Aligning Numbers on the " ) " or " , " with an Imported Table

[tabitha_6060]

Hey y'all, I'm having a hard time getting my numbers to line up on this table. None of the tutorials I've tried online have been working. For some background:

• This table was imported from an Excel file and they are linked

• The column width is set to 1.17 in for all number cells

• I've already tried "Align to Decimal" under "Tabs" in "Paragraph Styles". I've done various sizes for X and tried setting it to both " , " and " ) ", none of which has worked

• Most everything is based on Paragraph Style 3 and Cell Style 3, and all specialized styles reference these two or iterations of them. (i.e. Underlined Body Rows references Cell Style 3, and Fill Underlined Body references Underlined Body Rows)

I want the " , " to line up for the numbers, even if there is a parenthesis. I'm wondering if the table being imported from Excel removed any "Tab" function that you would normally get from making a table from scratch in InDesign, because nothing seems to be working. I also don't know if my nested style groups may be canceling each other out somehow.

Am I missing something, or is there another way I should be doing this? Any help y'all can provide would be greatly appreciated.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

"Specify characters for decimal tabs" in:

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/indesign/using/tabs-indents.html

[tabitha_6060]

I appreciate you providing that, but unfortunately I've already tried that and it hasn't worked : /

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@tabitha_6060

Can you share a sample document? 

[tabitha_6060]

Does this work? This is a copy of the exact file I'm using

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@tabitha_6060 

Looks like the problem is with the fact - that you have your text RIGHT aligned.

After switching to LEFT - it works - as long as there is only ONE ",":

So, you need to change format of your numbers.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Or, a slight modification to what @Willi Adelberger suggested - add "hair space" at the "point of alignment":

In your case it would be after the numbers - before the ")".

[Robert at ID-Tasker · Accepted solution]

@tabitha_6060 

Or you could use two different ParaStyles - one for texts with ")" and another without - then align them right - but with extra inset.

Underlined is a 2nd ParaStyle.

I've used a different font so your values would be different.

[tabitha_6060]

Ahh, that makes sense. I had to adjust a few other things, but that worked! Thank you so much for your help 🙂

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

But you've said, that you have it linked - if you update - you'll lose all your manual changes...

[tabitha_6060]

I updated my Paragraph style to change the alginment to "Left" and then removed the Cell Insets on the Table Style, so it's saved into the programming of the table. Besides, we only ever update the numbers on the spreadsheet, not the table style, so there's no danger of my presets being changed. 

For anyone who views this thread in the future, I also used the YouTube video https://youtu.be/m38QSAaK2Pg?si=UKrg4aQtRhUmXVsH in addition to the above advice to fix this issue.  

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Yeah, you can just set ")" as an "align on" character:

[Willi Adelberger]

1. You have to set a tabulator stop to , and give space to cells without () to enable the cells with ()-
2. Use a tabulator number type in the OTF settings.

[tabitha_6060]

Thank you for replying! I apologize, I'm new to using InDesign, so I don't know all of the lingo. What are the OTF settings? And how would you go about doing the actions in 1. line you listed?

[Willi Adelberger]

OTF is an Opent Type Font which has usually a bunch of number types.

I ment that the tabulator is set to a coma amd you have to have space in the width of a closing paratnesis to allow alignment.

[tabitha_6060]

Thank you for volunteering your time to try and help me!