Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Quick Recall of Table Formats.

Quick Recall of Table Formats

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 10, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007 and 2010

If you find yourself using a specific table over and over again, you can save yourself a lot of time by storing the table as a Building Block entry. To do this, follow these steps:

Select the entire table.
Press Alt+F3. Word displays the Create New Building Block dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Create New Building Block dialog box.

Replace the contents of the Name field with the name you want to use for your table.
Use the Gallery drop-down list to choose AutoText.
Click on OK.

When you want to later use the table, simply type the name you specified in step 3 and press the F3 key. The table will be inserted in the place of the table name.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5997) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Quick Recall of Table Formats.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is 4 - 3?

2023-03-19 15:26:58

Charles Kenyon

@Paul
Building Blocks can be stored in global templates which can be shared.
https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm#Global
https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/autotextautocorrect.htm#StoreBuildingBlocks

2023-03-19 15:24:04

Charles Kenyon

I would recommend using the Tables Gallery rather than the AutoText Gallery. This puts it in the Quick Tables gallery.
https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/tables.htm#QuickTables

2022-08-18 16:40:38

Paul Stregevsky

Unfortunately, a building blocks.dotx file can't travel with the document; if you're coediting in the cloud, each contributor will have to add each table to their own building blocks template. My proposal group has been wrestling with this limitation.

2021-08-10 08:15:30

Steve

This is very useful
Thank you

2015-10-21 18:45:43

DavidZiegler

I've been making simple Autotext entries for tables for some time.

Works for me.

2015-10-21 11:49:46

Mary Lou Howarth

This is a great tip. Something I've been looking for. Thank you.

2012-03-10 03:03:08

Surendera M. Bhanot

Very good tip. Thanks

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