Change Word’s default table properties to suit the way you work

Word’s a wiz at inserting and formatting tables, but by default, tables have borders. If you have to delete borders a lot, consider changing the default border property for tables. First, I’ll show you a quick way to delete borders for a single table. Then, I’ll show you how to change the default properties, so Word will insert a borderless table, by default.

Deleting borders once

When you insert a table using the Table option on the Insert tab (or the Table menu in Word 2003), the resulting table has borders.

If you’re using Word 2010, you can quickly remove those borders as follows:

2010 and 2007: Select the table (click the Move Table handle in the top-left corner). Then, Click the contextual Design tab. In the Table Styles group, click the Borders dropdown. Choose No Borders.
2003: Select the table and choose No Border from the Borders dropdown on the Formatting toolbar.

In Print Layout (Normal) view, Word displays a light blue broken line to indicate the cell dimensions, but you won’t see those lines in Print Preview, and Word won’t print them.

Changing the border default

Occasionally removing the borders from a table is a simple task. If you do so frequently, consider changing the default settings as follows in 2010 and 2007:

1. Position the cursor inside the table and click the contextual Design tab.
2. In the Table Styles group, find an autoformat that best represents the default format you want. In this case, we’ll use the first autoformat, named Table Grid.
3. Right-click the autoformat and choose Modify Table Style
4. In the resulting dialog, choose No Border from the Borders dropdown.
5. Click OK.

After removing the borders from the Table Grid autoformat, you’re ready to set it as the new default, as follows:

1. Right-click Table Grid in the Table Styles group.
2. Choose Set As Default.
3. In the resulting dialog, select the All Documents Based On The Normal.dotm Template. If you retain the default, This Document Only, Word will use the format as the default in the current document only.
4. Click OK.

In Word 2003, you can change the default and set it as a default via the same dialog, as follows:

1. Choose Table AutoFormat from the Table menu.
2. In the resulting dialog, choose Table Grid (you can choose any format you like, I’m choosing the simplest).
3. Click Modify.
4. In the resulting dialog, choose No Border from the Borders dropdown.
5. Check the Add To Template option in the bottom-left corner. Don’t check this option unless you want to change the default for all new documents.
6. Click OK.

After changing the default in the Normal template, Word will insert tables with no borders. Choose the default options that you use the most and alter them as needed after the fact rather than settling for Microsoft’s default and always changing them.