Table options
The Table function in InDesign is very powerfull and I want to do some entries about the possibilities. First of all there are the Stroke options.
When you create a table just like the example above you can determine in the table options the stroke and color and so on. But with the table selected you can click on the stroke pallet and you will have something like the image above. Now what does this mean?
You see some blue lines, depending on the formatting of your table and the possibility to change the stroke width just like normal. Every blue line determines a stroke in the table (rows, columns, border). When you change the stroke when all the lines are blue, the changes are applied to all the blue lines. But you can deselect a line (it becomes black in the preview stroke box. When you apply a different stroke it will be applied to all the blue lines (selected) and not to the black line (not selected). If you want to change only a few lines you can keep on selecting and deselecting until you have the pattern you want to change.
This is the first in a couple of post about the use of tables as a layout tool. If you have special desires or questions, just post them here and I'll make a topic about it.
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Paste into
Hey,
I am new to inDesign and I am hoping you can help me out with a question regarding clipping paths. I created a map for a brochure and pasted it into my shape. Problem is, I have added to the map and I need to paste more contents into the shape. I cannot figure out how to do this without inDesign erasing all the existing roads and content inside the box (if I try and "paste into" with the new roads. Is there any way to add content into an existing clipping mask, or at least a way to remove the existing mask so I can retreive all the stuff already in there. I know one option would be to go and grab all the contents already in the existing mask, add my new paths and then repaste, but there is just way too much stuff to grab inside the mask and it would take entirely too long to do this. Any help would be appreciated!
This has nothing to do with your original post, but I need a quick answer and hopefully some inDesign gurus will be scoping out this post.
Thanks!
Roadmap
In which program did you created your map? Cause normally I would create such a thing in Illustrator. It would be better to remake the map and then place it in InDesign.
i'd like to know more
about table features. can tables be included in style sheets or is there some way to 'apply table' so one table can instantly take on the attributes of another? i've got an annual report to design coming up and it'll include some tables, and if i can make them easier to do, or set them up for a mac op to easily edit, then great!
Table styles
Standard there is no such feature in InDesign, but there is a third party plugin that does the job.
http://www.teacupsoftware.com
Forgot to say that you could use the Library function.
Create a table as you wish.
Go to File>New>Library
Give your Library a name.
A new pane will appear on your screen.
Just drag the finished table to your library, now you can use it over and over again.
Thanks Fidel
That was very useful ++
How can I automatically
How can I automatically adjust the table height and width of a table to the height and width of the frame containing tha table? Like the fit content to frame command.
Table width & height
You can't do it automatically. What you can do is the following:
Create your frame
Insert your table and specify the rows and coliums
(Normally the width will be exactly the width of your frame)
Select the Bottom blue line of the rows
Manually set it to the bottom of your frame
Now select all cells of your table
In the controlpallette of the table funtion go to the right, there you will find a little triangle.
You will find an option 'Distribute rows evenly'
Now your table will be distributed evenly from top to bottom.
You can do the same for width
hope this helps
Your method is the same that
Your method is the same that I habitually use. The problem is when you paste a text in a row. If the text exceeds the height of the row, ID automatically modify the height of that row to receive all the text. So, if you distribute the rows envenly, the last row disappears. What can I do to recover the last row and to fit tha table to the frame except by reducingand adapting some rows by hand?
Limiting Heigth
When you want to have the highth of the row to a certain amount in stead of allowing in the table options 'At Least' set it it to 'Exactly'. This way if text is overflowing your cell it won't be visible and you keep your layout as you want it.