Format tables

Format tables in any of 12 built-in styles, with choice of header, footer, banding, or gridlines in  almost limitless combinations.
Up to 5 custom styles can be created. The formatting will be applied to all selected tables.

NOTE: A 'text style' can also be applied during formatting. 
The text styles are defined in 'Format table text'.

Method for formatting tables:

Some tables will not allow the grid lines to change. This may happen with tables pasted from elsewhere. In this case, use the '+line fix' button.

Here is a selection of some possible table formats, together with the settings...

2. Lines only:

Select the line colour from the default or custom styles. The line colour is copied from the header colour.

3. Header with grid lines:

Select the line colour from the default or custom styles. 

4. Banding only:

Select the line colour from the default or custom styles. 

5. Banding with grid lines:

Select the line colour from the default or custom styles. 

6. Header and footer only:

Select the line colour from the default or custom styles. 

7. Header and footer with grid lines:

Select the line colour from the default or custom styles. 

8. Header with table uniformly shaded:

Create a custom style, setting 'colour 1' to the required background colour and turn banding off.
NOTE: See below for how to create custom styles.

How to create custom styles:

NOTE: Custom styles are only saved when tables are formatted by clicking 'OK' or '+line fix'.  So if you create custom styles, then close  'Format tables' without formatting any tables,  then these styles will not be saved.

Step 1:  Check the boxes to turn on header, footer and banding.

Step 2: Select any default or custom style as a starting point for your new style. (Pick one with colours nearest to what you want.)

Step 3: Click the '+' button to create the custom style.

Step 4: Customise the colours.
To change any of the colours for a custom style, first click the colour selector button beside it.
You can use the picker dialog to create and select a colour, OR use the eye dropper to select a colour from somewhere on your screen. (See method below.)
After selecting a new colour, click somewhere outside of the colour picker box to close it.

How to copy any colour from your screen using the eye dropper on the colour picker:

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The following are some hints for creating uniform table backgrounds:

HINT 1: To create a uniform background colour of your table, set the 'Colour 1' colour to the background colour you want, and turn banding off.

HINT 2: If you copy the 'Colour 2' colour to 'Colour 1', your uniform colour background will match the colour scheme of your table.

What is the '+line fix' button for?

It is possible for Google Doc table grid lines to be set individually. In some cases, the table gridlines may all LOOK the same, but some have individual settings anyway.

This is important, because a Google Doc script, like TableMate, cannot normally change ANY table gridline formatting if any gridlines are set individually, anywhere in a table.

This is commonly the case for tables pasted into a doc from another application, including a Google spreadsheet.

In the example below, I have individually formatted some cell borders in a table, and you can see that TableMate cannot format any cell borders by clicking the OK button:

The '+line fix' button uses the 'Google Docs API' that can access individual cell borders and get the result we want.

NOTE: You should try the OK button first, because +line fix changes individual cell borders, so that the 'OK' button method won't work on that table after that, even if it did before. But remember that you can always change table borders manually in Google Docs from the menu.

The example below shows the '+line fix' button being used on the same table as in the previous example: