99
CHAPTER
Introducing Tables
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding how a table
differs from a normal rangeWorking with tablesUsing the Total RowRemoving duplicate rows
from a tableSorting and filtering a tableM
any worksheets are designed to store data in a table. A table is a
rectangular range of data that usually has a row of text headings
to describe the contents of each column. Excel’s table feature
(introduced in Excel 2007) makes common tasks much easier — and a lot
better looking. More importantly, the table features may help eliminate some
common errors.
This chapter is a basic introduction to Excel table features. As always, I urge
you to just dig in and experiment with the various table-related commands.
You may be surprised at what you can accomplish with just a few mouse
clicks.
What Is a Table? .................................................................................................................
A table is simply a rectangular range of structured data. Each row in the table
corresponds to a single entity. For example, a row can contain information
about a customer, a bank transaction, an employee, a product, and so on.
Each column contains a specific piece of information. For example, if each
row contains information about an employee, the columns can contain data
such as name, employee number, hire date, salary, department, and so on.
Tables typically have a header row at the top that describes the information
contained in each column.