Thanks to Paul's help, I now have a macro that does just what I need. I did not add the InputBox code as I don't need it right now. I'll add that later if I do.
Here's the code in case it might be useful for anyone else:
Code:
'===========================================================================
' Table Highlight Macro
' Written for Jigsaw Puzzle Log.
' Highlight alternate sections in light blue.
' Based on code from Macropod on MSOfficeForums.
' Syntax: TblHiLite 'Assigned to Alt+Ctrl+Shift+h
' To Do
' Add test for HumHdrs > number of rows.
' Add test for Column > number of columns.
' Add InputBoxes for column number, highlight colors, header row.
' Change Log
'===========================================================================
Sub TblHiLite()
Const MyName As String = "TblHiLite"
'Abort if the cursor is not in a table
If Selection.Information(wdWithInTable) <> True Then
MsgBox "The cursor is not in a table", vbOKOnly, MyName
Exit Sub
End If
Dim HiLite1 As Long, HiLite2 As Long 'The two alternating highlight colors
Dim Blue As Long: Blue = RGB(219, 229, 241) 'Light blue
Dim White As Long: White = RGB(255, 255, 255) 'White = no highlighting
HiLite1 = White
HiLite2 = Blue
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim Row As Long 'Row number (loop index)
Dim Column As Long 'The column number
Dim NumHdrs As Long 'The number of header rows
Dim HiLiteColor As Long 'The integer RGB value
Dim TgtTextNew As String 'The target text string
Dim TgtTextOld As String 'The previous target text string
HiLiteColor = HiLite2 'Initialize the highlight color
Column = 1 'Initialize the column number
NumHdrs = 1 'Initialize the number of header rows
TgtTextOld = "!@#$%^&*()=+{}[]<>" 'In case first text string is blank
With Selection.Tables(1) 'Focus the selection on the table
For Row = NumHdrs + 1 To .Rows.Count 'Loop through all row but the header
TgtTextNew = Split(.Cell(Row, Column).Range.Text, vbCr)(0) 'Get next text string
If TgtTextNew <> TgtTextOld Then 'If it's a new section
TgtTextOld = TgtTextNew 'Save the text
'Switch colors
If HiLiteColor = HiLite1 Then 'If it's #1
HiLiteColor = HiLite2 'Switch to #2
Else 'Else, it's #2
HiLiteColor = HiLite1 'So switch to #1
End If
End If
.Rows(Row).Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = HiLiteColor 'Apply highlighting
Next Row
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub