Word 2000 in a Nutshell

Name

Table → Split Cells

Synopsis

The Table → Split Cells command (Figure 10-14) is used to split a cell or selected range of cells into a specified number of rows and columns. When using the command on multiple cells, the “Merge cells before split” option becomes available. This turns several cells into one large cell before subdividing that larger cell. The data is dispersed throughout the cells into only the first row of new cells created in the split instead of throughout all cells on all rows. This is a problem that Microsoft has acknowledged in Word, but has not yet fixed.

Figure 10-14. Splitting cells into additional cells of uniform width and height

When working with freehand tables and attempting to split a range of cells, the “Number of columns” or “Number of rows” options are sometimes not available, as Word has trouble splitting cells that are not of the same size. Even when the commands are available, they sometimes do not work at all or produce strange effects. When working with freehand tables, it is usually better to split any cells manually using the table drawing tool.