How to Turn Your Data Range into a Table for Easy Data Management and Formatting

Turn Your Data Range into a Table for Easy Data Management and Formatting in MS Excel
The new tables functionality in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 provides options for formatting and managing your data more easily and dynamically than ever before.

To convert a data range to a table:
1. Click anywhere in the range.
2. On the Home tab, in the Styles section, click Format as Table.
3. Click to apply a table style. The Format as Table dialog box appears, where you can confirm the data range and indicate whether your range contains headers. Click OK in this dialog box to convert the range to a table and apply selected formatting.

Notice that table headers automatically contain AutoFilter arrows. Additionally, when you click into a table, the Table Tools Design tab becomes available, from which you can edit the table style, add options such as banded columns or a total row, and perform other data management tasks.