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Known Participant
November 18, 2009
Question

Align table at the top of a column

  • November 18, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 507 views

Hello

I have a text frame sized for a DINA4 sheet, and the text flows over two columns. Sometimes a table must be aligned at the top of a column, but FM inserts a blank space-line above it.

I haven't found any way to solve it, and hope you could help me.

Thanks in advance.

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    2 replies

    Arnis Gubins
    Inspiring
    November 18, 2009

    Raul,

    To have FM automatically close up the gap for an anchored table, you need to do the following:

    1. Create an anchoring paratag to hold just the table. Set the Space Below property for this to be a negative value (typically your defualt line spacing, e.g. -12pt).

    2. Insert your table into this empty paratag.

    3. In the table format for this table, set the Space Above attribute for this to be the exact same negative value used in the anchoring paratag, i.e. -12pt.

    FM will then move the table back up over top of the anchoring paragraph and when at the top of a column will rest against the top of the text frame.

    Inspiring
    November 18, 2009

    It's not clear from your description if the start of the table is not aligning or if the continuing row of a table that breaks across columns is not aligning.

    Assuming the first, the first thing to check is to see if the Table has a Space Above setting that may trigger this.

    Tthe way that I do this is to use an Anchor paragraph tag to start the table in the correct position. An Anchor tag is a para tag that contains no text and only serves as a positioning element for tables or anchored frames. I usually set the point size to 2-4 and make it a bright color so that it stands out but doesn't take much space. Tags usually provide more positioning options than the table format.

    To be precise, you'll need to adjust the Anchor tag settings--font, space above and so on, and the table style settings to balance out.

    ****

    It is very helpful if you include basic system info: OS, FM level, default printer settings, and so on because these can effect problems and solutions.