How to: Select HTML Table Elements and Contents in Visual Web Developer

Before editing or removing a table element, you must select it. The Web page HTML table editor provides multiple ways to select both table elements and the contents of table cells.

To select an HTML table element

  • Perform the steps listed in the following table:

    Table element

    Steps

    Table

    • Click anywhere in the table that you want to select, and then click the four-sided arrow that appears on the top-left corner of the table.

      Note

      If the page or table dir property is set to rtl, the four-sided arrow appears over the top-right corner of the table.

      -or-

      In the Layout menu, click Select, and then click Table.

      -or-

      Right-click the table that you want to select, click Select, and then click Table.

    Column

    Note

    If the column includes a cell that spans multiple columns, the entire cell is selected when you select any column that the cell spans.

    • Click the selection symbol at the top of the column that you want to select.

      -or-

      Click anywhere in the column that you want to select, and then in the Layout menu, click Select and then click Column.

      -or-

      Right-click anywhere in the column that you want to select, click Select, and then click Column.

    Row

    Note

    If the row includes a cell that spans multiple rows, the entire cell is selected when you select any row that the cell spans.

    • Click the selection symbol to the left of the row that you want to select.

      Note

      If the document's dir property is set to rtl, the selection glyph is on the right.

      -or-

      Click anywhere in the row that you want to select, and then in the Layout menu, click Select and then click Row.

      -or-

      Right-click anywhere in the row that you wan to select, click Select, and then click Row.

    Cell

    • Click anywhere in the cell that you want to select, which selects the cell contents, and then press the ESC key , which moves the selection to the container.

    Cell contents

    • Click anywhere in the cell that you want to select. The cell is displayed with a border to indicate that it is in content-editing mode.

Extending the Selection to Additional Table Elements

You can also extend the current selection to include additional table elements.

To extend the selection to additional table elements

  • Select an element and then perform one of the steps listed in the following table.

    Table element

    Steps

    Adjacent elements

    • Press the SHIFT key and hold it while you click the additional cell or cells that you want to select.

      -or-

      Press the SHIFT key and hold it while you drag the mouse pointer over the additional elements that you want to select.

      -or-

      Press the SHIFT key and hold it while you press the UP ARROW key or the DOWN ARROW key to select the additional elements that you want.

    Note

    If a cell is in content-editing mode, using SHIFT+ARROW first selects the cell; using SHIFT+ARROW thereafter selects adjacent cells.

    Non-adjacent elements

    • Press the CTRL key and hold it while clicking the additional element or elements that you want to select.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Add and Remove HTML Table Elements in Visual Web Developer

How to: Resize HTML Table Elements in Visual Web Developer