Add your own table style to Word's AutoFormat Gallery

Do you find that the available table styles in Microsoft Word's AutoFormat feature are never exactly what you need? There may be one style that you use often, yet even with that style, you find yourself modifying it each time you use it.

For example, suppose every time you choose the Table Contemporary style, you need to change the header row color to light green, the text alignment to center, and the font color in the last row to red. Word let's you add the modified style to the AutoFormat Gallery so you only need to reformat the style once.

Follow these steps to add your modified table style to the AutoFormat Gallery:

1. Put your cursor in the table that will include the modified style.
2. Go to Table | Table AutoFormat.
3. Press the New button.
4. In the Name text box, enter a name for the style (e.g., ABC Company Table Contemporary).
5. Click the Style Based On drop-down box and select Table Contemporary.
6. Click the Apply Formatting To drop-down box and select Header Row.
7. Click the Fill button and choose light green.
8. Click the Align button and select Center.
9. Click the Apply Formatting To drop-down box and select Last Row.
10. Click the Font Color button and select red.
11. Select the Add To Template check box and then click OK.
12. Press Apply.

The new style is applied to the table and added to the AutoFormat Gallery. You can now apply your modified style when working with any Word document based on the original document's template.

Microsoft Excel

If you ever enter a very large number into a cell, you'll notice that Microsoft Excel displays it in scientific notation. For example, when you enter the number 1231231231234 in a cell, Excels displays 1.23123E+12. No matter how large you make the cell width, Excel still displays a number larger then 12 characters in scientific notation.

To display the number in a format other than scientific notation, you need to reformat the cell(s). Here's how:

1. Select the cells that will hold the larger values and right-click the selection.
2. Select Format Cells.
3. In the Number tab, select the desired format (e.g., Number) and click OK.

Now when you enter the values that have more than 12 characters they will be formatted as numbers and not scientific notation.

Microsoft Access

When Microsoft Access users complain that a parameter query does not work, it may be that the Query Parameter's data type does not match the field's data type.

For example, to obtain a listing of the hours each employee worked for the week ending 05/20/2005, the user might enter 5/20/05. Since, by default, the data type for a query parameter is text, it would not match a Week Ending field whose data type is Date/Time and formatted as mm/dd/yyyy.

If you don't want your users to concern themselves with date formats, change the data type for the query parameter by following these steps:

1. Open the Parameter Query in design view.
2. Right-click the table pane.
3. Select Parameters.
4. Under Parameter, type Enter Week Ending Date (your parameter prompt without the brackets).
5. Select Date/Time from the Data Type drop-down box.
6. Click OK.

Now users can enter the week ending date in any format and still obtain the correct results.