Google Docs – Getting to grips with tables (part 2)

This is the second part of a post on how to use tables in Google Docs. In part 1 we looked at inserting and deleting tables, inserting and deleting rows and columns, and changing the cell alignment. Here we’ll cover the following:

• Cell background colour
• Table borders
• Merging & unmerging rows & columns
• Cell padding

Table cell background colour

In the previous part, we have just a black and white table, which looks a little boring, so let’s add a little colour to it.

Select the top row. When you select something on the table, a few more options appear on the right-hand side of the toolbar. There’s the background fill icon, line colour, line thickness (weight) and line type).

Click on the background fill colour in the toolbar and you will be presented with the colour palette. Click on a colour.

As you can see it fills all the cells with that colour.

Alternatively, you could go to Table properties.  Click on the box below “Cell background colour” from the colour palette, click on a colour and press “OK”.

Note, you can colour in individual cells, just click on the cell you want and follow the steps above.

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Table borders

By default, all the lines (borders) on the table are black and 1pt in size, but we can change the colour, thickness and style of these.

Changing all the borders

First, let’s change the colour, thickness and style to all the lines in the table.

1) Select all the cells.

2) In the toolbar, you have the shortcuts to border colour, thickness, and style.

Colour – Click on the colour you want

Thickness – Click on the size you want

Style – There are only 3 styles. Click on the one you want.

The alternative way, is to go to Table properties. Here you can change the border colour and thickness, but it’s quicker to use the toolbar, plus you have the option of the style.

Changing specific borders

I’ve come across a lot of people that didn’t realise this option existed, but Docs also allows you to change specific borders, so you can format your table exactly how you want it. Here, you need to select which ones you want, then you edit them.

In this example, I’m going to add a thicker horizontal line to clearer show that groups 1 and 2 are separate, and then I’m going to add a thicker border all the way around the table.

1) Select the row you want.

2) In the cell on the right-hand side, click on the little triangle. This opens the line selecting menu.

3) I want the line below, so I click on the symbol in the middle to the right.

4) This selects the line.

5) Now, I want to edit it. When you select a line, the toolbar automatically changes and gives you three options, line colour, line thickness, and line style.

6) Here I just want to increase the thickness, so click on the icon and choose a larger number, e.g. 3pt.

As you can see, this has increased the thickness of that line.

You can also select multiple lines. This time I want to select the lines on the outside of the table.

1) Select all the cells and click on the little triangle in the top right-hand corner.

2) Select the top right icon.

3) This selects all the lines on the outside.

4) Go to the toolbar and select the line thickness you want, e.g. 6pt.

As you can see, it thickened the outside lines of the table.

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Merging & unmerging rows & columns

Apart from the normal grid pattern, sometimes you want certain rows or columns to be a different length or height from the rest. For example, you may want a category name or a title. To do this you need to merge the cells together. In the example below, I’ve added a row at the top of my table and I want to add a title to it.

1) Select all the cells you want to merge.

2) Right-click and select “Merge cells”.

As you can see all the cells in the top row have been merged together as one long cell.

Now I add my title.

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Table alignment

If you have a table that isn’t the width of the page, you may want to align it on the page, in a different way to the way your text is aligned. For example, generally I choose “justify” to align my text in the paragraphs, but if I have a table I often want it in the centre of the page. As you can see below the table is to the left of the page.

1) Right-click on your table and go to Table properties.

2) Under “Table alignment”, click on “Centre”.

This now centres the table on the page, but doesn’t affect the paragraph above it.

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Cell padding

The final thing I want to show you is cell padding. This allows you to change the amount of space there is around your text in the cell.

I usually use this if there is a lot of text in the cell. In the example below, I have my comments about a student and the text pretty much fills the cell. Let’s create a bit more space around it.

1) Right-click on the cell and go to Table properties.

2) Click on the box next to “Cell padding” and change the number (in cms).

As you can see, this has now created more space around the text, which may make it easier to read and look less cramp on the page.

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