Structure Your Tables

Quick reference

• 00:05 There are many ways to display information in PowerPoint,
• 00:07 whether it's by charts, pictures, or various diagrams.
• 00:10 And this video is one of those ways, and its tables,
• 00:13 that is getting them into a PowerPoint slide,
• 00:15 getting them designed very efficiently, and generally, working with them.
• 00:19 Because sooner or later, whether it's financial or scientific data,
• 00:22 you'll probably need a table.
• 00:24 So there's a number of ways that we can insert a table.
• 00:27 First, we'll go to the Insert tab of the ribbon.
• 00:29 The Table drop down button, and that gives us four different options.
• 00:33 We can insert a table by selecting from these predefined rows and column ranges.
• 00:37 And as I move my mouse over the cells, the highlight changes, and
• 00:41 that shows us what we're going to select.
• 00:45 And notice also that the preview of the table on the slide
• 00:47 updates as I move my mouse around.
• 00:50 And when I select a particular range, I would click on that bounding cell, and
• 00:55 the table would be dropped onto our slide.
• 00:58 But alternatively,
• 00:58 we can click the Insert table menu item that gives us a dialogue 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.
• 01:13 So I cancel that, we can draw a table with our mouse, and
• 01:16 our mouse cursor turns into a pencil.
• 01:19 But note, this is really only about drawing the outside boundary
• 01:22 box of the table.
• 01:23 And we need to, then, populate our table with rows and columns,
• 01:26 in order to get the cells that we need.
• 01:28 And also, we can insert a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
• 01:32 Now, this option is not so much about browsing to an existing file, but
• 01:36 embedding the Excel application within our slide to work within.
• 01:39 Clicking outside of the application returns us to PowerPoint, while double
• 01:44 clicking the Excel table- like icon takes us back into the Excel application.
• 01:50 In addition to commands on the ribbon,
• 01:52 we can also insert a table from within a content placeholder on a slide.
• 01:56 Notice this insert table icon, and that also gives us the same
• 02:01 dialog box that we saw before with the default five columns and two rows.
• 02:07 Now, content placeholders are really the subject of another video.
• 02:11 And I'll just click OK, but also, we can of course copy a range of cells from
• 02:15 within, say, Excel, and then switch to PowerPoint and paste them in.
• 02:20 And we would use the smart tag to select our paste options, such as whether we
• 02:24 wanna use the destination style, or keep the source formatting, and so on.
• 02:30 And you can explore these options when you have time.
• 02:33 Now, within this range of cells on the slide, I'm going to paste in some tabular,
• 02:37 or table type information that I already have on the clipboard.
• 02:40 So Ctrl+V and there's our information.
• 02:45 Now if I go to the very last cell, and that is the last column, and
• 02:49 the last row, which is really the last available cell.
• 02:53 Notice if I press Enter, I got a new line.
• 02:57 So backspace to take that new line out, but if I press Tab on the keyboard,
• 03:01 I get a new row, and that's a very simple way to add new rows, so
• 03:05 that you can put your information in the table.
• 03:08 So in the table style option group, we can highlight the Header Row,
• 03:13 the Total Row, and rows to contrast the rows between each other.
• 03:18 Or we can highlight the first or last column,
• 03:21 as well as bin the columns to highlight the difference between the columns.
• 03:25 And so that's mostly about options to give you contrast in your table
• 03:29 to increase the clarity of it when you present.
• 03:32 Notice also the various types of table styles.
• 03:36 They help enormously with the formatting and
• 03:38 to a certain extent, the style of your table.
• 03:41 The table styles that you will see will differ from theme to theme, so
• 03:46 once you change the theme, your table styles will also change.
• 03:50 So I can select from a range of styles that are available, such as best match for
• 03:55 the document, or light, medium, or dark.
• 03:57 So I'm just simply going to select a particular style, and
• 04:00 that works quite well.
• 04:02 Notice also options to change shading, borders, and various effects of the table.
• 04:08 And of course, these options, particularly,
• 04:09 the effects options, are not as extensive as working with shapes.
• 04:14 There are also options to draw a table, as well as an eraser,
• 04:18 which will help you remove cell lines, which is equivalent to merging cells.
• 04:22 So Ctrl+Z to undo that, or this little Undo button on the Quick Access Toolbar.
• 04:29 Another tab worth exploring is the Layout tab,
• 04:32 which is all about manipulating the table itself.
• 04:36 So you can view the grid lines if they are available, you can delete rows and
• 04:40 columns, as well as the entire table itself.
• 04:44 You could insert rows above, or below, or columns to the left and right.
• 04:48 Notice how the information in the current table moves
• 04:51 based on which option I select.
• 04:54 We can merge cells or split them, as well as ways to distribute rows, and
• 04:58 cell borders, and manipulate the alignment, and the table size, and so on.
• 05:04 There are various keyboard shortcuts that also work with text in a table.
• 05:09 If I tap into the cell cities, and then, use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+E,
• 05:14 which is to center text, it's immediately applied to the text within that cell.
• 05:20 Other keyboard shortcuts are well worth your time to explore, and
• 05:23 you'll get some experience with those over time.
• 05:26 And of course, there are some options that are available if you right-click on
• 05:29 various parts of a table.
• 05:30 So in summary, there's numerous ways to insert a table.
• 05:33 You can use the insert tab on the ribbon on the little drop down item.
• 05:38 A content placeholder, or even use another application, such as Microsoft Excel.
• 05:42 On the Design tab, you get table style options,
• 05:45 as well as the table styles themselves, and various formatting effects, and
• 05:48 the ability to draw or erase parts of a table.
• 05:53 The Layout tab is about working with a table itself, such as rows and columns,
• 05:57 merging cells, or changing alignment and size, and so on.
• 06:02 Naturally you don't need to use tables, but they're an important option to use
• 06:06 is part of a suite of text, diagrams, pictures, and charts.
• 06:10 And you can draw upon tables to use to effectively present your presentation.

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