Excel Basics · Interactive lesson 8 of 12
Excel Tables
A plain range of data works fine — but turning it into an official Excel Table gives you filters, banded rows, and a running total for free, and any new row you add automatically inherits all of it.
Screens shown: Excel for Microsoft 365 for Windows. Practice works in any browser.
Written tutorialHow to Use Excel TablesSkill check
Try these first:
- Convert a plain range into a Table with Ctrl+T.
- Turn on a Total Row and change what it calculates.
- Add a new row and watch the table's formatting extend to it automatically.
All familiar? Skip ahead to M9 — Charts.
Teach
What you're learning
- Format as Table / Ctrl+T
- Turns a plain range into a structured Table object with its own name and built-in behaviors.
- Table headers
- The top row becomes a permanent header — it stays visible and can't be sorted into the data by accident.
- Automatic filters
- Every header gets a dropdown arrow for sorting and filtering, with no extra setup.
- Alternating rows
- Banded shading applied automatically, so a wide table stays readable row to row.
- Automatic formula expansion
- Type a formula in one column of a Table and it fills down the entire column by itself — and extends to any new row you add.
- Total Row
- A summary row pinned to the bottom, with a dropdown per column to switch between Sum, Average, Count, and more.
Where to find it in Excel
Insert › Table (Ctrl+T)›Table Design
| A | B | C | D | E | F | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Date▾ | Rep▾ | Region▾ | Amount▾ | |||
| 2 | 3/1 | Ana | North | 420 | |||
| 3 | 3/1 | Ben | South | 310 | |||
| 4 | 3/2 | Chris | West | 505 | |||
| 5 | 3/3 | Dana | North | 275 | |||
| 6 | 3/4 | Eli | South | 390 | |||
| 7 | Total | 1,900 | |||||
| 8 |
Swipe sideways to see the whole window.
- 1Create the table with Insert › Table or Ctrl+T. Table Design appears whenever a cell in the table is selected.
- 2Give the table a name to use in formulas.
- 3Total Row adds a row of totals you can switch between Sum, Average, Count and more.
- 4Banded Rows shades every other row.
- 5Tables get filter arrows automatically.
Rendered view of Excel for Microsoft 365 (Windows). Ribbon layout can differ slightly on Mac, Excel for the web or a narrow window.
Guided practice
Below is a plain range. Convert it into a Table, then add a row and watch the formatting — and the Total Row — extend to it automatically.
Real-world exercise
Turn a range into a Table
Take any plain range of data — the inventory above, or your own — and convert it into an Excel Table. Explore its built-in controls: sort or filter from a header dropdown, switch the Total Row between Sum and Average, and add a new row to confirm the formatting keeps up on its own.
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