# MS- WORD 97

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 24, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598 "2000-07-24T02:36:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/1 "2000-07-24T02:36:52Z")

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I generally try not to post technical questions here but i figure someone probably knows the answer to this.

Assume text that is of constant pitch, not proportionally spaced, like courier. With my old word processor I could select just a number of columns across a number of rows. Then I could copy, delete, insert into other rows etc.

Example:

```auto

 Month Joan Kelly Total
  jan 34 55 89
  feb 10 12 22
  mar 22 11 33

Select cols 8 thru 13, delete them
and insert them *after* kelly to
make it look like this:

 Month Kelly Joan Total
  jan 55 34 89
  feb 22 10 22
  mar 11 22 33

```

How can I do this in WORD 97? That stupid paper clip “Bob” keeps popping up when I don’t need him but I can’t get him to tell me this.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Sheepshead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Mr.Sheepshead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Sheepshead)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/2 "2000-07-24T04:06:53Z")

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I’d like to help, but I can’t understand your data manipulation. It looks like your data changed between the cut and paste. From what I can tell, you’re trying to cut column 2 (labelled “Joan”) and paste it after column 3 (labelled “Kelly”). And I’m assuming this is in a table…

Highlight the whole column named “Joan” (go to the top of the table until the cursor turns into a downwards pointing arrow). Cut (Ctrl+X) those column. Highlight the “Total” column. Paste (Ctrl+V). Should do it. To select across multiple columns, simply hold down the mouse been when highlighting and scroll.

Hope this answers your question, did my best with the info.

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**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/3 "2000-07-24T04:19:16Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sailor \*  
> \*\*How can I do this in WORD 97? That stupid paper clip “Bob” keeps popping up when I don’t need him but I can’t get him to tell me this. \*\*

I had to murder ‘Bob’ because he looked vaguely like Bill Gates. I recommend you upgrade to Office 2000. It doesn’t work at all, so formatting columns will become a non-issue.

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/4 "2000-07-24T04:33:07Z")

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The only way to peacefully coexist with Microsoft products is to do thing the way they want you to do it. In this case, if you use a table instead of aligning data with spaces or tabs, it works better. I’m pretty sure you can cut and paste entire columns.

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**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/5 "2000-07-24T05:13:13Z")

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You want a table. Tables are actually very easy to use. Unfortunately, I’m using Word 2000, and as I recall they moved tables to a different menu a version or two ago. So, I can’t give you step by step directions. But if you look up how to insert a table, you’re 80% of the way there. Adding columns or rows is as simple as selecting one or more columns or rows and choosing “insert row” or “insert column”. Same for delete.

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/6 "2000-07-24T05:49:45Z")

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Well, duh! If I was using a table I wouldn’t need to be asking the question. I am talking of straight text. In MS-Word for DOS it was dead easy to do and I used it all the time. You could highlight a few columns, cut or copy them, and insert them somewhere else. I can’t believe they left out something so useful and I am fighting an uphill battle with Word 97… most of the time I end up going back to Word for DOS because I am more familiar with it and I had all my macros etc. Well, I’ll have to keep trying.

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**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/7 "2000-07-24T06:09:00Z")

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**sailor** wrote

> [@](#):
>
> Well, duh!

Not to be harsh, but I couldn’t understand what your original question was, and am still not sure from your second post. I was trying to help with advice to what I believed your problem was. “Duh” implies something is obvious, and it isn’t obvious to me what you’re looking for.

However, **sailor** , I’m fond of you from other discussions, so I’ll risk further insults by taking a second guess at what your question is. This time, I’m assuming the question is “I have an existing file with text and no tables. I’d like to grab a column and delete it or edit it.”  
Try grabbing a column while holding down the ALT key. Once it’s grabbed, you can delete it by hitting delete or move it by dragging it and dropping it elsewhere. Editing can be done by typing over existing text.

Now, I’ll assume your question is this: “I have an existing file with text and no tables. I realize that tables are the reasonable way to deal with this text, and I’d like to convert the text to tables for future modifications.” To do this, select the table, and find “Convert text to table”. You’ll need to define how things are formatted; if you’re lucky enough to have tabs between columns and returns at the end of lines, things will be very smooth. I believe that equal spacings for columns are also easy.

Hope that helps.

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/8 "2000-07-24T06:10:48Z")

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I can’t believe it because I had tried it several times and it did not work. I figured instead of just click and hold )like to select) it should be a variation of that like holding the shift or alt or control while you do it.

It is ALT. The problem seems to be that my keyboard ain’t that good and I have notoced that often the shift key does not work. It seems the ALT key is doing the same.

Anyway, holding the ALT key you can select a vertical block of text and then insert it somewhere else or delete it or whatever. I use this all the time but it has to be constant pitch to be useful.

Thanks for trying anyway.

PS. I have figured the problem with that Bob guy-thing is you can’t grab him by the b\*\*ls cuz he ain’t got none.

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**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/9 "2000-07-24T06:30:12Z")

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Do I get half credit for coming in before the bell?

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/10 "2000-07-24T13:50:43Z")

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hey Bill, how did you slip that post in there without me seeing it? We posted at the same time and I didn’t see your post until now. No, in fact, the point is to _not_ use tables for something so simple.

I get emails all the time with a number of spaces at the beginning of each line, like a margin. If I want to take them out I can just highlight the vertical block and delete them all at once.

Suppose I get a big list similar to the one I posted above. I can take out columns or move them around. I am not going to use the table feature for this as I would have to take all the information I have received and build the table myself.

I can tave a vertical column of asterisks and insert it many times between columns to create a separation. etc

Anyway, if you have never missed this feature it means you don’t need it. I use it fairly often and I was going crazy looking for it. My keyboard seems to be the cause of me not finding it sooner

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/11 "2000-07-24T16:17:05Z")

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Even now that I know it I am having trouble with it. Besides the Alt key not working well I have become aware that I have to press ALT first and _then_ the mouse left button. Often I was doing it the other way around and it won’t work. When using keyboard combinations like ALT + M this is obvious but, for some reason, my reflex with the mouse is to do it the other way around.  
At least, now that I know that it works, I just keep trying until it does work.

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**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/12 "2000-07-25T01:46:13Z")

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I still haven’t heard a half-credit extended for my correct answer of ALT.

Look, I’ll take a quarter credit at this point. But that’s my final offer.

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/13 "2000-07-25T02:50:16Z")

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Bill you can take all credit and I’ll take all the cash. How’s that?

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**Author:** ![Altair\_8800](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Altair\_8800](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Altair_8800)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/14 "2000-07-25T02:53:51Z")

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I don’t see what’s wrong with the paper clip. I like him. Maybe he just doesn’t like you.

And if you don’t like their word processor, then why don’t you write one of your own?

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**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2000, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-97/26598/15 "2000-07-25T06:23:52Z")

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**sailor** wrote

> [@](#):
>
> Bill you can take all credit and I’ll take all the cash. How’s that?

Deal.