Selecting Table Elements

To work effectively with a table, you'll need to know how to select its elements. You can select an entire table; one or more rows and columns; an individual cell or multiple cells; and nonadjacent cells , rows, or columns .

To select the entire table:

• Click the table's upper-left corner.

  or

  Click the bottom or the right edge of the table.

  or

  Click in the table, and then choose Modify > Table > Select All.

  A border with resize handles appears around the table ( Figure 9.9 ). Dimension lines also appear.

  Figure 9.9. You can tell this table is selected because it has a thick border around its edges with resize handles.

  

Tip

• Clicking any interior cell border also selects the entire table.

To select an entire row:

1.	Place the pointer at the left edge of a row. The pointer becomes an arrow.
2.	Click to select the entire row ( Figure 9.10 ). Figure 9.10. When you move the cursor to the left edge of a table and the pointer changes to an arrow, you can click to select the whole row. You can click and drag to select multiple rows. The cell borders for the selected row highlight.

To select an entire column:

1.

Place the pointer at the top edge of a column. The pointer becomes an arrow.

2.

Click to select the entire column ( Figure 9.11 ). Figure 9.11. The pointer also changes to an arrow above columns. Click to select the column. You can click and drag to select multiple columns. or Click the triangle in the dimension line above any column to display a popup menu, then choose Select Column ( Figure 9.12 ). Figure 9.12. If you prefer, you can use the pop-up column menu to select the column. The cell borders for the selected column highlight.

To select a single cell:

• Click and drag in the cell.

  or

  Click in the cell, then choose Edit > Select All, or press Ctrl-A (Cmd-A).

  or

  If the cell is empty, triple-click inside the cell.

  The cell highlights to show it has been selected.

To select multiple adjacent cells:

• Click in the first cell you want to select, and drag to the last cell.

  or

  Click in the first cell you want to select, hold down Shift, and then click in the last cell. All the cells in between will also be selected. You can also Shift-click in this manner to select rows or columns.

To select nonadjacent cells:

• Ctrl-click (Cmd-click) in the first cell, hold down Ctrl (Cmd), and then click the other cells you want to select ( Figure 9.13 ). You can also Ctrl-click (Cmd-click) to select nonadjacent rows or columns.

  Figure 9.13. By Ctrl-clicking (Cmd-clicking), you can select nonadjacent cells.