Bringing Hyper-Tables Under Control
Applies to: Word 2003, 2007
Word 2007
Modernized EDGAR format (HTML) greatly enhances the on-line reading experience for EDGAR filings. And, if your task is to bring content back into Word in preparation for the next filing, you'll love that the financial details are already housed in structured tables! But wait, do these hyper-tables truly help, or hinder you? Only if you know what lies beneath all those pretty grid lines, and how to eradicate it before it's too late.
Follow the steps below to bring your hyper-tables under control:
- Download the HTML version of the filing from http://www.sec.gov
. - Office Button | New against your applicable SEC template, or Office Button | Save As a similar existing document.
- Insert | Text | Object | Text from file to bring the HTML edition into Word, then Office Button | Save.
- Remove the spurious graphic lines in the table using Home | Replace. In the "Find what:" box, enter "^g", sans quotes, make sure the "Replace with:" box is empty, and click Replace All. (NOTE: Microsoft Word uses "^g" to indicate graphic when using Find/Replace.)
- Select "Table" as your Browse object type using the icon at the lower right corner of the Word window.
- Navigate to the first table and select it. Use Ctrl+Shift+N to apply the Normal style to the selected text. This ensures any obscured text becomes visible, and all applied styles are removed.
- Next, copy the table and paste it into a new blank document. Office Button | Save as a separate temporary document.
- With the cursor anywhere in the table, clear away any residual table formatting with Ctrl+Alt+U.
- To ensure the table wraps properly, select the table and alter the font size to 10 pts. Save again, if desired.
- To ensure the cells align properly using DocXtools v6, select the Do-it-yourself (DIY) tab. In the Table property group, check "Remove Leading Trailing Markers". Click
to run the procedures on the document. - While still in the DIY tab, use
the to expand the built-in macros available. Select the "Paragraphs Remove All Extra Spaces" macro and click to run the procedures on the document. - Zoom up to 200% or more, and begin to simplify the table structure:
- Consolidate any empty cells by selecting it, along its next-door neighbor, then use Table Tools | Layout | Merge Cells to eliminate.
- Delete any unnecessary empty columns.
- Select and copy the treated table, return to the originating document. Select the 'source table', and delete it. Paste the clean table in place.
- Repeat steps 5-13 until all tables are done.
Applies to: Microsoft Office, Word 2007 and Microsystems, DocXtools v6
Conventions Used: Information regarding the Word 2007 features identified in this article use the following navigating conventions:
|
TAB |
GROUP |
BUTTON |
SUB-MENU, if any |
(example) |
Home |
Editing |
Find |
|
(example ) |
Insert |
Text |
Object |
Text from file |
Word 2003
Modernized EDGAR format (HTML) greatly enhances the on-line reading experience for EDGAR filings. And, if your task is to bring content back into Word in preparation for the next filing, you'll love that the financial details are already housed in structured tables! But wait, do these hyper-tables truly help, or hinder you? Only if you know what lies beneath all those pretty grid lines, and how to eradicate it before it's too late.
Follow the steps below to bring your hyper-tables under control:
- Download the modernized HTML version of the filing from www.sec.gov .
- File|New against your applicable SEC template, or File|Save As a similar existing document.
- Insert|File to bring in the HTML edition, then File|Save.
- Remove the spurious graphic lines in the table using Edit|Replace. In the "Find What?" box, enter "^g" without the quotes, make sure the "With What?" box is empty, and click "Replace All".
- Select "table" as your "Browse" object type using the icon at the lower right corner of the Word window.
- Navigate to the first table, Select it (Alt-5 on the keypad, NumLock off), and Ctrl-Shift-N (applies "Normal" to the selected text) to ensure any obscured text becomes visible, and all applied styles are removed.
- Next, copy the table, and paste it into a new blank document. File|Save as a separate, temporary document.
- With the cursor anywhere in the table, clear away residual table formatting with Ctrl-Alt-U.
- To ensure table wraps properly, select the table (Alt-5) and alter the font size to 10 pt.: Ctrl-Shift-P, 10, Enter. Save, if desired.
- To ensure the cells align properly using DocXtools, click the Cleanup drop-down on the Expert toolbar and choose Manual Cleanup. Check the following tools from this menu:
- beneath Character: "Remove extraneous spaces and tabs"
- beneath Tables: "Remove leading & trailing ¶ markers from cells"
- Click OK, then OK again to confirm completion.
- Zoom up to 200% or more, then simplify the table structure:
- consolidate any empty cells by selecting it, along its next-door neighbor, then Table|Merge cells to eliminate
- delete any unnecessary empty columns
- Copy the treated table, return to the originating document. Select the 'source table', and delete it. Paste the clean table in place.
- Repeat steps 5-13until all tables are done.
Special notes: You might find assigning keyboard shortcuts, customizing right-click Shortcut Menu options or adding tools to the Tables and Borders toolbar will ease your table-editing burden.
