How To Create Tables

AbiWord has sophisticated table creation tools. You can create tables of any size, embed tables in one another, and merge cells to create headings. It is easiest to create tables in AbiWord if the Table toolbar is visible. It can be turned on from the View menu. The commands are also found in the Table menu.

The left-most button of the Table toolbar inserts a new table. When you click it, you are presented with a grid, with some of the cells highlighted. The inserted table will be the same size as the highlighted grid.

Alternatively, you can go to the Table menu and open the Insert Table dialog.

Once you have a table, you can move between the cells using the arrow keys on your keyboard. As you type in a cell, the text is wrapped to fit in the cell, and the height of the row is automatically adjusted. To finish editing a table, use the arrow keys to move out of it.

If you need to add another row, press the button on the Table toolbar showing a horizontal block being pushed into a pile. This inserts a new table row underneath the row containing the insertion point.

To nest tables, put the insertion point in a table cell, and insert another table.

To merge cells, you must open the Merge Cells dialog. You can do this by pressing the rightmost button on the table toolbar, or by choosing Merge cells... from the Table menu.

The Table menu also contains the command for the Format Table dialog. This dialog allows you to change the appearance of the table lines, and to set the background color for cells.

You can remove rows or columns from a table using the Delete Rows and Delete Columns commands from the Table menu, or the delete buttons on the Table toolbar. The Table menu also has a Delete Table command, which will remove the whole table from your document.