It’s about time that the table feature in PowerPoint 2007 was updated! In fact, Microsoft has updated the feature throughout the Microsoft Office system to make using tables in Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007 much easier. In the following sections, we’ll cover the most common aspects of using tables: adding a new one to your presentation, drawing your own table, copying a table from Word 2007 or Excel 2007, inserting a spreadsheet directly from Excel 2007, and applying and changing table styles.
The most common way to add a table to your presentation is to use the standard options provided by PowerPoint 2007. You can easily make theme changes to a table created in this manner.
To add a table, follow these steps:
Click Table in the Tables group on the Insert tab. You will see the Insert Table drop-down box with rows and columns of cells.
Drag the pointer over the rows and columns of cells until you have the correct number of each for your table. As you do this, the header changes from "Insert Table" to "X x X Table," showing you how many rows and columns you have selected. Watch your slide, too. PowerPoint 2007 shows the table on your slide as you rest the pointer on the cells.
Click to add the table to your presentation.
Sometimes, it’s preferable to draw your own table rather than use the standard options provided by PowerPoint 2007. In that case, you simply need to use the Draw Table option. This option allows you to draw the borders of a table and then insert the columns and rows and add designs as you want. Although the automated table design option in PowerPoint 2007 is useful, sometimes building a table without any predetermined design can help you arrange the content you want to display in it more easily. Theme changes are easy to make when you draw your own table, too.
To draw a table, follow these steps:
Click Table in the Tables group on the Insert tab.
Click Draw Table. The pointer will change to a pencil when you rest it on the slide.
Define the boundaries of your table by clicking and then dragging the pencil diagonally to the size you want. Then click Draw Table in the Draw Borders group, and click within the table to draw row and column boundaries.
If you need to erase a line, click the Eraser tool in the Draw Borders group on the Design tab, under Table Tools. Then, click the line you want to erase.
When you have drawn the table to your satisfaction, type text in your cells.
Often, a table exists in another program that makes a perfect visual reference for your PowerPoint 2007 presentation. You can copy the table to your presentation and then change the table to match your PowerPoint theme using the commands on the Design tab.
To copy a table from Word 2007 or Excel 2007, follow these steps:
Inserting a blank Excel spreadsheet is advantageous because you can use the actual functionality of Excel in your presentation. The spreadsheet becomes an embedded object, however, so changes to your PowerPoint 2007 theme will not apply. Also, you cannot edit the spreadsheet with PowerPoint 2007 options. To insert a spreadsheet from Excel 2007, follow these steps:
In PowerPoint 2007, tables don’t have to be boring and plain. Although the ability to add color and limited effects to tables has always been part of PowerPoint, it’s now so easy to create a flashy table that you will likely have to restrain yourself from going overboard. When you add a table to a presentation, PowerPoint 2007 applies a style to it based on the overall presentation theme you have chosen. Change the theme, and your table changes as well (although the content won’t change). Sometimes, however, you don’t want a table to reflect the overall presentation theme. In that case, you will want to apply a table style.
Table styles are just combinations of formatting options you can select to change the look and feel of your table. You also have the option of changing a single cell or combination of cells by selecting shading, borders, and fonts. But let’s talk about table styles specifically:
Each style appears in a thumbnail view on the Design tab, under Table Tools, in the Table Styles group.
You can apply or change a table style by double-clicking the table and making a selection from the Table Styles or Quick Styles group. (You can see previews of how the style will affect your table by simply resting the pointer on the style.)
When you make a selection in either the Table Styles or Quick Styles group, the table will change instantly on your slide.
You can remove styles by first clicking the Design tab, under Table Tools, and then clicking the More button in the Table Styles group. Finally, click Clear Table.
Quick Style options include banded rows and columns, special formatting for the first or last columns in a table, a total row, and special formatting for the header row.