Table won't show more than 1 row

Question

This is a strange issue I just ran into. I've been working with these tables I created and they were working just as intended so far. They tend to have hundreds of rows, and I've been deleting and adding rows as needed. However, now I have a problem where the table won't show more than 1 body row before forcing a wrap to the next text box.

Here's the problem. Text box 1 at the top should be able to fit all 3 body rows, but it doesn't and I don't know why. And the text box is clearly large enough to hold them. Is this due to some option I've never heard of?

Here's an InDesign file with just the problem table.

Mike Witherell · Accepted Answer

Tables are finicky and tricky. And possibly buggy.

If you placed/pasted a table along with its attributes and then proceeded to dress it up with direct formatting and cell styles, you will soon have an unworkable mess.

Best bet, build a hierarchy of a Table Style that calls for 3 or more Cell Styles. Each Cell Style should call for a defined paragraph style. Build all these styles without using the Type tool inserted into any text/cell/table. In other words, imagine it. Place the table from Word or Excel, bringing it into InDesign without any formatting. Then apply the Table Style and clear overrides in the Cell Styles panel.

Look out: your multi-colored header is too complex to build into a Cell Style. It will require many cell styles, and you might therefore decide to not call for any header cell style for the header cells in the Table Style.

Making table and cell styles cleanly means no hidden corrupt counter-commands on how your table should behave.

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