Section 46. Editing Tables

#46. Editing Tables

When it comes to tables, change is inevitable. You will find yourself constantly adjusting column widths and row heights, adding rows and columns, deleting rows and columns, and so on. Both the Table menu and the Table palette menu provide many options for editing tables.

Adding Rows and Columns

You can insert rows and columns within a table, or add rows to the bottom and add columns to the right. To add rows and columns, click in the table with the Type tool.

• Inserting rows: To insert rows within a table, click in a row above or below where you want the new rows. Choose Table > Insert > Row. In the Insert Rows(s) dialog box (Figure 46a), enter the number of rows to insert in the Number field and then click Above or Below to indicate the position.

  Figure 46a. The Insert Row(s) dialog box lets you specify how many rows to insert and where to insert them.

  

• Inserting columns: To insert columns within a table, click in a column to the left or right of where you want the new columns. Choose Table > Insert > Column. In the Insert Column(s) dialog box, enter the number of columns to insert in the Number field and then click Left or Right to indicate the position.

• Adding rows or columns: To add rows or columns on to the table, change the values in the Body Rows field or the Columns field in the Table Setup panel (Table > Options > Table Setup). You can also change the values in the Number of Rows field or the Number of Columns field in the Table palette (Window > Type & Tables > Table). New rows are added to the bottom of the table, and new columns are added to the right side of the table. (A quick way to add a row to the bottom of a table is to press Tab when the insertion point is in the last cell in the table.)

Fixed Row Heights

When specifying the height of rows in the Table palette or the Rows and Columns panel (Table > Cell Options), the Row Height menu lets you specify whether selected rows increase in height when you add content to cells. If you choose At Least, you specify the minimum height for the row, and the row height will expand as necessary to fit the content. (You can specify a maximum height in the Rows and Columns panel.) If you choose Exactly, the row height is fixed and text will be overset if it doesn't fit in its cell.

Deleting Rows, Columns, and Tables

The Delete key will eliminate just about any selection in InDesignselected text and objects, for example. It will not, however, delete selections within a table but will delete the contents instead.

To delete parts of a table or a table, make a selection first. With the Type tool, click in a row, column, or table that you want to delete. Choose Table > Select, and then choose Row, Column, or Table. You can also click outside the table when the arrow pointer displays to select a row or column (Figure 46b). Drag the arrow pointer to select multiple rows or columns. Once you've made a selection, choose Table > Delete, and then choose Row, Column, or Table.

Figure 46b. When you point outside a table with the Type tool, the arrow pointer lets you select entire rows and columns.

Note

If you decrease the number of rows or columns in fields in the Table Setup panel or the Table palette, rows will be deleted from the bottom of the table and columns will be deleted from the right side of the table.

Resizing Tables, Rows, and Columns

If the initial column widths and row heights are not quite rightand they rarely arethey are easy to adjust. Using the Type tool, you can drag the gridlines between rows and columns to adjust the sizes (Figure 46c). You can also drag any edge of the table to resize the table height or width in any given direction.

Figure 46c. Using the Type tool, drag the gridlines to adjust column width and row heights.

Merging Cells

If you want to combine multiple cells in a row or column into a single cell, select the cells and choose Table > Merge Cells.

To "clean up" a table so the columns are the same width and the rows are the same height, choose Table > Distribute Columns Evenly or Table > Distribute Rows Evenly. You can also specify a height for selected rows and a width for selected columns in the Table palette and in the Rows and Columns panel in the Cell Options dialog box (Table menu).