Page Orientation In Word
There are two page orientations you can use in Microsoft Word: portrait and landscape. The image below shows the page layout for each one.
You will usually find that the portrait orientation satisfies your needs. For example, letters are usually created in portrait. Indeed, portrait is the default orientation for new documents. Sometimes, however, you need a wider document. For example, sometimes I need to display a table that has either too many columns or very wide columns, and portrait will make the table looked cramped. The landscape page orientation is much better here as it provides more horizontal space.
Edit the format of your Microsoft Word table by selecting 'Table Format' from the Table menu on the top menu bar. In the dialog box you can change text alignment and wrapping, specify the size of rows, columns, cells, or the entire table.
To change the layout in Word, click Page Layout > Orientation, and select either the portrait or landscape layout.
Note that if you were creating a table in portrait layout, and discovered that the page width wasn't wide enough, when you then change the layout to be landscape, the table does't change its width to accommodate the new space. You will have to either adjust the table's dimensions manually or delete the table and start again.
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- 2 Merge Tables in MS Word
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- 4 Remove Borders Copying a Table From Excel to Word
Microsoft Word 2010 tables organize certain types of data on your document, but if you need to change a table's orientation -- essentially flipping it on one side making the rows into columns -- Word doesn't give you an obvious way to accomplish this task. Word does give you the option of changing the table's text orientation, which you can then use to simulate rotating the table by using a text box, but this process presents issues as the text box can be difficult to manipulate. Microsoft suggests an alternative method, using Excel 2010 to transpose the data.
Flip Using Text Box
1.Open the Microsoft Word 2010 document that holds your table. Click on the small '+' in the upper left corner of the table to select the entire table.
2.Click the 'Layout' tab at the top of the Word window. Click the 'Text Direction' button to cycle through having the text rotated to the table's left or right. Align the text to the left if you want to make the top row into the first column when you flip the table. Align the text to the right if you want to make the bottom row into the first column when you flip the table.
3.Select the 'Insert' tab at the top of the Word window. Click the 'Text Box' button in the 'Text' area of the ribbon. Choose 'Simple Text Box' from the list of options that appear.
4.Click and hold the mouse button on any of the corners of the text box. Drag your mouse away from the box until the text box is the same size as your table.
5.Click the '+' at the top left corner of the table again and press 'Ctrl+C' to copy the table. Click in the text box and press 'Delete' to erase the default text. Press 'Ctrl+V' to copy the table to the text box.
6.Click on the green circle above the text box and hold down the mouse button. Move the mouse to the left or right to rotate the text box until the table is aligned as you like it.
Flip Using Excel
1.Open the Microsoft Word 2010 document that holds the table you want to flip. Then open a new Microsoft Excel 2010 spreadsheet.
2.Bring up your Word document. Click the '+' in the upper left corner of your table to select the entire table. Press 'Ctrl+C' to copy the table.
3.Bring up your Excel spreadsheet and click on cell 'A1.' Click the 'Home' tab, then click the arrow under the 'Paste' button on the far left end of the ribbon. Click the 'Match Destination Formatting' button from the menu that appears.
4.Click and hold on the top left cell from your pasted table, then drag the mouse to the bottom right cell and release the mouse button. Press 'Ctrl+C' to copy the cells.
5.Select an empty cell below your pasted table. Click the arrow under the 'Paste' button on the ribbon and choose the 'Transpose' option. Your table will appear flipped.
6.Click on the top left cell of your flipped table, then drag your mouse to the bottom right cell. Press 'Ctrl+C' to copy the table. Bring up your Word document and delete your original table, then press 'Ctrl+V' to paste the flipped table into your document.
References (1)
About the Author
Shawn McClain has spent over 15 years as a journalist covering technology, business, culture and the arts. He has published numerous articles in both national and local publications, and online at various websites. He is currently pursuing his master's degree in journalism at Clarion University.
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McClain, Shawn. 'How to Flip a Table in Word.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/flip-table-word-29246.html. Accessed 10 November 2019.
McClain, Shawn. (n.d.). How to Flip a Table in Word. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/flip-table-word-29246.html
McClain, Shawn. 'How to Flip a Table in Word' accessed November 10, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/flip-table-word-29246.html
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