Create columns and rows in word

To make room for more information in a table, you can add rows and columns without leaving Word for the web.

1. First, if you’re in Reading View, click Edit Document > Edit in Word for the web.

   

2. Click anywhere in the table that you want to change. You’ll see Table Tools appear above the ribbon.

   

3. Under Table Tools, click Layout. This opens options for inserting rows and columns, plus other table options.

   

4. Put your cursor wherever in the table you want to add a column or row.

   • To insert a row, click Insert Above or Insert Below.

   • To insert a column, click Insert Left or Insert Right.

Tip: If you also want to change the look of your table, check out the options on the Table Tools > Design tab.

Insert and Edit a Table with Multiple Columns and Rows in Word

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated August 23, 2022

Applies to: Microsoft^® Word^® 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)

You can create a table in a Word document in 4 easy ways using the Ribbon. A table is a grid made up of columns and rows that intersect to form cells. You can insert text, numbers and images in a table. Once you have inserted a table, you can easily add and resize columns and rows and change table formatting.

It’s best to avoid using Draw Table to create a table since the table may not be created in a consistent way.

Note: Buttons and Ribbon tabs may display in a different way (with or without text) depending on your version of Word, the size of your screen and your Control Panel settings. For newer versions of Word, Ribbon tabs may appear with different names. For example, the Table Design tab may appear as Table Tools Design.

In the following example, a table with 4 columns and 5 rows has been inserted in a Word document:

Recommended article: 10 Microsoft Word Shortcuts for Moving Around in Tables

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Create a table using the Table Grid

To insert a table using Insert Table and select columns and rows in the Table Grid:

1. Click in the Word document where you want to insert a table.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Table in the Tables group. A drop-down menu appears with a Table Grid.
4. Hover over the grid until the number of columns and rows you want is selected.
5. Click in the highlighted area of the grid to insert a table.

To insert a table, select cells in the Table Grid as follows:

Create a table using the Insert Table dialog box

To insert a table using the Insert Table dialog box:

1. Click in the Word document where you want to insert a table.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Table in the Tables group. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Select Insert Table. A dialog box appears.
5. Enter the number of columns and rows you want to create.
6. Select the desired options below AutoFit behavior (typically Fixed column width: Auto).
7. Click OK.

The Insert Table dialog box appears with options to select the number of columns and rows:

Create a table using Quick Tables

To insert a table using Quick Tables:

1. Click in the Word document where you want to insert a table.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Table in the Tables group. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Select Quick Tables. A gallery appears.
5. Click the table you want to insert.

Quick Tables appear in the Table drop-down menu:

Create a table by converting text to a table

If you have used tabs or other delimiters in paragraphs, you can convert the data into a table (if the delimiters are entered consistently). Wherever you have pressed Enter or Return to create a new paragraph, Word will create a new table row. You can use various delimiters to separate data but the most common are tabs, spaces or commas.

To convert delimited data to a table:

1. Select the text that you want to convert.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Table in the Tables group. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Select Convert Text to Table. A dialog box appears.
5. Enter the number of columns if necessary and ensure a delimiter is selected in the Separate text at area.
6. Under AutoFit behavior, choose how you want your table to appear. Word chooses a width for the table columns by default. If you want a different column width, choose AutoFit to contents or AutoFit to window.
7. Click OK.

In the Convert Text to Table dialog box, enter the number of columns as well as the delimiter:

Show table gridlines

Gridlines show the cell boundaries of a table on screen if table borders are not applied. Gridlines appear only on the screen and are not printed.

Gridlines are not visible when you view a document in a Web browser or in Print Preview.

To show table gridlines in a Word document:

1. Click in a table.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Table group, check View Gridlines.

View Gridlines appears on the Table Tools Layout or Table Layout tab in the Ribbon:

Move around in a table

You can use the following keys to move from one cell to another in a table:

• Tab to move to the next cell to the right.
• Shift-Tab to move to the cell to left.
• Ctrl-Tab to tab within a cell.

Add a row or a column

To add a row in a table:

1. Click in a cell that is located above or below where you want to add a row.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. To add a row above the cell you clicked in, click Insert Above in the Rows and Columns group. To add a row below the cell you clicked in, in the Rows and Columns group, click Insert Below.

The commands to insert rows or columns appear on the Table Tools Layout or Table Layout tab in the Ribbon:

You can also right-click in a row and choose Insert from the drop-down menu and insert options from the sub-menu.

If you click in the last cell in a table and press Tab, Word will automatically add a row.

To add a column in a table:

1. Click in a cell that is located to the right or left of where you want to add a column.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. To add a column to the left of the cell you clicked in, click Insert Left in the Rows and Columns group. To add a column to the right of the cell you clicked in, in the Rows and Columns group, click Insert Right.

You can also right-click in a row and choose Insert from the drop-down menu and insert options from the sub-menu.

Delete a column or row

To delete a row or column:

1. Select the row or column (drag over the cells or click to the left of a row or above a column when the arrow appears).
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Rows & Columns group, click Delete. A drop-down menu applears.
4. Click Delete Rows or Delete Columns as appropriate.

You can also right-click in a row or column and choose Delete from the drop-down menu and delete options from the sub-menu.

Change column width

To change column width:

1. Select the column or columns you want to change.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Properties in the Table group. You can also right-click and choose Properties from the drop-down menu. A dialog box appears.
4. Click the Column tab.
5. Check Preferred Width.
6. Type the new measurement for the column width. For example, typer 1.0″ or click the up and down arrows.
7. Click OK.

The Table Properties dialog box appears as follows with the Column tab selected:

You can also drag the right line of a column to resize it.

Change row height

To change row height:

1. Select the row or rows you want to change.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Properties in the Table group. You can also right-click and choose Properties from the drop-down menu. A dialog box appears.
4. Click the Row tab.
5. Check Specify Height.
6. Type the new measurement for the row height. For example, type 1.0″ or click the up and down arrows.
7. Specify row height as At Least or Exactly.
8. Click OK.

The Table Properties dialog box appears as follows with the Row tab selected:

You can also drag the bottom line of a row to resize it.

Distribute rows and columns evenly

To distribute rows and columns evenly:

1. Select the entire table by clicking the four-arrows that appear on the top left of the table.
2. Click the Table Layout or Table Tools Layout tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Distribute Rows and / or Distribute Columns in the Cell Size group.

Apply a table style

To apply a table style:

1. Click in the table.
2. Click the Table Design or Table Tools Design tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click a table style or click the More arrow to display the Table Styles gallery and click a style.

Table Styles gallery appears on the Table Tools Design or Table Design tab in the Ribbon:

To learn more about working with table styles, check out the article How to Format Microsoft Word Tables Using Table Styles (Ultimate Guide).

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In this chapter, we’ll talk about How to add rows and columns in MS Word. As we talked about in the last chapter, a table is made up of columns on the left and rows on the right, with a cell at each intersection. This chapter will show you how to add and remove rows and columns from a table.

What is row and column in MS Word?

A Word table can have up to 63 columns in a Word document. This is the maximum number of columns that can be in a Word document. In addition, you can have as many rows as you want. Word Document, specifically, allows you to put 32, 767 rows in one table.

Add Table Rows Using Tab

Adding rows to your table is easiest if you put your cursor in the cell in the bottom-right corner of your table and then press Tab on your keyboard.

This will add a new row. When you want to add a row, you can choose the cell at the bottom right and press Tab again. If you choose another cell and press Tab, the cursor will move to the next cell. A new row is only automatically added to the last cell.

Add a column to the table

Adding more columns to a Word document is not hard for you to do. To add a column to the table, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Place the cursor where you want to add a column to the table.

Step 2: Right-click on the table, a list of options will show up. Click the drop-down arrow next to the Insert icon.

• Click on the Insert Columns to the Left to add the column left side of the table.
• Click on the Insert Column to the Right to add the column right side of the table.

• Step 3: The screenshot below shows that column is added to the table.

Use the Ribbon Menu to Add Rows or Columns

If you have a table in a Word document, you can use the ribbon menu to see more ways to add rows and columns.

Use the Layout tab in the top ribbon menu to get to these options. The only thing that’s not clear is why there are two tabs called Layout in the menu bar. You need to click the “Layout” tab, which is next to “Table Design” on the right.

When you choose this, you’ll see a list of table-related options here. Since our goal is to add rows and columns, we’ll pay attention to the “Rows & Columns” command group.

If you want to add a row above the cell you’ve chosen in your Microsoft Word table, click “Insert Above.” To add a row below the cell you’ve chosen, click “Insert Below.” Here, we will add a row to the bottom of the cell.

You can also quickly add columns with the buttons here. If you click “Insert Right,” a column will be added to the right of the cell. In the same way, “Insert Left” will add a column to the left of the cell that is currently selected. In our example, we are going to add a column to the right.

You can also click the arrow icon that’s to the right of the “Rows & Columns” command group to reveal a few more options.

Here, you can add rows or columns by clicking “Insert entire row” or “Insert entire column.”

Use Delete Key to Remove Rows and Columns

The following steps are using Delete key to remove rows and columns in word document.

Summary

In the end, we’ve learned how to add rows and columns to a table in MS Word and what those terms mean. We also know that there are different ways to add rows and columns to a table, which we can use in our document to make it look more professional and presentable.

Meanwhile, if you want to learn more about working on tables, see the previous tutorial on how to create tables in Microsoft Word. In our format text and pages tutorial, you’ll also learn how to change page orientation and cover page etc. You can browse those guides if you are having a hard time formatting your documents.

We hope this tutorial helps you as you format your documents in MS Word.

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A table is a collection of information or data, usually represented by horizontal rows and vertical columns. Each column and each row can have a header. Some tables have only column headings or only row headings. The box at the junction of each column and row is a cell that contains data such as text, numeric information, or images. Some cells can be merged or split (see more about formatting tables). E.g.:

Microsoft Word has many features that make working with tables simple and convenient.

Create a table

There are several ways how to insert or create a table:

To create a blank table in a Word document, do the following:

   1.   Place your cursor where you want to insert the table.

   2.   On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click the Table button:

   3.   Do one of the following:

Create a blank table of up to 10 columns and 8 rows

• To create a table of up to 10 columns and 8 rows, move the cursor right (to select columns) and down (to select rows) the grid to select as many cells as you need. E.g., the table of 5 columns and 3 rows (selected cells will turn orange):

  

  Click on a cell in the grid with the expected number of rows and columns (or press Enter) to insert an empty table to fit the width of the text (paragraph).

  The table has the specified number of single-line text rows in the current paragraph and equal-width columns. E.g., the table of 3 rows and 5 columns:

  

Create a blank table with more than 10 columns or more than 8 rows

• To create a table with more than 10 columns or more than 8 rows, do one of the following:
  • Create a table with exactly 10 columns or 8 rows, then add as many columns or rows as you need (see below how to customize table).
  • Click the Insert Table… option:

    

    In the Insert Table dialog box:

    

    • In the Table size group, specify the number of columns and rows,
    • In the AutoFit behavior group, specify the width of the table and its columns:
      • Select the Fixed column width option to customize width in the appropriate field: select Auto (used by default) or specify width. E.g., 0.75″:

      

      • Select the AutoFit contents option to adjust cell sizes to the document content. E.g.:

      

      • Select the AutoFit to window option to adjust the table’s width to the document content width. E.g.:

      

    • Select the Remember dimension for new tables check box if you want to create tables with the same options later. Word will remember your customization.

Create a blank table manually

• To manually create an empty table, click the Draw Table option:

  

  After clicking that option, the cursor changes to the pencil that allows drawing cells directly in the Word document to create a table:

  

  Click anywhere in a document but the table itself by the pencil to stop drawing a table.

  Notes:

  1. To draw additional lines, select a table, then on the Table Layout tab, in the Draw group, click the Draw Table button:

     

  2. If you draw a line in the wrong position, click the Eraser button in the Draw group of the Table Layout tab:

     
  3. We recommend displaying the rulers or gridlines to help you place the lines correctly.

Create a table using predefined templates

To create a table using predefined Word templates of tables and calendars, do the following:

   1.   Place your cursor where you want to insert the table.

   2.   On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click the Table dropdown list, then select Quick Tables list:

   3.   From the Quick Tables gallery, select the template you prefer.

For example:

Create a table from the existing data

To create a table from the existing data in a document data (either as regular text or as a tabbed list), do the following:

   1.   Select the document data you want to shape into a new table.

   2.   On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click the Table dropdown list, then select Convert Text to Table…:

   3.   In the Convert Text to Table dialog box:

• In the Table size group, specify the number of columns,
• In the AutoFit behavior group, specify whether the width of the columns should be fixed (see details above),
• In the Separate text at group, select the character that separates text into columns in the selected text: paragraph marks, commas, tabs, or some other character.

E.g.:

Insert a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet

Note: It is possible to insert a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet in a document. To do so, on the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click the Table dropdown list, then select Excel Spreadsheet:

Word opens the Excel spreadsheet where you can enter the data. You can use Excel features such as functions and formulas to create or manipulate the data. Note that it is not a Word table.

Add rows and columns

To add a row and a column to a table, do the following:

   1.   Position the cursor:

• to a cell in a row above or below which you need to insert a row,
• to a cell in a column left or right which you need to insert a column.

   2.   Do one of the following:

• Click the Insert dropdown list in the Mini toolbar:

  
• On the Table Layout tab, in the Rows & Columns group:

  

  • Click the Insert Above button to insert a row above the row with the cursor,
  • Click the Insert Below button to insert a row below the row with the cursor,
  • Click the Insert Left button to insert a column left to the column with the cursor,
  • Click the Insert Right button to insert a column right to the column with the cursor.
• Right-click and select the Insert list:

  

Notes:

1. To insert rows or columns, move the mouse over the table or left of the table until you see the Insertion indicator, then click the icon:

     and  
   

2. You can choose the option Insert -> Insert Cells… from the popup menu; Word opens the Insert Cells dialog box:

   

   After selecting the option and clicking the OK button, Word adds an entire row or column, not a cell. Word just moves cells according to the selection.

Delete a table element

To delete a table element, do the following:

   1.   Select the cell, multiple cells, the entire column or multiple columns, the entire row, or multiple rows.

   2.   Do one of the following:

• Click the Delete dropdown list in the Mini toolbar:

  

• On the Table Layout tab, in the Rows & Columns group, click the Delete dropdown list, then select one of the options:

  

   3.   Select one of the proposed options:

Note: You can select the element you want to delete, right-click on the selection and select the appropriate item in the popup menu. For example, if the entire table is selected or the column is selected:

  and  

Convert a table into text

To convert a table into text in Word, follow the next steps:

   1.   Click anywhere in the table.

   2.   On the Layout tab, in the Format group, click the Convert to Text button:

   3.   In the Convert Table to Text dialog box, select the charter to separate cells data in the text:

   4.   Click OK.