Possible to Select Only Nested Tables

I have a large MS Word document with many, many tables. Each table contains at least one nested table. Is it possible to select all nested tables (and only the nested tables) via a macro? I need to format these tables separately from the main (or parent) tables. I am very new to VBA. I have a macro to select all tables. I've attempted to modify it to select the nested tables but have failed miserably for hours. Any suggestions?

It is possible to write a macro that will only apply to tables that are nested inside others but, unless you can give us an indication of which cell(s) the nested tables might be in, such a macro would have to test each & every cell, making it quite slow.

Thank you for getting back to me.

Each parent table is one large cell (basically creating a border around a collection of nested tables). There is text between the nested tables. I have attached an image/example.

Try something based on:

Code:

---

Sub Demo()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim Tbl As Table, Cll As Cell
For Each Tbl In ActiveDocument.Tables
  For Each Cll In Tbl.Range.Cells
    If Cll.Tables.Count > 0 Then
      With Cll.Tables(1)
        MsgBox .Rows.Count & vbTab & .Columns.Count
      End With
    End If
  Next
Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

---

Thank you, Paul. Unfortunately, this didn't work. I really appreciate your trying to help me, though.

In what way didn't it work? Did you add your formatting code where I had the MsgBox?

Hey there, again, Paul.

Attached is an image of my formatting code. I am unsure of how to integrate this with your suggested code. At this point, I couldn't care less about all the table border code. I'd really like the header row to be shaded (RGB: 234, 234, 234) with centered text and bold 8 point font. The rest of the table with the same font (not bold), aligned top of cell and left vertical aligned. I believe all that is captured in my code. I just cannot, for the life of me, get it to format only nested tables.

How about posting the actual code, instead of just an image of it - I don't propose to re-type it...

That said, it's also by no means apparent what table 'objTable' in your code refers to.

Code:

---

Dim objTable As Word.Table
For Each objTable In ActiveDocument.Tables
  objTable.Range.Font.Name = "TimesNewRoman"
  objTable.Range.Font.Size = 10
  With objTable
    .RightPadding = 5 'measurement in points
    .LeftPadding = 5 'measurement in points
    .TopPadding = 0 'measurement in points
    .BottomPadding = 0 'measurement in points
    .Rows.SpaceBetweenColumns = CentimetersToPoints(0.2)
    .Rows.AllowBreakAcrossPages = False
    .Rows.Alignment = wdAlignRowCenter
    .Rows.HeightRule = wdRowHeightAuto
    .Shading.Texture = wdTextureSolid
    .Shading.ForegroundPatternColor = wdColorWhite
    .Borders.InsideLineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
    .Borders.InsideLineWidth = wdLineWidth050pt
    .Borders.OutsideLineStyle = wdLineStyleNone
    .Borders.InsideColor = wdColorGray25
    .Range.Cells.VerticalAlignment = wdAlignVerticalTop
    .PreferredWidthType = wdPreferredWidthPercent
    .PreferredWidth = 100
    With .Rows(1)
      .Range.Font.Name = "TimesNewRoman"
      .Range.Font.Size = 10
      .Range.Font.Bold = True
      .Range.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = wdAlignParagraphCenter
      .Cells.VerticalAlignment = wdAlignVerticalTop
      .Shading.Texture = wdTexture10Percent
      .Shading.ForegroundPatternColorIndex = wdBlack
      .Shading.BackgroundPatternColorIndex = wdWhite
      .Borders.InsideLineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
      .Borders.InsideLineWidth = wdLineWidth050pt
      .Borders.InsideColor = wdColorGray25
      .Borders(wdBorderTop).LineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
      .Borders(wdBorderBottom).LineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
      .Borders(wdBorderTop).LineWidth = wdLineWidth150pt
      .Borders(wdBorderBottom).LineWidth = wdLineWidth150pt
      .Borders(wdBorderTop).Color = wdColorBlack
      .Borders(wdBorderBottom).Color = wdColorBlack
      .HeadingFormat = True
    End With 'end the first row settings
    With .Rows(.Rows.Count) 'the last row in the table
      .Borders(wdBorderBottom).LineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
      .Borders(wdBorderBottom).LineWidth = wdLineWidth150pt
      .Borders(wdBorderBottom).Color = wdColorBlack
      .Borders.InsideLineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
      .Borders.InsideLineWidth = wdLineWidth050pt
      .Borders.InsideColor = wdColorGray25
    End With 'end the last row settings
  End With 'end that table settings
Next objTable

---

The code you've supplied applies to all tables in the document - nothing about it indicates that you've made any changes to accommodate it to the code I posted, so it only applies to the nested table. For example:

Code:

---

Sub Demo()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim Tbl As Table, Cll As Cell
For Each Tbl In ActiveDocument.Tables
  For Each Cll In Tbl.Range.Cells
    If Cll.Tables.Count > 0 Then
      With Cll.Tables(1) 'Nested Table as a whole
        .Range.Cells.VerticalAlignment = wdAlignVerticalTop
        .PreferredWidthType = wdPreferredWidthPercent
        .PreferredWidth = 100
        .RightPadding = 5 'measurement in points
        .LeftPadding = 5 'measurement in points
        .TopPadding = 0 'measurement in points
        .BottomPadding = 0 'measurement in points
        .Shading.Texture = wdTextureSolid
        .Shading.ForegroundPatternColor = wdColorWhite
        With .Range.Font
          .Name = "TimesNewRoman"
          .Size = 10
        End With
        With .Rows
          .SpaceBetweenColumns = CentimetersToPoints(0.2)
          .AllowBreakAcrossPages = False
          .Alignment = wdAlignRowCenter
          .HeightRule = wdRowHeightAuto
        End With
        With .Borders
          .InsideLineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
          .InsideLineWidth = wdLineWidth050pt
          .InsideColor = wdColorGray25
          .OutsideLineStyle = wdLineStyleNone
        End With
        With .Rows(1) 'First Row variation
          .HeadingFormat = True
          With .Range
            .Font.Bold = True
            .ParagraphFormat.Alignment = wdAlignParagraphCenter
          End With
          With .Shading
            .Texture = wdTexture10Percent
            .ForegroundPatternColorIndex = wdBlack
            .BackgroundPatternColorIndex = wdWhite
          End With
          With .Borders
            .Item(wdBorderTop).LineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
            .Item(wdBorderBottom).LineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
            .Item(wdBorderTop).LineWidth = wdLineWidth150pt
            .Item(wdBorderBottom).LineWidth = wdLineWidth150pt
            .Item(wdBorderTop).Color = wdColorBlack
            .Item(wdBorderBottom).Color = wdColorBlack
          End With
        End With
        With .Rows(.Rows.Count) 'Last Row variation
          With .Borders
            .Item(wdBorderBottom).LineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle
            .Item(wdBorderBottom).LineWidth = wdLineWidth150pt
            .Item(wdBorderBottom).Color = wdColorBlack
          End With
        End With
      End With
    End If
  Next
Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

---

Note: I've tidied up your code and added more structure and formatting to it.


PS: When posting code, please format your code and use the code tags, indicated by the # button on the posting menu. Without them, your (formatted) code loses much of whatever structure it had.

Thank you!!! It works. What a fantastic way to start my work day. You are my hero. You can't imagine how much time and effort this will save. I've spent as much as 10-12 hours formatting large documents with tables and nested tables. It is mind-numbing.

Anyway, thank you! Thanks also for cleaning up my code. Clearly, I have a long way to go with learning VBA (and posting to this site). :)