OK. I’ll try not to rant, but I’m pissed. . .
I’m a temp. I had the same fluff job for years, but the market has turned, and I now bounce from assignment to assignment. No sweat there. The problem is, I usually step into a place where they were half way done with some huge project, and I have to finish it.
The last couple assignments have had MS-Powerpoint 97 installed. I have been given printouts of these files, with edits made on the paper that I must then go in and enter. Every damn time I open up a table in one of these documents, eventually, something I do blows the whole size of the thing. It will go from fitting perfectly on the page to being about 3 times too big for it. It also tends to do fun little things like not show cell borders that were there a minute ago.
I’ve tried to find a consistent event that changes the format, but it seems the mere act of opening the table and editing it can potentially send it off into some weird format. I can open the same file twice, make the same changes - one time it blows the format another time it does not. There is NO consistency whatsoever. This really is fun when I’ve gotten through the whole table and it gets blown in the final edit or two. And when this happens, the undo button offers no salvation. It just undoes the edit - not the formatting issues.
So I go over to word and build the table from scratch. Then I try to cut and paste, and the damn thing consistently drops cell borders - forcing me to size and resize until they show up. So do I have to make the edits in word and go through this damn cut, paste, and size procedure every damn time? Is there no safe way to edit a table once you put it into a powerpoint document???
I’v ended up doing the same work twice a ton of times now, and some stuff is going to start getting itself broken around me real soon if this keeps up . . .
DaLovin’ Dj
HA! Had the same problem, never found a convenient way of actually working through it. MS did not put too much effort in the programming for editing Word tables in PPT - they figured if you wanted tables, you’d use Excel.
The runaround I used (if you’re comfortable with Word and “multitasking”) - is simply to click and select the table, copy, paste in Word, edit, then copy table and paste back in PPT. When you’re used to it, it can be done quickly. That was the method I used in order not to throw the screen through the window.
About the disappearing borders, I never quite figured out why it did that - however, when editing a table in Word, I kept the table largely within the page margins and I would seldom have this problem. You don’t mention if the borders print or if they are invisible only on screen. If it’s only on screen, then get a closer zoom and you’ll probably see the border (which is no help if you’re doing a screen show). If not, check how you copy the table - do you “Select Table”, select rows or pan through the cells? You have to select the whole table. If nothing works (URGH!), I would just add an extra blank column (thin) at the right of the table - seems it was only outside borders that would disappear.
Tell me if anything here is useful.
I really have no better advice than this:
take a deep breath, and chill.
I’m convinced that MS PowerPoint, when an Excel spreadsheet is inserted in it, becomes a mind-reading program. In other words, if you’re in a hurry, or becoming frustrated with it, it starts getting all persnickety.
My old job required these kind of slides on a monthly basis. And I hated every second of it. I assume that Power Point slides were originally intended to be simple bullet point type things, and weren’t designed to have all these complex spreadsheets and things that we now want to put in. Kind of like trying to stuff 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag, as my dad used to say.
I feel your pain. I really do.
Been there.
Concur with the other posters, Powerpoint just doesn’t “do” tables very well.
One other option I often resort to is to build the table in Excel or Word, get them looking like you want, then put the program in print preview. Do a screen capture [PrtScrn] and paste the result into Paint or a graphics program. Save as a graphics file (bmp, gif or jpg), and insert it into Powerpoint.
No, you can’t edit it (in Powerpoint, at least). If you use a decent graphics package, you set the background to transparent and overlay quite nicely onto Powerpoint backgrounds (or other graphics).
The few times I have reverted to using tables (mainly because I thought it was a SIMPLE table), I have had the same problem, and just go through the random “trial and error” until I get lucky.
I’m sure it is not the answer you want, but perhaps unless someone can suggest otherwise, the plurality here may convince you that THERE IS NO right answer. 
Good luck.
Totally agree: Powerpoint and tables in Windows stinks. I tend to build the table in Word and then paste back into Powerpoint. The right side borders usually disappear, and since most of my requirements are for on-screen training, I end up drawing a vertical line at that right side. I will then group the line with the table for stability.
A key is to size the table, especially font sizes, in Word prior to pasting so that you don’t have to reduce or enlarge the thing in Powerpoint too much and get it distorted.
Instead of pasting the table from Word to a graphics program to get a bitmap, you can choose paste special–picture within Word and then paste that into Powerpoint. Either way, it is all very cheesy.