I'm trying to align data in table cells. They want the longest numbers to be centered and the rest of the numbers to be right aligned off of those. How can I do this to make sure data are cleanly aligned?

I should add that the whole process could be scripted, which would be useful if you have tons of existing tables. ​@Bob_Niland and I have given you manual processes.

For a small number of these, where the numbers are typed/pasted in, as a quick fix, you can:

1. Create a color name, perhaps “Invisible”, and assign it a visible color, perhaps green.
2. Create a character format, perhaps named “Invisible”, which is As-Is for all attributes except Color, which is in this case “Invisible”.
3. Pad the leading and trailing digits with “0” characters, so that all cells have the same number of digits on either side of the radix indicator (, or .)
4. For publication: View 🞃 Color > Views…
   Decide which Color View you are going to use for authoring vs. publication.
   Move color Invisible to the Invisible column for that view

The alignment won’t be perfect, depending on the font used for the numbers. But using this technique, you can see the padding, but it will be absent in the output, while preserving the spacing.

I use this hack a lot for other purposes, switching content on and off (without reflow, which would be a problem with Conditional Text).

A lot will depend on how consistent your table column widths are that contain your numbers. Here is a process I may use to set this up:

1. In a representative table cell with the correct width, enter a number that would typically be the longest. Center align the text in the cell.
2. In the cell below, enter the same number, but right-align it.
3. Open the Paragraph Designer and go to the Table Cell tab. Experiment with the Right Cell Margin setting until this number aligns with the number in the cell above it.
4. Once you have them aligned, create a new Paragraph Format and use that for all of the numbers in that table column. As long as the number of digits are less than or equal to the longest you entered in step one, all of your numbers will align.

Do you have time for a quick (no cost) meeting? I can give you some ideas and you can summarize what works to the list. Contact me off-list: rick at frameexpert dot com