Aligning text in tables

Hi,

I'm tidying up a long document that contains many tables with columns of
numbers. The document owners insist on show negative numbers in brackets and
there are also quite a few tables with numbers with decimal places.

I created a style for 'Table Numbers' which includes a decimal tab to help
line these numbers up. Unfortunately some tables have quite long numbers (or
wide columns to accomodate headings) while others are small. Becuase I can't
define the decimal tab in terms of the distance from the right (rather than
the left) of the cell the tab position for 'Table Numbers' is not always
appropriate (the ability to define tabs in terms of their distance from the
right of a cell must surely be on the wish list for Word?).

The best solution I have managed is to create three styles ('Table Numbers
Narrow', 'Table Numbers', 'Table Numbers Wide') and also to create three
macros that will automatically size selected columns to Narrow, Normal or
Wide.

Does anyone have a better solution to this problem? The tables vary greatly
in the number and width of columns so I don't think the AutoText route is
appropriate.

Thanks

Paul

--
Visit my website www.pdtech.co.uk for Access Developer Resources

FWIW, I just set these on the fly. Not very efficient, I admit, but given
the infinite variety of table column widths, it's the only approach I find
practical.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Paul" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm tidying up a long document that contains many tables with columns of
numbers. The document owners insist on show negative numbers in brackets
and
there are also quite a few tables with numbers with decimal places.

I created a style for 'Table Numbers' which includes a decimal tab to help
line these numbers up. Unfortunately some tables have quite long numbers
(or
wide columns to accomodate headings) while others are small. Becuase I
can't
define the decimal tab in terms of the distance from the right (rather
than
the left) of the cell the tab position for 'Table Numbers' is not always
appropriate (the ability to define tabs in terms of their distance from
the
right of a cell must surely be on the wish list for Word?).

The best solution I have managed is to create three styles ('Table Numbers
Narrow', 'Table Numbers', 'Table Numbers Wide') and also to create three
macros that will automatically size selected columns to Narrow, Normal or
Wide.

Does anyone have a better solution to this problem? The tables vary
greatly
in the number and width of columns so I don't think the AutoText route is
appropriate.

Thanks

Paul

--
Visit my website www.pdtech.co.uk for Access Developer Resources

Thanks, I'm trying to tidy up existing documents and want a quick solution
(on the fly would be fine if I was creating from scratch), plus consistency
throughout. I also want to lock down the styles, even in tables, so that I
can force the users to only use the styles and no manual formatting.

--
Visit my website www.pdtech.co.uk for Access Developer Resources
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
FWIW, I just set these on the fly. Not very efficient, I admit, but given
the infinite variety of table column widths, it's the only approach I find
practical.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Paul" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm tidying up a long document that contains many tables with columns of
numbers. The document owners insist on show negative numbers in brackets
and
there are also quite a few tables with numbers with decimal places.

I created a style for 'Table Numbers' which includes a decimal tab to
help
line these numbers up. Unfortunately some tables have quite long numbers
(or
wide columns to accomodate headings) while others are small. Becuase I
can't
define the decimal tab in terms of the distance from the right (rather
than
the left) of the cell the tab position for 'Table Numbers' is not always
appropriate (the ability to define tabs in terms of their distance from
the
right of a cell must surely be on the wish list for Word?).

The best solution I have managed is to create three styles ('Table
Numbers
Narrow', 'Table Numbers', 'Table Numbers Wide') and also to create three
macros that will automatically size selected columns to Narrow, Normal or
Wide.

Does anyone have a better solution to this problem? The tables vary
greatly
in the number and width of columns so I don't think the AutoText route is
appropriate.

Thanks

Paul

--
Visit my website www.pdtech.co.uk for Access Developer Resources