ES 5143: Technical Writing for Environmental Science (Young)

Helpful Tools in Microsoft Word

  1. Click an empty paragraph where you want to insert the Table of Contents (TOC).
  2. Click References, then Table of Contents.
  3. Choose an Automatic Table of Contents style from the list 
  4. To create entries for the TOC
    1. Insert text for entry label, for example Section 1
    2. Highlight the entry label text
    3. Use the Styles menu/dropdown to choose Heading 1
    4. The text should change formats and appear in the TOC.
  1. Click Insert > Table and move the cursor over the grid until you highlight the number of columns and rows you want.
  2. Click and the table appears in the document. If you need to make adjustments, you can add table rows and columns, delete table rows and columns, or merge table cells into one cell.

When you click in the table, the Table Tools appear.

  1. Use Table Tools to choose different colors, table styles, add a border to a table or remove borders from a table. You can even insert a formula to provide the sum for a column or row of numbers in a table.
  2. If you already have text in your document that would look better as a table, Word can convert the text to a table.
  3. Insert larger tables or tables with custom width behaviors
  4. For larger tables and for more control over the columns, use the Insert Table command.

This way you can create a table with more than ten columns and eight rows, as well as set the column width behavior.

  1.   Click Insert > Table > Insert Table.
  2.   Set the number of columns and rows
  3. The insert table dialog gives you extra control over how your table looks.

 In the AutoFit behavior section you have three options for setting how wide your columns are:

  • Fixed column width: You can let Word automatically set the column width with Auto, or you can set a specific width for all of your columns.
  • AutoFit to contents: This will create very narrow columns that will expand as you add content.
  • AutoFit to window: This automatically changes the width of the entire table to fit the size of your document.
  • If you want each table you create to look like the table you’re creating, check Remember dimensions for new tables.

Insert Figure

  1. Insert Table (1x1 cell)
  2. Insert Picture into Table
  3. Select Table
  4. Right Click
  5. Border Tables
  6. Select None

To Insert a Caption for your Figure

  1. Right Click
  2. Choose Insert Caption