"From Table" option in Custom Ruling and Shading

[MR89]

In the Custom Ruling and Shading pod, Under the "Apply Ruling Style" section, what does the option "From Table" mean?

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

From Table resets the selected options to the values in the currently applied table tag. See the Table Designer for the name and definition of the tag.

-Matt

[Barb Binder]

Hi MR89:

Here's how I explain it to my students: a table without any overrides derives all of its formatting from the Table Designer. That's where you set the basic properties, ruling properties and the shading properties. I always advise my students to design their tables to rely exclusively on table tags created in the Table Designer—because its quick, and you can update all the tables in a document at one time.

But let's say you decide to change the ruling (or shading) for a couple of selected table cells—you do that in Custom Ruling and Shading, which overrides the settings from Table Designer. Later, if you decide the custom look was a bad idea, you reselect the same cells and choose From Table [Designer] for ruling and/or shading values and the table returns to the way it was before you added the overrides. None might work, and it might not—it depends on the table tag. From Table [Designer] always works.

~Barb