Editing a table in Word

[Hugh Janus]

Hi all,

I am creating documents in Word using data from an Access database. I
use document templates with bookmarks in order to create the end
document. One of the templates has a table that i need to fill in. It
always has the same number of rows, but the number of columns changes
(to a maximum of 7). So, my question is really regarding the best way
to do this and how.

Should I:

1.) Create the entire table with code and populate it with the data,
or
2.) Modify an existing table with bookmarks and then go and hide any
unused columns?

The reason I thought about modifying an existing table is because the
table needs colours applied and other formatting to it. Therefore, it
seems easier to modify an existing table. If you agree with this, how
in code can I highlight a specific column on a specific table in a
document? as far as I know, I cannot specify a unique tag to a column,
or am I wrong?

Ideas?

TIA,
Hugh

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Hugh

It's not possible to hide a column in Word as one might in Excel. You can
make it very skinny and remove its border so you can't really see much of
it, but that is, as far as I'm aware, as far as you can go.

I would create the entire table with code. But that's just my preference.
Others may disagree.

As far as possible, use paragraph styles for formatting the text. To format
table elements (eg cell shading, borders etc), I would modify the table
explicitly. And avoid merged cells as much as possible, because the Word
object model does not cope well with them.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word