Creating and Using Tables


One very useful feature of InDesign is how easy it is to create attractive and functional tables. InDesign tables support borders, fill colors, paragraph formatting, and table headers and footers. Tables also flow between text frames just like regular text.

To create a table, place the insertion point inside a text frame and choose Table, Insert Table. In the Insert Table dialog box, specify how many rows and columns you want. You can also specify header and footer rows (see "Table Headers and Footers," a little later in the chapter). Click OK when done.

To convert tabbed text to a table, select the text and choose Table, Convert Text to Table. In the Convert Text to Table dialog box, specify which characters to use as column separators (usually tabs) and row separators (usually paragraphs). Click OK when done.

After your table is created, you can enter data into it by clicking in a cell, typing your data, and pressing the Tab key to move to the next cell (or Shift+Tab to move to the previous cell). A tab character can be inserted into a cell with Option+Tab (Alt+Tab).

Modifying Tables

After tables are created, they can be easily modified. Typical changes include adding or deleting rows or columns, changing row height or column width, and merging cells.

Basic table modification in InDesign is a simple matter of adding, deleting, and adjusting rows and columns and merging cells:

  • To add rows or columns, select the same number of rows or columns that you want to add at the location where you want the new rows or columns inserted, and then choose Table, Insert, Row or Table, Insert, Column.

  • To delete rows or columns, select the rows or columns you want to remove, and choose Table, Delete, Row or Table, Delete, Column.

  • To adjust row height or column width, drag the bottom edge of the row or the right edge of the column. Hold down the Shift key while dragging to prevent rows below or columns to the right from moving.

  • Shift-drag the bottom or right edge of the entire table to change the height of all rows or the width of all columns.

  • To merge cells, select the desired cells and choose Table, Merge Cells.

Styling Tables

InDesign has a wide variety of formatting options to make your tables attractive and easy to read. The most common options are column/row strokes (cell borders), table borders, and fills. Before applying any formatting, though, you need to select the columns, rows, or individual cells you want to work with.

Use the following techniques to quickly select the areas of your table that you want to work with:

  • To select multiple cells, drag across them with the text cursor.

  • To select entire rows, position the cursor on the left side of the table until the cursor changes to a right-pointing arrow, and then click or click and drag.

  • To select entire columns, position the cursor at the top of the table until the cursor changes to a down-pointing arrow, and then click or click and drag.

After cells are selected, you can format them by choosing Table, Cell Options, Strokes and Fills (choose Table, Table Options, Table Setup for stroke and fill options for the entire table). This dialog box contains controls for changing the weight, color, and type of stroke, as well as the fill color. The only tricky thing about this dialog box is the cell border proxy. This is a fake cell (or group of cells, if you have multiple cells selected) with blue borders (see Figure 8.53). Any border that is blue will be affected by your changes. Clicking a proxy toggles it between blue (selected) and gray (unselected).

Figure 8.53. The Strokes and Fills tab of the Cell Options dialog box.


Using the Table Palette

After your table is created, the Table palette can be a quick way to perform such common table functions as changing the number of rows and columns, changing row height or column width, changing the vertical text alignment or the text rotation, and changing the text inset. The Table palette cannot be used to insert rows or columns, merge cells, or add borders and shading.

Table Headers and Footers

Conceptually, table headers and footers are very similar to traditional document headers and footers. The main difference is that, with document headers and footers, you have no control over the "units" of document data that they enclosethey always appear at the top and bottom of the page. With InDesign's table headers and footers, though, you can have them appear once per page, once per frame, or every text column. Table headers and footers can also consist of as many rows as you want.

To set up table headers and footers, follow these steps:

1.

Choose Table, Table Options, Headers & Footers.

2.

Specify how many rows to use for your header and footer.

3.

Specify how often your table header will appear and how often your table footer will appear.

4.

You can also choose to skip the first or last appearance of your table header or footer.



Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Creative Suite 2 All in One
Sams Teach Yourself Creative Suite 2 All in One
ISBN: 067232752X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 225
Authors: Mordy Golding

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