Note: This article has done its job, and will be retiring soon. To prevent "Page not found" woes, we're removing links we know about. If you've created links to this page, please remove them, and together we'll keep the web connected.
Table styles in Microsoft Word allow you to change the format of a table at any time and still maintain a cohesive, professional-looking document.
A table style provides a consistent look to borders, shading, alignment, and fonts in tables. And, if you use table styles instead of direct formatting to format the content of a table cell and then you switch to a different table style, the content is automatically updated to match the new table style.
Apply a table style
-
Select the table that you want to format. The Table Tools appear.
-
On the Design tab under Table Tools, click a table style from the gallery of table styles.
Modify a table style
Within a table cell, you can use styles and direct formatting to format the content of the cell. Formatting that you apply this way overrides the formatting that comes from the table style.
1. You can apply formatting to the content of a table, such as changing the header text to blue.
2. When you switch to a different table style, the header text remains blue.
Tip: You can change the selection of table styles in the gallery by selecting or clearing check boxes in the Table Style Options section on the Design tab, before you open the gallery of table styles. For example, if your table has no header row, and you don't want rows to alternate shading, clear the Header Row and Banded Rows check boxes. When you open the gallery of table styles, you see previews that do not include formatting for header rows or banded rows.
