Insert and modify tables

- [Narrator] Tables allow you to present data in an easy to read format. In this video you'll learn to insert and modify tables. For the MOS exam make sure you know how to insert tables and edit content, modify table structure, format tables, and insert Excel worksheets. These are all really likely to be on the MOS exam so I've tagged each one with a MOS icon. The first objective is to insert tables and edit content. There are several ways to create tables within PowerPoint.

Let's start out by inserting a new slide after slide 11. I'll scroll down, select slide 11, then I'll click the New Slide down arrow, and choose Title and Content. One option is to click the insert table icon within the placeholder. Another option is to click Insert on the ribbon, and then click the Table drop down. Notice I can hover over the number of rows and columns that I'd like to choose, or I can click Insert Table, or I can click Draw Table. We'll also learn how to insert an Excel spreadsheet.

These are all good options, just make sure you're familiar with them so that you can use them during the MOS exam. For this example I'll click the Insert Table icon on the placeholder. Here I need a column with three columns and four rows. After adjusting the spinners I'll go ahead and click OK. You can see that the table is sized nicely within the placeholder. That's probably why I like this option best. From here I can click and type in the cells using the tab key to move from cell to cell.

I'll start by entering my headings. I can continue to press tab to move to the next row. The second objective in this section is to modify the table structure. I can easily add a row to the bottom of a table by clicking at the end of the last cell and pressing tab. If I change my mind I can use the Layout tab on the ribbon. I can choose Delete, and then choose to delete the row. Let's say I need to insert a row above the Room Service row. I'll click somewhere in that row and then I'll click Insert Above.

You can see I now have a row here and I can begin entering my text. Next, let's take a look at merging and splitting cells. I may want to add a title to this table, I can click in the table, click Insert Above, but I don't need the three cells that display in that row. I'll go ahead and highlight that entire row and then click Merge Cells from the ribbon. You can see that's now turned into one larger cell. Here I'll type Dining Options. I can also split cells. I'm clicked in the Dining Options row and I'll click Split Cells.

I'll choose to split into three columns and click OK. I don't think I like this option so I'll go ahead and press control + Z to undo that choice. Should I need to delete the entire table I can click on the Layout tab, click Delete, and then click Delete Table. I can size the rows and columns a couple different ways. I can place my mouse over the dividing bar between two columns and then I can drag to the right or the left. I can also double click on a boundary to auto fit the column.

If you're instructed to select a specific column width or height you can do so by clicking in that column, clicking the Layout tab, and then choosing to adjust the height or width. There's two areas to be careful of here. You can see in the cell size group of the ribbon we have height and width for the cell size. If I set the width here to 3.25 and press enter you can see that that column gets wider. We also have a table size height and width. If I adjust the width here I'll choose eight and press enter.

You can see it adjusts the width of the entire table. It's important to use the correct option when you're adjusting table versus a column. The third objective in this section is to format tables. Let's start by clicking the Design tab and let's take a look at Table Styles. I'll click the down arrow for the Table Style Gallery and take a look at the options. It's easy to run my mouse over these until I find one that I like. In an exam setting you'll be given something specific to pick such as Theme Style 1 - Accent 2.

I'll go ahead and click on this option to see it apply. I can of course format individual parts of the table using the Shading, Border, and Effect drop downs. Be sure to practice with these options so that you can find them quickly during the MOS exam. Another area of the ribbon is the Table Style Options. This is a great way to adjust the formatting of a table. For example I'll uncheck Banded Rows and notice that the shading every other row disappears. Maybe in this example I'd like Banded Columns. So it's easy to click around and choose what you think looks best.

Maybe I want to apply First Column formatting. You can see the first column now gets bold. Or maybe I need a Total Row. I'll go ahead and uncheck that option. Pay attention to these kind of options for the MOS exam. If I'm asked to adjust text alignment, I'll use the Layout tab for that. Notice the Alignment group within the ribbon. I'll go ahead and select the entire table by clicking on the border and I'll try some of the other alignment options. Notice I can center from right to left and even align in the middle from top to bottom.

I think I'll put this back at left aligned and top aligned. You can change the Text Direction here. You can adjust Cell Margins. So it's a good idea to go through these options and get comfortable with them. The last objective in this section is inserting an Excel worksheet. Oftentimes, you have table-type data in Excel that you'd like to reuse in PowerPoint. There's a couple ways to do this. You can copy and paste content from Excel to PowerPoint, you can embed as an object, or you can link.

I've opened 05_01 Rates from the exercise folder. In this Excel file we have a table that I'd like to reuse. I'd also like to point out at the bottom of the screen that there are two tabs within this Excel worksheet. I have a Rates tab and a Charts tab. It's important to make sure that the Rates tab is active and then I'll save and close the file before I import it. I'll go ahead and click Save, I'll go ahead and Close the file to return to PowerPoint. For this example, I'll choose the Home tab and create a new blank slide so I can add my table.

One of the ways to bring content into PowerPoint is to click Insert from the ribbon and then choose Object. From here, I'll choose to Create from file and then I'll click Browse. I'll choose 05_01 Rates and I'll double click the file to insert it. From here, I have two options. If I'm prompted to embed the file, I'll leave it as is and click OK. If I'm prompted to link the file, I'll click the Link box and then click OK. I'll go ahead and go the embed route and just click OK at this point.

You can see the table is inserted onto the slide. I'll go ahead and make it larger just by dragging, so that it's easier to see. And I'll use my arrows to kind of move it over. That looks better. Now, because it's embedded, I can double click on the table and I can actually click in here, I'll change the Wednesday number to 85 and press enter. So I'm able to make some adjustments to the table. The fact that it's embedded means that it lives just here in PowerPoint. So when I've updated that to 85, it did not update the original Excel file.

If I had chosen to link the file, when I did the double click, it would actually open the Excel version, I would make the change in Excel and it would be updated here. Or, I could have gone directly to Excel, made a change, saved and closed, and next time I open PowerPoint, this would have been updated. So the link can be nice because you keep both files the same, however, you do have to be careful not to break the link by moving the Excel file or renaming it or deleting it. With the embedded file, it's also easy to make a change, but I have a separate copy from Excel, so if I want them the same, I have to remember to update in both places.

My other option is to open Excel, highlight the table and copy and then come to PowerPoint and paste. Make sure you're familiar with all of the options for the MOS exam. So that's inserting and modifying tables. Working with tables is an important skill for the MOS exam, be sure to practice so you're comfortable with all of these options.