You can easily add, delete, copy, move, or resize rows and columns, either by using the clipboard or by dragging. Sort rows and columns by numbers or letters. You can sort by date or time, as long as the information is entered in the table as text.
note: For structured documents, adding rows or columns can make the structure of the table invalid. For example, a table set up to contain only three columns will be invalid if you add a fourth. It’s best to use the Element Catalog for adding heading or footing rows, because tables are often defined to have a specific number of these rows.
1)Click in a table cell next to where you want to add the row or column.
2)Choose Table > Add Rows Or Columns, and specify the number of rows or columns you want to add and where you want to insert them.
3)Click Add.
The new rows or columns have the same properties as the current row or column.
1)Click where you want to add the row in the Structure view, select a row element in the Element Catalog, and click Insert.
1)Press Control+Enter.
The new row has the same properties as the previous row.
If the insertion point is in the last cell of the last row, press Tab to create a new row at the end of the table.
1)Select the rows or columns you want to delete, making sure that you select entire rows or columns. (If you don’t, the contents of the selected cells are deleted without a prompt for a decision.)
2)Press Delete, click Remove Cells From Table, and click Clear.
Use the Edit menu
1)Select the rows or columns, and do one of the following:
•If you are copying them, choose Edit > Copy.
•If you are moving them, choose Edit > Cut, click Remove Cells from Table, and then click Cut.
2)Click next to where you want to insert the rows or columns, and choose Edit > Paste. You can insert them next to the current row or column, or you can replace the current row or column.
If you overwrite the rows or columns in a table, the cells on the clipboard replace the current rows or columns according to the following rules:
•If the number of rows or columns on the clipboard is equal to the number of selected rows or columns, they are replaced exactly.
•If the number on the clipboard is greater than the number you select to replace, only the number of rows or columns that fit are pasted.
•If the number on the clipboard is less than the number you select to replace, the clipboard contents are repeated so that they fill the rows or columns.
tip: To split a table, cut rows or columns from a table and paste them where you want to make a new table. To combine two tables, cut the rows and columns from one table and paste them into another.
Using drag-and-drop
1)Select one or more rows or columns to move.
2)Drag the rows or columns to the location where you want to move them.
To copy the rows or columns, keep the Ctrl key pressed as you drag them.
3)Drop the rows or columns to move or copy.
When you drag-and-drop a row, the dragged row replaces the row below. Similarly, when you drag-and-drop a column, the dragged column replaces the column to the right.
4)To retain the row (below) or column (to the right), keep the Shift key pressed as you drag-and-drop.
tip: You can also drag a row’s bubble in the Structure view to move the row, or Alt-drag the bubble to copy the row.
1)Select the rows or columns to reorder in the table.
2)Hold down the Shift key and drag-and-drop the rows or columns to the required alternate location in the table.
•To change a column width, select a cell in that column and drag its handle until the column is the size you want. Select several columns to resize them together.
•To move the border between two columns so one column grows wider and the other narrower, Alt-drag a selection handle. The overall width of the table doesn’t change.
tip: To align the column border with the snap grid, choose Graphics > Snap before you change the width.
1)Select cells in the columns you want to resize (if you’re resizing a single column, just click in it), and choose Table > Resize Columns.
note: If you are working in Structured FrameMaker's Author/Simplified XML View or FrameMaker XML Author's WYSIWYG or Author/Simplified XML View, you can right-click the table cell and choose Table > Resize Columns.
2)Do one of the following:
•To specify a value for the width, click To Width and enter the value.
•To set the width to a percentage of the original width, click By Scaling and enter a percentage.
•To make the column the same width as another column in the table, click To Width of Column Number and enter the column number.
•To make the widths equal parts of a total, click To Equal Widths Totaling and enter the total width.
•To specify a total width while still keeping the columns’ proportions the same, click By Scaling to Widths Totaling and enter the total width.
•To set the width to match the widest paragraph or frame in the selected cells, click To Width Of Selected Cells’ Contents and enter a maximum width.
3)Click Resize.
1)Click in the column whose width you want to copy.
2)Choose Edit > Copy Special > Table Column Width.
3)Click in the column you want to change and choose Edit > Paste. Only the column width is pasted; the contents of the cells remain unchanged.
The height of a row changes automatically to fit the cell’s contents, but you can increase the height further if you want.
note: When working with a structured document, adjusting the height of a row does not affect the structure of the table, and it is not a format rule override.
1)Click in the row that has the height you want to increase, and choose Table > Row Format.
2)Enter values for the minimum and maximum row height and then click Set.
1)Determine the height of the tallest row in a table: Hold down Alt+Shift while drawing a selection border around the row.
2)Note the height, which appears in the status bar.
3)Select the entire table, and choose Table > Row Format.
4)Specify this value for the minimum row height and click Set.
When sorting by numbers, currency symbols are ignored, but negative signs are recognized. For example, -9 or (9) sorts before 9 in an ascending sort. The comma and decimal separators displayed in numbers are treated according to the Regional options set for numbers and currencies on your system.
Text always comes after numbers in a sort. Text strings in tables are sorted based on the default system locale.
tip: You can sort by date or time as long as you enter it as text, use a consistent format, and include leading zeros. For example, if you’re using dd/mm/yy and hh:mm:ss formats, enter 04/12/2017 or 09:30:25.
1)Save your document, so that you can revert to your last saved version if the sort gives unexpected results.
2)Make sure the table contains no hidden conditional rows in the table (use Special > Conditional Text).
3)Do one of the following:
•To sort all columns or all rows in a table, click anywhere in the table.
•To sort only certain rows, select cells in the rows you want to sort.
4)Choose Table > Sort.
5)If you’re sorting all rows or all columns, click Select All Body Rows.
6)Do any of the following:
•To sort the rows of the table, click Row Sort. If the rows contain heading or footing cells as well as body cells, only the body cells are sorted.
•To sort the columns of the table, click Column Sort.
•To sort uppercase letters apart from lowercase letters, select Consider Case.
7)Choose a primary sort key by selecting from the Sort By box and clicking Ascending Sort or Descending Sort.
You can sort straddle cells as long as they don’t extend past a row or column that you’re using as a sort key. (Use Table > Unstraddle and try again.)
8)Optionally, choose a second and third sort key from the Then By areas.
9)Click Sort.
note: Adobe FrameMaker correctly sorts numbers preceded by the special symbols ()+-,. and $. However, combining several of these symbols in a cell sometimes adversely affects sorting. For example, a table cell containing -2 will fall correctly between -1 and -3, but a cell containing -2+3 will not (Frame interprets the sequence as -23).
note: The Table sorting feature supports the Unicode text encoding standard.