word table lines

[blawhon]

I have a scanned Word (2003) table that appears to be one table but when I
highlight the table, it becomes obvious it is not one solid table.
Attempting to move the lines to match 6 columns doesn't work, the lines just
readjust. I tried, was it control/alt 8 to show/hide hidden paragraphs or
text, that showed nothing between the tables. I checked and the top row of
second and third tables are not set as header rows. We also unchecked adjust
text in cell options, that didn't work. Any other ideas? Thank you in
advance!

 

[Mindy, the confused one]

Are you able to separate the tables vertically using the enter key then treat
them as 3 distinct tables or are you trying to make them all into 1 table
with aligned columns?

If it's not a large table, you may have the best luck with creating a new
table with the column widths you want, then highlight (I use double and
triple clicks for speed) and drag/drop text into the columns in the new table
that are most appropriate.

 

[DeanH]

In addition to Mandy' comments.
Have you checked that the Allow spacing between cells and Automatically
resize to fit contents check boxes on Table Options dialog are unchecked,
these can cause problems aligning cell borders.
Also ensure that if they are separate tables that they have the same
alignment (Left) and Text Wrapping (None), if they are different it will be
nearly impossible to get them aligned.
You can also press down the Alt key and use the mouse to drag the borders
into position.
As Mandy suggests if the table is not complex, you could start from scratch
by selecting the table(s).
Maybe working with a copy of the table(s), use Table to Text (under the
Table menu), choose the Tabs separator. This produces the text with Tabs for
columns separation. Now with the non-printing characters showing
(Ctrl+Shft+8) you may see what has been causing you problems. Now you can
select the text, Text to Table, Tabs again for separation, OK. You should now
have a table that you can control.
Hope this helps
DeanH

 

[blawhon]

Using the enter key does not treat them as distinct tables. Yes, I wanted
all one table with matching column lines. My solution yesterday was create a
new table. However, I found the answer thanks to another word processor and
ILTA. The solution was to copy, paste all 3 tables into Wordpad, then copy,
paste back to Word, then, this part is from the word processor, highlighting
all 3 tables, in Table, take table to text then back, text to table and the
table was unbelievably beautiful. Voila! Thanks for the suggestions though
I appreciate it.

 

[blawhon]

You were correct DeanH, table to text, however before this step I copied the
text and pasted to Wordpad first then back to Word, then table to text, and
text to table and that was the best solution. Thank you!!

 

[DeanH]

Glad you got it to work.
Soemtimes the only way to save your sanity is to start from scratch.
Yep, Notepad is another way to do the text extraction.