How to Convert Text to a Table in Microsoft Word

By eHow Computers Editor

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If you have text in a Microsoft Word document that you would like to see in a table, you can choose to convert that text to a table. It's easier than creating a new table and rekeying or copying and pasting the text. You will need to add text separators so Word knows where you want columns and rows to appear. The rest is automatically done.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Microsoft Word

Step1

Start Microsoft Word and open an existing document that has text in it that you would like to convert to a table.

Step2

Indicate where you want your columns to be by inserting a separator character, such as a comma or tab, after each section of text that you want to appear in a separate column. For instance if you want your first column to read "Orange" and your second column to read "Yellow," you would key "orange, yellow."

Step3

Insert a paragraph mark to indicate where you want a row to be started. You can insert a paragraph mark by pressing the enter key on your keyboard.

Step4

Click and drag to select the text you want to be converted into a table.

Step5

Choose the "Table" menu, "Convert" and then click "Text to Table…" to open the "Convert Text to Table" dialog box.

Step6

Set the table size options to indicate how many columns and rows you would like to appear in your table, if the appropriate numbers do not already show up.

Step7

Choose the Autofit behavior and indicate the text separator you used to separate your columns in the "Convert Text to Table" dialog box and click OK to view your newly created table.