Alternating Strokes and Fills

Many people who work with tables find it helpful to set alternating strokes or fills for entire rows or columns in repeating patterns. This can help readers easily navigate down the column or across the row in lengthy tables.

Tip

Even if you insert or delete rows or columns, the Alternating Pattern feature automatically reapplies the correct sequence of fills to your table.

To alternate repeating strokes for rows:

1.	Select at least one cell in the table.
2.	Choose Table > Table Options > Alternating Row Strokes. The Table Options dialog box opens set to the Row Strokes tab . The Table Options for Row Strokes allow you to apply alternating patterns for the strokes applied to rows.
3.	Use the Alternating Pattern menu to choose how frequently the row strokes will alternate . The Alternating Pattern menu for setting table rows.
4.	Set the controls on the left side of the Alternating area to format the stroke appearance for the first set of rows . The Alternating controls allow you to choose the appearance for the alternating row strokes.
5.	Set the controls on the right side of the Alternating area to format the appearance of the stroke for the next or second set of rows.
6.	Use the Skip First and Skip Last fields to omit certain columns at the start and end of the table from the alternating count. Tip If you have applied custom strokes to individual cells and want to override the local formatting, uncheck the Preserve Local Formatting checkbox.

To alternate repeating strokes for columns:

1.	Select at least one cell in the table.
2.	Choose Table > Table Options > Alternating Column Strokes. The Table Options dialog box opens set to Column Strokes . The Column Strokes controls under Table Options let you apply automatic alternating strokes to table columns.
3.	Use the Alternating Pattern menu to choose how many column strokes will alternate . The Alternating Pattern menu for table columns.
4.	Set the controls on the left side of the Alternating area to format the appearance of the stroke for the first set of columns . The Alternating controls allow you to choose the appearance for the alternating column strokes.
5.	Set the controls on the right side of the Alternating area to format the appearance for the second set of columns.
6.	Use the Skip First and Skip Last fields to omit certain columns at the start and end of the table from the alternating count. Tip If you have applied strokes to individual cells, the Preserve Local Formatting command controls whether the alternating strokes for columns override that local formatting.

To alternate repeating fills:

1.	Select at least one cell in the table.
2.	Choose Table > Table Options > Alternating Fills. The Table Options dialog box appears set to Fills . The Fills controls under Table Options let you apply automatic alternating fills to table rows or columns. or Choose Table Options > Alternating Fills from the Table palette.
3.	Use the Alternating Pattern menu to choose how many row or column fills will alternate . The Alternating Pattern menu for setting table fills.
4.	Set the controls on the left side of the Alternating area to format the appearance of the fill for the first set of columns or rows . The Alternating controls allow you to choose the appearance for the alternating fills.
5.	Set the controls on the right side of the Alternating area to format the appearance of the second set of columns or rows.
6.	Use the Skip First and Skip Last fields to omit certain rows or columns at the start and end of the table from the alternating count. Tip If you have applied fills to individual cells, the Preserve Local Formatting command controls whether the alternating fills override that local formatting. Tip My own personal favorite is to set repeating fills of light and dark rows . An example of a table that uses the alternating fills for repeating rows.