty of backups first!)
which seems to have fixed it. But it would have been nice to know how to
avoid it next time.

Many thanks, Bevaau