microsoft word
I'm trying to use a style I'm used to have on Latex, where the heading would have the upper border with a thicker line that the interior/bottom border. In the style configuration, it seems that I don't have such liberties. When I set the border line thickness or color, it does for the all active borders. Is there a way short of manually setting the thickness for all tables?
What I want:
Note how the top and bottom lines are thicker than the middle one.
Type "Heading" on the line where you need it.
View -> Check the "Ruler" mark.
In the top left corner of the document area (below the ribbon), there is a little square with funky signs that change if you keep clicking on them (1). The one that's displayed should be the "L" looking, when you hover your mouse over it, it says "Left Tab" (the one that's on the picture is the Right tab). Make sure it is displayed and click on the lower part of the ruler until you see the same shape show up on the ruler. Once you see it there, you can drag it wherever you need it. Find the tab marks on the left of the ruler (you drag them to adjust the left alignment). Make sure your "L" is on top of the bottom piece (2).
Click the corner with funky shapes once, your selection should change to the upside-down "T". Place your upside-down "T" on the lower part of the ruler somewhere in the middle (you can easily adjust it later, so an approximation would work just fine for now) (3).
Click the corner with funky shapes once more, you should see the mirrored "L", now click on the lower part of the ruler again, closer to the right border of the printable area. Once you have the mark there, drag it to the marker that designates the right side of the printable area (4).
Position your cursor before the beginning of your heading. Select "Strikethrough." Hit "Tab" key once. Move your cursor to the end of your heading. Select "Strikethrough". Hit "Tab" key once.
You can now adjust the middle of your heading by dragging the marker on the top of the ruler.
Here's a catch: if you start a new line, remove those markers from the ruler (click and hold your mouse on one of them, drag it down until the mark becomes gray, release your mouse and it will disappear), otherwise next time you hit the "Tab" key, your cursor will move to the middle of the page.
I hope I made it clear, it's hard to explain, but those little markers are a powerful alignment feature, and is very usable for tasks like yours.
Are you trying to do this with table styles, or just for an individual table?
For an individual table you just need to select the row and click Borders and Shading to update just that row. Make sure you select "Custom" on the left hand side under Setting, to make sure you can play with individual lines. Use the Style and Width to set what sort of line you want and then adjust on right hand side by clicking the lines you want to change.
It is important to first select Thickness, then the line you want to change. So, under Borders and Shading select Custom, then Color (if needed), select Thickness, then select Line you want to change.
For a table style, you need to go to "Apply Formatting to" and select the type of row you want to change (header, odds, evens, total, etc.) You can't do this for a random row though.
Best Answer
I have written out a detailed procedure for you to follow and included it as 5 screen captures from the Word document that I wrote the procedure in. The New Table Style dialog is where you perform this process.