Cell border confusion after cells are merged

[Hack]

I build fill-me-out forms with tables in Word instead of using underline,
underline, underline...to make it easy to fill-in electronically...or after
printed.

Part of my process is...build the table, select all, clear all borders,
merge cells as needed...say Name field on first line because I built the
table column count based on the City, State, Postal line.

Here's my challenge...and I'm gonna say I think Word is getting confused
after cells are merged. I'll go back to the blank, fill-in cells
(cell-by-cell) and put a border on the bottom...my underline. These days,
when I go to underline some cells...where I've merged cells in the line above
or below...the entire row gets underlined.

I'm at a loss. I've tried a few different methods of bordering...click the
button on the tool bar, highlight the cell and right-click it and go to
Borders / Shading, and even get a cell that works and CTRL-Y it to the next
cell.

Any ideas?


Thanks,
Doug

 

[Stefan Blom]

I'm not sure that I completely understand what the problem is, but if
you are having difficulties with merged cells, you could set up the
form using multiple tables. For more, see
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/tblsfldsfms/LinesInForms.htm.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[Hack]

Thanks Stefan.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. I do currently build with multiple
smaller tables.

In #2 of the doc...that's what I do...use the cell's border for the
underline. What happens is I'll underline one cell and the action will
actually underline the entire row.

Now, my tables are more complicated in that I merge cells here and there
which negates the equal-number-of-columns as the referenced doc has.

I build a 6x8 table and clear all borders
Row 1, I label cell 1 as Name:, then merge cells 2 thru 8.
Row 2, I label cell 1 as Address:, then merge cells 2 thru 8.
Row 3, I label cell 1 as City:, cell 3 as County:, cell 5 as State:, and 7
as Zip:
Row 4, I label cell 1 as Phone:, label cell 5 as Alt Phone:, then merge 2-4
and 6-8.
Row 5...SSN: and merge 2-8
Row 6...Email: and merge 2-8

When I go back to add borders for underlines, that's when the entire row
gets underlined instead of just the merged cells.

Anyway...

Thanks again,
Doug

 

[Stefan Blom]

I just tested with the table format you described, and you are right:
there is a problem. I don't recall seeing this problem before, but it
is possible that it has been reported previously. My guess is that it
is caused by the fact that a bottom border of a cell is also the top
border of the cell below, and with merged cells Word doesn't correctly
keep track of where a certain border belongs.

One way to handle this is to avoid merged cells completely, and
instead use even more tables. If you need them to appear as one table,
just set the font size of the paragraph mark between tables to 1 pt.

To format the paragraph mark between tables, you may want to display
paragraph marks (¶) and other nonprinting characters. To do this, just
click the ¶ button on the Standard toolbar. (If you need further
information, see
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/NonPrintChars.htm.)

For general information about borders in Word, see:

Run for the border: using borders in Word
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/Borders.htm.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

 

[Hack]

Seriously...Thank you for taking a real look at this. I much appreciate your
effort.

In my working doc, I did opt to not merge any cells....and instead move
individual cell walls. Long-term I will opt for your other suggestion...even
more tables...so the doc is "clean" when filled out electronically and prints
nice-nice.

Thanks again,
Doug

 

[Stefan Blom]

You are welcome.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message