Need help with splitting and/or resizing cells...

D

Diane Dennis

Hi!

I've been creating a form in Word using a table. Everything was going
well, no troubles with splitting cells and merging cells and resizing
cells and then all of a sudden I could no longer make those kinds of
changes.

It's as if the table is locked or something but I don't know what I
did wrong and I can't figure out how to fix it. It won't let me
merge, or split or change the width of the cells... ?

Can anyone please help me?

Thank you very much!
Diane Dennis
 
C

Clive Huggan

Hello Diane,

You don't say which version you are in; some are worse than others.

I think what you have been doing has gradually been too much for Word to
handle (it's not your fault though -- it's the software!).

You'll see in the following notes that merging and splitting table cells are
high on the following list for causing problems:

John McGhie, one of our experts, says that the things to avoid with tables
because they lead to instability include the following:

* tables within tables;

* merging or splitting table cells;

* dragging text between cells (you will still end up with a corrupt
document if you do too much of this; it's OK if you are sure that you only
have text selected, but if you make a mistake and select a cell, there's
trouble ahead);

* dragging individual cells (but it's OK to drag rows or columns around);

* cutting and pasting in tables (it will do it, but table corruption is
likely to result ‹ but cutting and pasting or dragging and dropping whole
rows is usually OK);

Further, the more of the following you use, and the more often in a
document, the less stable things become: text wrapping, automatically resize
to fit contents, allow rows to break across pages, and nested tables.

[All but the last are configurable via Table menu -> Properties (after
selecting the table). Once you have turned them off, Word will be quite
snappy ‹ because it will no longer, for example, have to scroll the table to
the power of the number of cells in it.]

If a document has tables extending over more than a few pages and is slow,
select each table in turn and for each table go to Table menu -> Insert ->
Table and de-select "Auto fit to contents" (this is also a power-hungry
feature).

To remove corruption in tables (revealed by slowness of actions, caused by
the need to use huge amounts of memory), select each table and use Table ->
Convert -> Table to Text to turn the table into tabbed text, then without
moving the selection use Table -> Convert -> Text to Table to convert it
back to a table again. If that does not work, the document may be corrupt.
To fix it, go to the end of the document, key Command-8 to show all
paragraph marks (if you normally have them invisible) and select all the
document except the last paragraph mark. Then copy and paste the selected
text into a new document (if it is attached to a special template you will
need to re-attach the new document). This action usually solves the problem
because the final paragraph mark contains the document¹s formatting
information that is most likely to be corrupted. Pasting everything except
the last paragraph mark into a new document forces Word to repair the
internal structure of the document.

If you have a type of format that's consistent but the content differs (e.g.
one type of table has, say, the top row right across the page, then the
next row three cells across, and the next whatever) it would be better to
make an AutoText item of each of these formats in turn. You would prepare
blank examples of these tables and remove potential corruption as in the
para above. In the new document in which you paste these tables, you would
select the tables and make each into AutoText items as I described in a
slightly different context (subject: "Re: how to assign a toolbar in Word to
"Insert Pictures From File"") in this newsgroup earlier today. Then all you
would have to do is two lots of keystrokes to have this corruption-free type
of table inserted in your document. It's so long since I inserted tables
and modified them by hand that I can't remember (and they never corrupt).

-- Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
============================================================
* A suggestion: If you post a question, keep re-visiting the newsgroup for
several days after the first response comes in. Sometimes it takes a few
responses before the best or complete solution is proposed; sometimes you'll
be asked for further information so that a better answer can be provided.
Good tips about getting the best out of posting are at
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/Posting.htm

* Before posting a question about a topic, search Google Groups
(http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=group:*mac.office.word) --
it may have been comprehensively answered already.

* Please post all comments or follow-on questions to the newsgroup for the
benefit of others who may be interested. If you need to send an e-mail to me
directly (although that would be exceptional), remove the uppercase letters
from my address above. Please note that e-mails with an attachment will be
automatically rejected.

* If anyone is still reading down this far, here's a question: is it time
for you to back up your Normal template and all your Word settings files?
(This should be on a medium other than the internal hard drive and, if you
also want to protect against theft and fire, stored in a different
building.)
============================================================
 
D

Diane Dennis

Thank you Clive! I'll follow the suggestions to see what I can do.
I'm wondering, based upon the comments about "too much for Word to
handle", is there a program that is more powerful than Word that would
allow me to create my forms in .doc?

Oh by the way, I'm sorry about leaving out my version info...

OS 10.1.5 with Office 10.1.5

Thank you again, have a terrific day!
Diane

Clive Huggan said:
Hello Diane,

You don't say which version you are in; some are worse than others.

I think what you have been doing has gradually been too much for Word to
handle (it's not your fault though -- it's the software!).

You'll see in the following notes that merging and splitting table cells are
high on the following list for causing problems:

John McGhie, one of our experts, says that the things to avoid with tables
because they lead to instability include the following:

* tables within tables;

* merging or splitting table cells;

* dragging text between cells (you will still end up with a corrupt
document if you do too much of this; it's OK if you are sure that you only
have text selected, but if you make a mistake and select a cell, there's
trouble ahead);

* dragging individual cells (but it's OK to drag rows or columns around);

* cutting and pasting in tables (it will do it, but table corruption is
likely to result ? but cutting and pasting or dragging and dropping whole
rows is usually OK);

Further, the more of the following you use, and the more often in a
document, the less stable things become: text wrapping, automatically resize
to fit contents, allow rows to break across pages, and nested tables.

[All but the last are configurable via Table menu -> Properties (after
selecting the table). Once you have turned them off, Word will be quite
snappy ? because it will no longer, for example, have to scroll the table to
the power of the number of cells in it.]

If a document has tables extending over more than a few pages and is slow,
select each table in turn and for each table go to Table menu -> Insert ->
Table and de-select "Auto fit to contents" (this is also a power-hungry
feature).

To remove corruption in tables (revealed by slowness of actions, caused by
the need to use huge amounts of memory), select each table and use Table ->
Convert -> Table to Text to turn the table into tabbed text, then without
moving the selection use Table -> Convert -> Text to Table to convert it
back to a table again. If that does not work, the document may be corrupt.
To fix it, go to the end of the document, key Command-8 to show all
paragraph marks (if you normally have them invisible) and select all the
document except the last paragraph mark. Then copy and paste the selected
text into a new document (if it is attached to a special template you will
need to re-attach the new document). This action usually solves the problem
because the final paragraph mark contains the document1s formatting
information that is most likely to be corrupted. Pasting everything except
the last paragraph mark into a new document forces Word to repair the
internal structure of the document.

If you have a type of format that's consistent but the content differs (e.g.
one type of table has, say, the top row right across the page, then the
next row three cells across, and the next whatever) it would be better to
make an AutoText item of each of these formats in turn. You would prepare
blank examples of these tables and remove potential corruption as in the
para above. In the new document in which you paste these tables, you would
select the tables and make each into AutoText items as I described in a
slightly different context (subject: "Re: how to assign a toolbar in Word to
"Insert Pictures From File"") in this newsgroup earlier today. Then all you
would have to do is two lots of keystrokes to have this corruption-free type
of table inserted in your document. It's so long since I inserted tables
and modified them by hand that I can't remember (and they never corrupt).

-- Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
============================================================
* A suggestion: If you post a question, keep re-visiting the newsgroup for
several days after the first response comes in. Sometimes it takes a few
responses before the best or complete solution is proposed; sometimes you'll
be asked for further information so that a better answer can be provided.
Good tips about getting the best out of posting are at
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/Posting.htm

* Before posting a question about a topic, search Google Groups
(http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=group:*mac.office.word) --
it may have been comprehensively answered already.

* Please post all comments or follow-on questions to the newsgroup for the
benefit of others who may be interested. If you need to send an e-mail to me
directly (although that would be exceptional), remove the uppercase letters
from my address above. Please note that e-mails with an attachment will be
automatically rejected.

* If anyone is still reading down this far, here's a question: is it time
for you to back up your Normal template and all your Word settings files?
(This should be on a medium other than the internal hard drive and, if you
also want to protect against theft and fire, stored in a different
building.)
============================================================


Hi!

I've been creating a form in Word using a table. Everything was going
well, no troubles with splitting cells and merging cells and resizing
cells and then all of a sudden I could no longer make those kinds of
changes.

It's as if the table is locked or something but I don't know what I
did wrong and I can't figure out how to fix it. It won't let me
merge, or split or change the width of the cells... ?

Can anyone please help me?

Thank you very much!
Diane Dennis
 
C

Clive Huggan

Hello Diane,

I don't know much at all about other word processors nowadays, unfortunately
(I'm locked into Word because I develop documents collaboratively with
colleagues who are invariably using Word), but in the past on this newsgroup
there have been a few other word processors mentioned. With luck, someone
else will pick up your query and respond -- lots of people follow this
newsgroup.

If you get into the habit of visiting this newsgroup regularly, you will
soon find out the ways to minimize document corruption such as the behaviour
you mention. I have to admit that the flakiness of tables with the features
I quoted has been one of the worst areas of "traps for new players" ever
since <nostalgic sigh> Word 5.1.

On reviewing the info I provided yesterday, it occurs to me that your
particular problem *might* be fixable by doing only the "copy everything
except the last paragraph marker" sequence -- i.e. not having to do the
tiresome tabbed text conversion. Try that first -- it's quick and might
solve the problem in its own right.

Once you have removed the corruption, though, your problem will be over for
good.

I'm in the dark a bit here, in that I don't know how often you prepare this
type of document, how many varieties of tables you have, or how long the
document is -- but if the idea of being able to drop in tables formatted
exactly as you want appeals to you and you'd like to read step-by-step notes
on preparing tables as AutoText items, see page 91 onwards in the notes on
the way I use Word, called "Bend Word to your Will", at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/Bend/BendWord.htm (don't download the
template -- there's a minor glitch in it, and the replacement hasn't been
uploaded yet -- but you won't need the template anyway).

And thank you for wishing me a terrific day. It happens to be my birthday,
and so far it has been going very well!

Cheers,


-- Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
============================================================


Thank you Clive! I'll follow the suggestions to see what I can do.
I'm wondering, based upon the comments about "too much for Word to
handle", is there a program that is more powerful than Word that would
allow me to create my forms in .doc?

Oh by the way, I'm sorry about leaving out my version info...

OS 10.1.5 with Office 10.1.5

Thank you again, have a terrific day!
Diane

Clive Huggan said:
Hello Diane,

You don't say which version you are in; some are worse than others.

I think what you have been doing has gradually been too much for Word to
handle (it's not your fault though -- it's the software!).

You'll see in the following notes that merging and splitting table cells are
high on the following list for causing problems:

John McGhie, one of our experts, says that the things to avoid with tables
because they lead to instability include the following:

* tables within tables;

* merging or splitting table cells;

* dragging text between cells (you will still end up with a corrupt
document if you do too much of this; it's OK if you are sure that you only
have text selected, but if you make a mistake and select a cell, there's
trouble ahead);

* dragging individual cells (but it's OK to drag rows or columns around);

* cutting and pasting in tables (it will do it, but table corruption is
likely to result ? but cutting and pasting or dragging and dropping whole
rows is usually OK);

Further, the more of the following you use, and the more often in a
document, the less stable things become: text wrapping, automatically resize
to fit contents, allow rows to break across pages, and nested tables.

[All but the last are configurable via Table menu -> Properties (after
selecting the table). Once you have turned them off, Word will be quite
snappy ? because it will no longer, for example, have to scroll the table to
the power of the number of cells in it.]

If a document has tables extending over more than a few pages and is slow,
select each table in turn and for each table go to Table menu -> Insert ->
Table and de-select "Auto fit to contents" (this is also a power-hungry
feature).

To remove corruption in tables (revealed by slowness of actions, caused by
the need to use huge amounts of memory), select each table and use Table ->
Convert -> Table to Text to turn the table into tabbed text, then without
moving the selection use Table -> Convert -> Text to Table to convert it
back to a table again. If that does not work, the document may be corrupt.
To fix it, go to the end of the document, key Command-8 to show all
paragraph marks (if you normally have them invisible) and select all the
document except the last paragraph mark. Then copy and paste the selected
text into a new document (if it is attached to a special template you will
need to re-attach the new document). This action usually solves the problem
because the final paragraph mark contains the document1s formatting
information that is most likely to be corrupted. Pasting everything except
the last paragraph mark into a new document forces Word to repair the
internal structure of the document.

If you have a type of format that's consistent but the content differs (e.g.
one type of table has, say, the top row right across the page, then the
next row three cells across, and the next whatever) it would be better to
make an AutoText item of each of these formats in turn. You would prepare
blank examples of these tables and remove potential corruption as in the
para above. In the new document in which you paste these tables, you would
select the tables and make each into AutoText items as I described in a
slightly different context (subject: "Re: how to assign a toolbar in Word to
"Insert Pictures From File"") in this newsgroup earlier today. Then all you
would have to do is two lots of keystrokes to have this corruption-free type
of table inserted in your document. It's so long since I inserted tables
and modified them by hand that I can't remember (and they never corrupt).

-- Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
============================================================
* A suggestion: If you post a question, keep re-visiting the newsgroup for
several days after the first response comes in. Sometimes it takes a few
responses before the best or complete solution is proposed; sometimes you'll
be asked for further information so that a better answer can be provided.
Good tips about getting the best out of posting are at
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/Posting.htm

* Before posting a question about a topic, search Google Groups
(http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=group:*mac.office.word) --
it may have been comprehensively answered already.

* Please post all comments or follow-on questions to the newsgroup for the
benefit of others who may be interested. If you need to send an e-mail to me
directly (although that would be exceptional), remove the uppercase letters
from my address above. Please note that e-mails with an attachment will be
automatically rejected.

* If anyone is still reading down this far, here's a question: is it time
for you to back up your Normal template and all your Word settings files?
(This should be on a medium other than the internal hard drive and, if you
also want to protect against theft and fire, stored in a different
building.)
============================================================


Hi!

I've been creating a form in Word using a table. Everything was going
well, no troubles with splitting cells and merging cells and resizing
cells and then all of a sudden I could no longer make those kinds of
changes.

It's as if the table is locked or something but I don't know what I
did wrong and I can't figure out how to fix it. It won't let me
merge, or split or change the width of the cells... ?

Can anyone please help me?

Thank you very much!
Diane Dennis
 
D

Dayo Mitchell

Clive Huggan said:
And thank you for wishing me a terrific day. It happens to be my birthday,
and so far it has been going very well!

Cheers,
Happy Birthday, Clive!

Dayo
 
J

John McGhie [MVP - Word]

Go to Table>Select>Table and select the whole Table.

Then Table>Properties and check each of the tabs. The "Specify Row Height"
and "Specify Column Width" settings can do this if they conflict. Some of
the "Automatically resize to fit contents" specifications will produce this.

If all else fails, use Table>Convert>Table to Text, then immediately
Table>Convert>Text to Table (without moving the selection). This completely
rebuilds the table and removes the corruption (but you trash your merged
cells...)

Hope this helps


This responds to article <[email protected]>,
from "Diane Dennis said:
Hi!

I've been creating a form in Word using a table. Everything was going
well, no troubles with splitting cells and merging cells and resizing
cells and then all of a sudden I could no longer make those kinds of
changes.

It's as if the table is locked or something but I don't know what I
did wrong and I can't figure out how to fix it. It won't let me
merge, or split or change the width of the cells... ?

Can anyone please help me?

Thank you very much!
Diane Dennis

--

Please respond only to the newsgroup to preserve the thread.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
 

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