Header rows on tables disappear randomly

[wmrowen]

I have a booklet with 258 tables that I could not import/place from Word reliably so I rebuilt them all ( ! ) with the plain text/tabs via:

• Convert Text To Tables command
• Added 1 header row via Table Options > Headers & Footers (1) with
• Repeat Header as Once For Frame (Skip First unchecked) and pasted the header text in

Now I find that occasionally some of the header row disappear. I have been getting the header row to re-display by hitting a hard return to the left of the table and then erasing it.

But it keeps occurring randomly and so this a bit like playing Whack A Mole. Not looking forward to saving this as a PDF for printer and finding occasional pages with the problem still occuring.

From reading the forum, similar issues seem to have been happening since as least 2017.

I can only think of two-work arounds:

1. Change the header rows to body rows and manually applying cell styles

2. Output to PDF, then find the problem page(s) on the PDF and then substituting a newly distilled PDF for that page(s)—and the missing rows could cause reflow errors onto the following pages also

Do you have a better solution? Thanks!

[winterm · Accepted solution]

Too bad, you didn't specify your OS/ID versions.

It was a known bug with InDesign CC 2017, it should be fixed in a later versions, though. Whatever, one of the possible solutions is to Recompose all stories. You won't find this command in the user interface, however, the KB shortcut still exists. Go to Edit > Keyboard shortcuts > Product Area: Text and Tables, find Recompose all stories command, check what KB shortcut is assigned to it, or assign your own.

Now run it on your layout.

[wmrowen]

Thanks I will try that. Versions: Mac OS 10.14.5 Indesign 14.0.2

[wmrowen]

The Recompose entry worked for the page I was looking at several hours ago. I noticed  headerless tables just now and so did the entry and it fixed that but either the earlier entry didn't work everywhere or the headers keep dropping like flies.

[winterm]

258 tables in one file isn't something most of us deal with everyday. From my experience, InDesign isn't happy with a big amount of tables, in general, and this has to be considered as a norm, I'm afraid. This doesn't mean it should loose headers, though. Again, there was a fix for CC2017, but the problem still happens sometimes, as we can see.

Be aware that Recomposing stories isn't a kind of a *permanent fix*. Rather think about it as a *refreshing* a webpage you keep opened in your browser.

Just run it right before exporting, and check the output carefully.

[wmrowen]

Yes, that seems to be the necessary work-around. Thanks!

[Laubender]

Hi wmrowen ,

some details on the mentioned bug plus a fix with InDesign CC 2017.1 that is not available through the Creative Cloud App:

Troubleshoot issues after updating to InDesign CC 2017.1

The bug should not occur with any version of InDesign CC 2018 and CC 2019.

Regards,
Uwe

[wmrowen]

Thanks Uwe. I realize that the headers shouldn't go missing in my current 2019 version 14.0.2 of InDesign but they do.

It doesn't seem that I should download and apply a bug fix on the 2017 version of the program for the latest 2019 version. Or is that what you intended that I should do?

[Laubender]

Hi wmrowen ,

the fix is strictly for InDesign CC 2017.1. So do not try to apply it to CC 2018 or CC 2019.

I'd like to see into a sample document where the header rows are missing in CC 2019.

Could you make one available through Dropbox or a similar service and post the link?

Were the documents created in CC 2017.1 and then opened and saved with CC 2019?

Then a possible fix would be to export to IDML from CC 2017.1 or from CC 2019 and open that with InDesign CC 2019.

Regards,
Uwe

[wmrowen]

Document was created in 2019 14.0.2. I will see if I find one incident and will paste it here.

Thanks for your follow-up and interest!

[LareeDraper]

This is happening to me also, created in CC2019. Just updated to CC2020, but it didn't fix the problem.

[LareeDraper]

Exporting to IDML and opening in 2020 fixed the table header problem. I'll recheck the rest of the doc and report back if it caused different problems. Thanks for the workaround for the tables bug.

[LareeDraper]

So... the table headers disappeared again. It happened when I used SPAN ALL to span columns in case that's useful in troubleshooting this long-standing bug. Very frustrating!

[Laubender]

Hi LareeDraper,

I would file a bug report. Maybe there already is one?
See here: https://indesign.uservoice.com/

When done best come back and post the link to the report so that we can vote for fixing the issue.

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[LareeDraper]

Done, thanks

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/39333520-table-headers-...

[Laubender]

Hi Laree,

best add a sample document with a table that misbehaves to your bug report.

I commented the report with a backlink to your post with the screenshots.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[LareeDraper]

Oh, thanks! Didn't know that.

fyi, after I fixed the broken headers (using overset text), they disappeared after I closed InDesign and reopened the file. This has happened twice, so I've rebuilt these three times so far. I'll add that to the bug report.