Verifying and fixing data table formatting (Simplified Editor)

After making sure that the data tables in the document are all placed in Table containers, you’ll need to make sure that the Table containers don’t hold more – or less – than they should.  If you find a Table container that is too large, or small, for the content, select the Table container and then simply resize it as needed. 

Important Note:  If you have to manually resize a table, you will need to go further into the table structure to make sure there are the correct number of rows and columns! 

After checking and resizing Table containers, if needed, you’ll want to make sure that they have been constructed correctly and the headers and data cells have been marked correctly, etc. 

This all starts with selecting a Table container and, in the toolbar, clicking on “Table” to open the “child toolbar.” 

Making sure the table format is correct (checking the rows and columns) 

The screenshot below shows the table structure, in the Simplified Editor, after clicking on the “Table” button in the toolbar.  Each cell in the table has a red border around it.  However, if you look closely, you’ll find that not all rows of the table have been detected, starting with the 5th row down.   

To fix the problem described above, you’ll need to add additional rows to the table. 

To add rows into a table: 

1. Near the top of the table, under the “child toolbar,” there is an icon made up of a horizontal line and an arrow pointing down.  Hover your mouse over that icon so that you get what looks like the “resize” arrows.
   
2. Click and hold the mouse button and then drag down, into the table.  This will create a new row separator to be created which you can then drag and drop it where the new row needs to be.  In the screenshot here, there is a new horizontal line, or a row separator, that has been dragged down into the table.  If you look in the 4th column from the left, you’ll notice that the line is between “West” and “North.”  That will not be its “final resting place,” however.  This screenshot is simply to show that a new horizontal line has been made.
    
3. Repeat the process, as needed, until your table has the correct number of rows.  The screenshot below shows the table now with the correct number of rows as it relates to the content.
   

Note:  If you need to adjust your table, adding more columns, you can do this in a similar manner, using the icon on the left side of the table, with the “Plus” sign, the vertical line, and the arrow pointing to the left. 

If your table has “extra” rows or columns

If you find that there are more rows or columns in your table than there should be, do not merge them! 

Follow these steps:  

1. Move your mouse over the line for the column or row that shouldn’t be there.
   
2. Select it.  When it's selected, it will change from red to gray. 
3. Hit the “Delete” key on your keyboard. 

Merging (or unmerging) cells as needed 

While merged cells are not ok in Word documents, they are acceptable in PDFs, as long as they are handled correctly. 

The screenshot below shows a table in the page view where the column headers for “Student” and “Family” should each be in one cell and each of those cells should span two columns.  However, there is a vertical line in the middle of each word, indicating that, in the resulting file, the words "Student" and "Family" will be split so that one cell in the table will contain "Stu," the next will contain "dent," and so on.     

In this situation, you cannot simply delete the lines in the middle of “Student” and “Family” because that would then affect the rest of the cells in the columns below.  Instead, the cells for “Student” and “Family” need to be merged. 

Here’s how to merge cells as needed.   

1. Click and hold in the first of the cells that need to be merged.  Referring to the screenshot of the table, above, this would be the cell containing “Stu.”
2. Draw a box between the two cells that need to be merged. (Important: You only want to merge the cells containing “Student” so you would only select those two cells in this scenario.  You should not also select “Family.”  Those cells will need to be merged as separate steps!)
    
3. When you’ve selected the cells to merge, let go of the mouse button.  At this point, both cells needing to be merged should be highlighted in the table.
   
4. In the “child toolbar,” hit the “Merge” button.
   
5. The table will then show the cells having been merged into one.  Notice, in the screenshot below, “Student” is all in one cell but there are still the vertical column lines, below, to maintain the structure of both columns that “Student” is over.
   

Note:  If you have a cell that is larger than it should be, and needs to be split, simply select that cell and then, in the “child toolbar” hit “Split.” 

Didn't find what you're looking for? Navigate to our "Tables" section for more related articles that may help!