Word visual basic code - working with a table

Question

I have a big table in Word that I need to crop, it looks something like this:

asdf	asdf	asdf	asdf	asdf
asdf	asdf	asdf	asdf	asdf
asdf	asdf	asdf	asdf	asdf
asdf	asdf	sadf	Closed Captions	Slide number
asdf	sadf	asdf	Hello, how are you?	1
asdf	asdf	asdf	I am fine.	2

What I need is a macro that will delete every row from the top until the row contains either "closed captions" or "slide number" So that the table looks like this:

asdf	asdf	asdf	Closed Captions	Slide number
asdf	asdf	asdf	Hello, how are you?	1
asdf	asdf	asdf	I am fine.	2

I should be able to figure out the rest...

It would be nice to add a header to the document that includes the name of the word document. So if the document is "Hello World.doc" the header will say "Hello World"

Thanks a bunch!

Answer 1

For the table, you could use code like:

With ActiveDocument.Tables(1)

  While (InStr(.Rows(1).Range.Text, "Closed Captions") = 0) And (InStr(.Rows(1).Range.Text, "Slide number") = 0)

    .Rows(1).Delete

  Wend

End With

For the filename, you could put a FILENAME field in the header. This will show "Hello World.doc". No macros required. If you really don't want the extension, then code will be required, including checking to make sure nothing else in the header is affected.

Answer 2

Formatting in Word documents should be controlled by the use of paragraph Styles. Many people, though, ignore whatever format the underlying paragraph Style has and simply override that with other formatting. That's poor practice and makes documents much harder to maintain. If the cells in column 3 have a particular paragraph Style applied and you want to replicate that in column 2, the process is as simple as selecting the column-2 cells and applying the same paragraph Style. No copying/pasting required. That said, you could use a macro like:

Sub Demo()

Application.ScreenUpdating = False

Dim i As Long

With ActiveDocument.Tables(1)

  For i = 1 To .Rows.Count

    .Cell(i, 3).Range.Select

    Selection.CopyFormat

    .Cell(i, 2).Range.Select

    Selection.PasteFormat

  Next

End With

Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Sub

Answer 3

Is it OK to ask other questions, Paul? I see you are a MS MVP, I am a physician who tries to use Office in a more powerful way, including working with macros, and I find your support extremely helpful.

In a table with 3 columns, is there a way to copy the formatting of each cell in column 3 to the same row cells from column 2? I know how to copy formats cell by cell with Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V, but when I apply it to a column, it applies the format of the first top cell, so I guess a macro to go cell by cell may do this. It's a long table and would like to save time and copy/paste all cell formats by column.

Thank you,

Mike