Want Table cells in Word to format like in Excel

[XtremeAviation]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Older version (Leopard 9.1)
I am trying to do up an invoice in Word and am using tables within it. I want to be able to utilise the Cells for various formats/categories, such as, time, numbers with varying decimal places and accounting ($0.00), like in Excel. Is there a way to do this as I am currently stumped?
I don't really want to use Excel for invoicing as most of our invoices are emailed and I don't want the whole 'worksheet' viewable. Unless of course there is a way to make an Excel Spreadsheet to ONLY be one page????
Thanks in advance for anyone who can assist. Cheers, XA

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi,

there are a number of options available to you.

You can create your invoice entirely in Excel, as it is possible to fit an
entire Excel spreadsheet on just one page. To do that, open the Formatting
Palette, expand the Page Setup section and check the option "Fit to 1 page
wide / 1 page tall". You can also use Page Layout view (View>Page Layout) to
help you with the layout.

You can also create the invoice in Word and simply copy the table from Excel
into the Word document. You could even link it to the table in the Excel
document, which means that every time you change the data in the
spreadsheet, these changes also appear in the Word document. If you need
help with this, post back.

 

[CyberTaz]

First question: No, Table Cells in Word cannot be formatted for numbers the
way they can in Excel. You'd need to insert Text Form Fields formatted for
currency into the Table Cells. IOW, your invoice template needs to be
designed as a Form. On a related note, you can do calculations in a Word
Table but the calculation fields do not automatically update when the
precedent values are entered or changed. The calc fields have to be updated
as a separate operation in order to have them display the proper result.

Second question: I agree with Michel that Excel is a better vehicle for an
invoice -- especially if you're not intimately familiar with the use of
Fields, switches & other elements of form design in Word. I do respectfully
diverge from his suggestion in at least one regard though

Although you can make the content in Excel *fit* on one page you can't
really restrict the workbook file itself to that size. The remainder of the
sheet is still there no matter what you do. If you send a copy of the
workbook the recipient can alter it in any way they wish unless you use
Protection features... And even if you do, they can Save As or copy/paste to
create an editable file form your invoice.

Design your invoice in Excel to fit on whatever page size you prefer...
Letter, A4, etc. with the appropriate margins & whatever. Once it's
complete, select that range of cells & use File> Print Area> Set Print Area.
Each time you generate a new invoice print as a PDF & send that rather than
sending the recipient an actual copy of the Excel workbook file. There are
any number of practical reasons for not sending a copy of the workbook, the
very least of which is that anyone without an Excel-compatible app won't be
able to open the file. Anyone with any type of computer running any OS can
read a PDF & it displays as intended.

You might go to the MS site for Office Templates & have a look at some of
what's there for ideas. You may find something that you only need modify a
bit in order to save yourself some time & effort. Most any of the templates
for Excel 2003 & prior can be used on a Mac.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[XtremeAviation]

Thanks to both replies. I ended up using CyberTaz's suggestion of the "Set Print Area" & then "Print/Save As PDF" & send via email. It looks fabulous and is totally 'untouchable'!!!! Thanks again, I really appreciate it. Cheers, Reisha from XtremeAviation.