How to Do Table Calculations in Word 2007

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By eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating: (4 Ratings)

Microsoft Word 2007 is the latest and greatest version of the popular word processing software. Word 2007 makes calculations more user-friendly and the process more robust. While the more complicated calculations still reside in Microsoft Excel, Word 2007 table functions are more than sufficient for the everyday user of Word 2007. Read on to learn how to do table calculations in Word 2007.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Step 1

Open the Microsoft Word 2007 document. Locate the Word document on the hard drive and double click on the file icon.
Step 2

Create the table in Microsoft Word 2007. Click on the "Insert" tab from the main menu. Then select "Table" and choose the appropriate size of the table.
Step 3

Enter the column titles, row titles and figures for the table. Label each column and row appropriately and enter the numbers for the table calculations. Be sure to leave a blank table cell to place the calculations in.
Step 4

Understand the row and column numbering system. In order to compute the numbers in the table one must understand that the columns are referred to as letters and rows are numbers. Therefore, the first cell in the table is A1 and the cell to the right is B1. The cell below A1 is A2. These are the references, which the column and row calculations are based upon.
Step 5

Place the cursor in the column cell where the computation will occur. Next, select "Layout" from the main menu tabs. In addition, from the layout menu choose the "Formula" button.
Step 6

Type in the particular calculation in the designated formula box. For example if a user has numbers in the A2 and A3 box and wants them added together, simply type "=A2+A3". The default formula is the Sum function formula.
Step 7

Know the basic formula symbols. For addition it is "+", for subtraction "-", for multiplication "*" and for division "/".

Comments

carick70 said

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on 9/17/2009 The way to make the calculations work automatically is to go to the properties of each field and check the "calculate on exit" box. This way, the calculations will happen when the person tabs out of the field.

mrswatt said

on 8/25/2009 This works, but you have to manually update the calculations each time you change a figure; it won’t do it automatically. Makes the ability useless as far as my needs are as I am trying to create a protected document (fill-in form) and need the user to change only selected (allowed) fields and have the calculations take place automatically. Anyone who knows how to accomplish this, please let me know!