Using both Word for Mac 2008 and 2011, same results. I will attach the file if this explanation is insufficient. I am not a hard core user.

Backgound: Every year I download a complete NFL schedule and then convert it into tables. Each year, I have been able to find a version that was easily imported and edited, but this year, I have an issue.

The "pasted as unformatted text" document correctly converts to a table (using tab as the column divider), but this time, instead of one column saying the team matchup (e.g., Green Bay at Chicago), it is three columns (e.g., Green Bay Packers | at | Chicago Bears). Note there are additional columns before and after these three (e.g. Date, Time).

I tried this for the whole table and one week's worth of games (17 rows), and the same result happens (including, in the 2008 version, after I "Table>Autoformat>grid 1"). If I select only one row, all is successful, but that's like almost 300 rows in the table.

I select the three columns, use Merge Cells, and the result is three lines of text (e.g., Green Bay [hard return] at [hard return] Chicago). I then select the "[hard return]+at+[hard return]," paste that into Replace, and replace with "[space]+at+[space]." While it replaces text correctly, the result is that the selected area looses it's screen-visible grid lines and the text, without grid lines, is now not aligned with, nor linked to, the cells on either side of the merge selection.

Is there a trick I don't know? Although I've never written (successfully) a macro, I suppose I could create one that converts this, line by line, but I'm wondering if I just need to be educated.