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: Quickly Moving Your Table.

Quickly Moving Your Table

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 4, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007 and 2010

Word allows you to use the mouse to quickly move entire tables within your document. You can do this by using techniques similar to those you use to move graphics around in a document.

Position the mouse over your table. (Don't click on the table—just position the mouse over the table.) At the upper-left corner of the table you should see a small icon appear. This icon looks like a square with a four-headed arrow inside it. When you click and drag this icon, you are moving the table. When you finally release the mouse button, the table is repositioned where you released the button.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11571) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Quickly Moving Your Table.

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 two more than 7?

2021-03-26 13:52:17

Robert Brown

Written for users of Word 2007 and 2010??? It's 2021! What about the millions of users of more recent versions of Word?

2014-10-22 15:39:46

Al Lowe

But what if your table is at the top of a document? How can you insert a blank paragraph above it? I fought this problem for years; I'd create the table I needed first and then, later, realize it needed a title! No way will Word let you put a line above a table at the top of a doc.

But I finally figured it out:

Make the table's handle appear. Select the entire table. Ctrl-X to cut it from the document. Then insert your blank lines or whatever and paste the table where you want to be.

2014-10-22 14:06:50

Kenn

Moving a table. I'm using Windows 8.1 and WORD 2013. There's no way I can get the four-headed arrow in the corner. The only way that works for me is select table, cut, and paste. How come??

2014-10-22 13:16:06

Kathy Kamps

Please be aware that when you drag a table, it changes the properties of that table. A table before it is moved has text wrapping of NONE. Once the table is dragged to a new position the text wrapping changes to AROUND. This sometimes causes issues for people.

2012-10-03 19:51:25

katie

Please help! I am creating a word 2007 document with what is essentially 50 tables on it across many pages. I am able to get all the tables aligned but when i add an extra row or add an extra table in amongst them they jump around, some overlapping and some breaking in half. Please can you tell me what i'm doing wrong?!

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