Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Organizing a BBQ by adding sauce to a Word table

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Girls having hotdog picnicI don't know how it happened, but I've ended up being the designated organizer for our large, extended-family camping trips.  I think it's because I love organizing things (some may call it being bossy) and I like laying out information clearly and visually.

This way, everyone knows what they are supposed to do and when they are supposed to do it. No one forgets the barbecue sauce or the key-lime pie we all look forward to!

Word tables make my job really easy, so I'm going to show you how I set up our meal plans using them.

To set up a table in Word, go to Insert, click Table, then drag your mouse over the boxes to add the number of rows and columns you need, then click. This inserts the table in your document. I need four columns and seven rows to keep all of the cooks and meals straight, so that's what I choose.


Here's my table for our weekend meals. Everything is clearly laid out, so it's easy to pressure Mark to bring his special dessert--see the star by his name?

Jazzing up the table will help me call out important information. Family members will most want to know what they're cooking and with whom.  I'll make the top row (the header row) and the first column stand out so there can be no excuses. (See, told you I was bossy.)

To add these highlights, I select the the table, then on Design tab, go to Table Style Options, and select Header Row and First Column. Then I expand Table Styles by clicking the arrow at the bottom right.

 

 As I mouse over the different table styles, I get a preview of each one.  I choose this style because I think white against blue pops:


Everyone ribs me about being a micro-manager, but none of us ever goes hungry on our camping trips. Here's more information on working with table styles in Word:

Which table style should I use?

Apply table styles


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