Table cell formatting

Once the table layout is satisfactory, you can move on to formatting the text in the individual cells. You can format each cell independently of other cells, or you can simultaneously format a group of cells by selecting them before applying the desired formatting.

Alignment

Table cells can be aligned both vertically and horizontally. To align horizontally use the horizontal alignment buttons from the Formating toolbar.

To align vertically use the vertical alignment buttons from the Table toolbar.

Background color

To change the background color of an individual or group of cells, select the cells and click on the button on the Table toolbar.

Borders

You can apply borders to any cell or group of cells using the table borders buttons in Table toolbar. Set the border layout, line type and color.

To change more border options open the Borders tab in Table formating window

Number format

Numerical data can be formatted into various formats. For example, cells can be set to display in a particular currency, to percentage, to 2 decimal places. To quickly format numbers in a table use the number format buttons. For more options open the Number Format dialog window.

Some examples of number formating are shown in the table below:

Protect cells

Protecting a cell prevents the user from accidentally changing the data. This can be useful when you want the users to edit only part of the table.

To protect a cell select it and the click on the button.

To cancel the protection click on the  button.

Sorting

Writer allows data in a table to be sorted. Up to three levels of sorting can be specified. For example, sort first by age numerically, then alphabetically by name within each age.

To sort data in a table:

1. Select the table (or part of the table) to be sorted.
2. Select the Sort icon from the Table toolbar.

In the Sort dialog:

1. Select the column number (key) to be sorted.
2. Select up to three keys to sort on, in the correct order.
3. For each key, select whether the sort is Numeric or Alphanumeric and whether it is Ascending or Descending.