How to Use VBA to Modify Tables in Microsoft Word

Introduction

Tables are an essential part of many Microsoft Word documents. They allow you to organize information in rows and columns, making data easy to interpret and analyze.

However, manually formatting or modifying tables can be tedious and time-consuming, especially if you have multiple tables or a long document. This is where Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) can help.

VBA is a programming language built into Microsoft Office applications that allows you to automate tasks. With VBA, you can write macros that can format, modify, or manipulate Word tables with just a few lines of code.

In this article, we will cover the basics of using VBA to work with tables in Word documents.

Accessing Tables with VBA

The first step to modifying tables with VBA is accessing them. Here is the basic syntax:

Dim tbl As Table
For Each tbl In ActiveDocument.Tables
  ' Insert code to modify table here
Next tbl

This loops through each table in the active Word document, allowing you to insert code to manipulate the tables. The variable “tbl” represents each table as the loop iterates through.

You can also access a specific table by index:

“`vb
Dim myTable As Table
Set myTable = ActiveDocument.Tables(1) ‘Gets first table

Or by name if the table has a caption:

vb
Dim myTable As Table
Set myTable = ActiveDocument.Tables(“Table1”) ‘Gets table named Table1

## Modifying Table Format

Once you've accessed a table, you can modify its formatting with VBA. Here are some examples:

Change border:

vb
myTable.Borders.InsideLineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
myTable.Borders.OutsideLineStyle = wdLineStyleDouble

Change text alignment:

vb
myTable.Rows.Alignment = wdAlignRowCenter

Change font:

vb
myTable.Range.Font.Name = “Arial”
myTable.Range.Font.Size = 10

Apply table style:

vb
myTable.Style = “Light Grid”

These are just a few examples of formatting properties you can modify. Play around with the various options the Table and Range objects give you.

## Manipulating Table Contents

You can also use VBA to directly manipulate the contents of tables by accessing the cells.

### Inserting Text

To insert text into a specific cell, use code like this:

vb
Dim cell As Cell
Set cell = myTable.Cell(1,1)

cell.Range.Text = “My text”

You can specify the row and column indexes to access any cell in the table.

### Getting Text 

To get the existing contents of a cell, use the same method but read the `Text` property:

vb
Dim cellText As String
Set cell = myTable.Cell(1,1)

cellText = cell.Range.Text

### Adding or Deleting Rows

To add rows:

vb
myTable.Rows.Add BeforeRow:=1 ‘Adds row before 1st row

To delete rows:

vb
myTable.Rows(1).Delete ‘Deletes 1st row

And similarly, you can add or delete columns:

vb
myTable.Columns.Add BeforeColumn:=1

myTable.Columns(1).Delete

There are many possibilities for manipulating tables with VBA. Use the Table, Row and Column objects to access parts of a table and make changes.

## Example VBA Procedure

Here is an example macro that formats all tables and then inserts text into specific cells:

vb
Sub FormatTables()

Dim tbl As Table

‘Loop through all tables
For Each tbl In ActiveDocument.Tables

'Format the table
tbl.Range.Font.Name = "Arial"
tbl.Range.Font.Size = 10
tbl.Style = "Light Grid" 

'Insert text into cell 
tbl.Cell(1, 1).Range.Text = "Title"  

'Insert text into another cell
tbl.Cell(1, 2).Range.Text = "Description"

Next tbl

End Sub
“`

This loops through every table, changes the font, applies a table style, and inserts text into two cells. You can customize this based on your specific needs.

Conclusion

VBA is a powerful tool for manipulating tables in Word documents. By using VBA macros, you can save time by automating repetitive formatting and modifications.

The key steps are: