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Subscribers: The Table Feature in Excel 2007

Posted on by Posted in Subscribers Excel 2007

The Table feature was a great addition to Excel 2007. A lot of folks aren’t even aware of it, much less impressed by it. A lot of you might even opine that a worksheet is just a table anyway. The answer is no. When you format an Excel worksheet as a table, it extends the functionality! Things that took several clicks are now completely effortless!

The easiest part is creating your table. Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Select any cell in your worksheet (with or without data).
  2. Click CTRL + T.
  3. When the Create Table dialog is displayed, click OK.
  4. If your worksheet contains header cells, select the My Table Has Headers option.

Create Table

  1. Excel will add a green bar format to your table and will enable an AutoFilter for each column. If you dislike the default format, you can always select a different one. There are sixty to choose from and you can simply select a new one from the Table Styles Gallery on your Design tab in the Table Tools Group of your Ribbon.

Design Choices

Note that the Design tab will not be visible unless you are in a cell of your table.

You can hover over each selection to see how your table would look with each design.

It is very easy to now add data.

  • Select the cell in any row below the last row of data and enter a value – MS Excel will extend your table format to include the new row. Also, any formulas that refer to the table will include the new row.
  • Click the Total Row option in the Table Style options group on your Design tab on your Tables Ribbon. This is a toggle option that will display and hide a row or formulas at the bottom of your table.
  • As you scroll down, take note that the heading labels are always visible without your having to do a thing!
  • Your total row will sum values in the last column only, but you can easily add more formulas. Each Column in the total row has a drop-down. All you have to do is select a function and Excel will do the rest for you!
  • If you add a formula to the first empty column to the right, your table extends to include this formula and copies the new formula to the remaining rows.

I am sure you will find many uses for this feature now that you know about it!