Word offers seven different ways to create tables, but using the Graphic Grid is the simplest. In the drop-down grid, select the number of rows and columns you want. You just click the table icon under the Tables tab. The Graphic Grid is the most straightforward method and the most similar to Google Docs tables function. The first major difference you’ll notice from Google Docs is Word’s head-spinning seven ways to create Tables, including drawing them freehand, and a couple that are relevant only if you’re importing Excel data. Because of that, we opted again to use tables to give us better control over the layout. It’s less than ideal for something like a resume, which intersperses short blocks of text and bulleted lists. However, it’s designed to flow paragraph-heavy text from one column to the next, as you would in a newsletter for brochure. Unlike Google Docs, Microsoft Word does have an actual column feature, which can be found under its Format menu. Microsoft Word’s predesigned headers offer plenty of options to make your document stand out. It even offers around 20 header templates.
On the other hand, Word gives you far more control over headers, with an entire ribbon of tools that let you add page numbers, date and time, and pictures, and designate on which pages it appears. A quick help search reminded us they can be revealed from the View menu: View > Header and Footer. Whereas Google Docs intuitively placed the Header feature under its Insert menu, Word treats headers and footers like they’re already present in a blank document. The text will maintain whichever alignment you choose even if you resize the cell it’s in.ĭocs table properties features are clean and intuitive.įrom the Table properties menu, you can also set the dimensions and alignment for the tables and choose a background color for your cells, which we did for the left column to add a little pop.Ĭreating our resume in Word, we ran into some frustration right out of the gate. Under Cell vertical alignment, select Top, Center, or Bottom. Just right-click in the appropriate cell and select Table properties from the pop-up menu. With the content in place, you’ll next need to format it. Then type your text (or cut and paste it from an existing document) into the appropriate columns. You can just drag the cells by their outside borders to resize them. We wanted our resume divided into five sections-Summary, Skills, Experience, Education, and Awards-so we created a two-by-five table. In the fly-out menu, drag your cursor across the grid to create the number of columns and rows you want. To do this, place the cursor where you want to start your “columns” and go to Table > Insert Table. You can simulate a multicolumn document in Google Docs using the Tables features.
In this case, you can simulate columns by using a borderless table. As with many challenges with Google’s productivity suite, however, there is a workaround. Google Docs doesn’t support multi-column layouts. With the headers set, it was time to dive into the meat of the resume. The headers of subsequent pages will remain unchanged. That header text will be cleared so you can add new info. If for whatever reason you want different text on the first page, click the check box labeled “Different first page header/footer” on the lower left of the header box. The same information will automatically appear at the top of all succeeding pages. Google Docs’ header function is incredibly straightforward-just go to Insert > Header and type your text in the box that appears at the top of the first page. This was a multi-page CV, which gave us a great opportunity to use a header: We wanted to make sure our name and contact info were on the top of each one in case the printed pages got separated by HR or the hiring manager.