Deleting text in a structured table

Question

Here is a simple table (no header, no footer, 4 body rows, 4 columns):

This is the related structure:

I'd like to delete the text in the first row at once:

Select the entire row.
Press Delete.

The Clear Table Cells dialog box displays.

Select Leave Cells Empty.
Click Clear.

The first row is emptied, as desired:

But the structure has changed:

The BodyText elements are gone, too.

Before entering new text, I'll have to insert these elements again. In a large table, that's very time-consuming.

Is it possible to delete text in tables without simultaneously deleting elements in tables?

Lynne A. Price · Accepted Answer

Lothar,

Yes, when you delete a selection, whether or not the selection is in a table, you delete any selected elements as well as their contents.

If you only want to delete text, you can change all characters to nothing. In the Find/Change pod:

1) Make sure Text is selected from the Find pull-down menu.

2) Either click the Wildcards radio button and type an asterisk (*) in the Find text box, or click the Regular Expressions radio button and type a period (.) in the Find text box.

3) Make sure To Text is selected from the Change pull-down menu.

4) Click the Selection radio button.

5) Click Change All.

Be careful; if you neglect step 4), you will delete all text in the document!

--Lynne

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