Rotate cells and tables

Know how to rotate cells and tables, insert a rotated table in a page of un-rotated text in Adobe FrameMaker.

Introduction

When you rotate a cell in a table in Adobe FrameMaker, you can type in it just as you do in any other cell.

You can also rotate an entire table by placing the table in an anchored frame that is rotated. A rotated table can be in an anchored frame on a page of unrotated text or on a rotated page (one that uses a rotated master page). Place the table on a rotated page instead of rotating the table itself if you want background items (such as headers or footers) or body text to be rotated with the table. You cannot edit a table in a rotated page.

Note: For structured documents, check with your Structured Application developer to see if the Structured Application is set up for rotated tables.

Rotating a cell or a page with a table does not affect the structure of a table, and it is not a format rule override.

Note: For structured documents, a rotated table in an anchored frame is not part of a document’s main structured flow and is not exported to SGML/XML. If you plan to export to SGML/XML, consider rotating the page rather than just the table. If you must rotate just the table, work with your application developer to avoid losing data in the table.

Figure 1. Table on a rotated page (left), rotated table on a regular page (right)

Table on a rotated page or rotating a table on a regular page

Figure 2. Rotated cells

Rotate a table cell

To rotate a table cell in Adobe FrameMaker, do the following:

Select the cells you want to rotate, and choose Table > Rotate Table Cell Content.
Specify the angle you want for the cells and click Rotate.

Tip: As you type in a rotated cell, the cell height increases, and the text doesn’t wrap. You can limit the height of rotated cells so that text wraps when it reaches the limit.

Insert a rotated table in a page of unrotated text

To insert a rotated table in a page of unrotated text in Adobe FrameMaker, do the following:

Insert an anchored frame, and draw a text frame in it.
Insert the table in the text frame.
Select the text frame, choose Graphics > Rotate, and rotate the text frame counterclockwise. You can adjust the size of the text frame or the anchored frame to view the entire table.

Insert a rotated table in a page of unrotated text (structured documents)

To insert a rotated table in a page of unrotated text in structured documents in Adobe FrameMaker, do the following:

Click in the text where you want to anchor the table.
Select a graphic element for empty anchored frames in the Elements catalog and click Insert.
Choose Below Current Line from the Anchoring Position drop-down list, set the width and height of the frame, and click New Frame. Try to set the size of the frame to be slightly larger than the size of the table.
Draw a text frame in the anchored frame. Choose View > Toolbars > Graphics Toolbar and click the Place A Text Frame tool in the Tools panel. Drag to draw the frame and click Set in the dialog box that appears.
Click in the text frame and use Table > Insert Table to insert an unstructured table.
Choose Graphics > Rotate and rotate the text frame. You can adjust the size of the text frame or the anchored frame to view the entire table.

Create a rotated table on a page with other rotated text

Create a rotated master page and apply it to the body page where the table appears.

If document editing causes the table to move to a different page, you’ll need to reapply master pages.

Edit a rotated table

Unrotate the text frame, edit the table and then rotate it back when you’re finished.