Using Type > Working with columns, rows, and tables > Creating columns and rows |
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Creating columns and rows
You can create multiple columns and rows in text blocks.
Using columns and rows, you can create a table with cells of uniform size. To create tables with cells of varying sizes, you use tabs, paragraph breaks, and paragraph spacing.
You can add lines between rows using paragraph rules, and apply a stroke to the rules using the Stroke inspector.
Note: To create forms, you can create tables with blank cells for users to fill with data.
To create columns or rows:
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Use the Text tool to select the text or text block in which you want to create columns or rows. |
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Choose Window > Inspectors > Text and click the Columns and Rows button.
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To create columns, enter the number of columns in the Columns text box. |
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Enter a value for Height (h) in points to specify the height of the columns. |
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Enter a value for Spacing in points to specify the width of the space between columns. |
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To add rules between columns, choose an option from the Rules menu: |
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Choose Inset to create rules the length of the inset text as specified in the Object inspector. For more information, see Setting paragraph indents, paragraph spacing, margins, and insets. |
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Choose Full Height to create rules the height of the full column (regardless of the height of inset text). |
Note: To apply a stroke to the rules, see the procedure that follows. |
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To create rows, enter the number of rows in the Rows text box. |
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Enter a value for Width (w) in points to specify the width of the rows. |
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Enter a value for Spacing in points to specify the height of the space between rows. |
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To add rules between rows, choose an option from the Rules menu: |
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Choose Inset to create rules the width of the inset text as specified in the Object inspector. |
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Choose Full Width to create rules the width of the full row.
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Note: To apply a stroke to the rules, see the procedure that follows. |
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To move text automatically to the top of the next column, place an insertion point with the Text tool and choose Text > Special Characters > End of Column. |
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For Flow, click a button to specify how text flows across columns and rows: down all rows in the first column and then into the second column, or across all columns in the first row and then into the second row. |
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To apply a stroke to table rules or borders:
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Choose Window > Inspectors > Object. |
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In the Object inspector, select Display Borders. |
3 |
Use the Pointer tool to select the text block. |
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Choose Window > Panels > Color Mixer and Window > Panels > Swatches to display those panels. |
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Choose Window > Inspectors > Stroke. |
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In the Stroke inspector, choose a stroke style from the pop-up menu, and choose options for the stroke. For more information, see Applying strokes. |
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To apply a stroke, drag a color from the Color Mixer panel or the Swatches panel onto the color box in the Stroke inspector, or onto the text block border. |
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To create a table with uniform cells using columns and rows:
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Create columns and rows as described in the preceding procedure, with the following specifications: |
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Set Spacing for Columns and Rows to 0. |
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For Column Rules, select Full Height, and for Row Rules, select Full Width. |
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To apply a border to the table, see the preceding procedure for applying a stroke to table rules or borders. |
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To create a table with variable cells using tabs and paragraph breaks:
1 |
Drag with the Text tool to create a text block the size of the table. |
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Drag left-align tabs to define the left edge of each column. For more information on setting tabs, see Setting tabs, indents, and margins. |
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Drag wrapping tabs to define the right edges of columns that contain more than one line of text.
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Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh) to create rows. |
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To change the distance between rows, adjust the paragraph spacing in the Text Paragraph inspector. For more information, see Setting paragraph indents, paragraph spacing, margins, and insets.
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To add lines between rows, add paragraph rules. For more information, see Adding paragraph rules. |
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To apply a border to the table, see the procedure above for applying a stroke to table rules or borders. |
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