Whilst it might be possible to automate the process with a macro, the difficulty of doing so depends on the table structure for each table that is to be processed, especially if only some of the tables are to be processed and/or you need to transfer the data from different columns in different tables.

In some respects, the simplest approach may be to merge the cells horizontally, then split them horizontally again. And a macro could certainly be written for that part - provided the column widths within the table are consistent.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]