Table problem: Lock graphic in cells to a row

[PeterD-NJ]

I have several tables in a document, each with three columns. The first  column contains graphic elements (two colored circles); the definitions of each pair of circles is described in the other two columns. The cells containg graphics were converted to graphic cells already.

I need to be able to fix or lock the two graphic elements to their respective rows. So if I need to add rows, or move rows, the graphics will move along with the text.

Here is a typical example of how it looks now, and below, what I'd typically need to do.

Let's say I want to move the middle cell (white-white, Thru-Express) down one row. I can move the text columns, but the graphics will not move with it. White-White will remain in the middle, and White-Yellow will remain on the last row.

Likewise, if I insert a row between the second and third row in the example above, the White-White and White-Yellow markers will remain in place, but the contents of the middle and right-hand cells will move down. Same problem if I try to add rows to the table.

I realize I probably formatted this incorrectly from the beginning, but I need to be able to either fix it properly or find a stable workaround going forward. I have about 85 rows of data across four tables formatted in this way. Thanks in advance!

[John Mensinger]

It's difficult to follow your description of the problem.

Starting with the 3 rows you show above, select the second row, right-click, and choose Insert > Row > [1] Below.

Take a screenshot of the result and post it here.

[PeterD-NJ]

This is the "before" version, with colors changed to their final value. Using 4 rows here for reasons discussed below.

This is the "after" version, after inserting the row as per your directions:

The color dots in the first column did not change position, even though the contents of the second and third column shifted down as would be expected. The expected/needed behavior would be for the White-Red symbols would move down one cell along with the description. Ideally, two blank circles whould be the default in the new row, but I can live with copy/pasting/coloring new ones as needed there. The key thing is locking the contents of the first column with the cells in the two right columns, for each row in the table.

[PeterD-NJ]

I will add that I don't mind re-doing the graphic format for the circles if that will make the process easier going forward. This will be a one-time fix, but I still have another 120 or so entries to create.

[PeterD-NJ · Accepted solution]

OK, so I found a solution to this after a few days of mucking about. In each Column-A cell I selected the two color circles and grouped them. Doing one cell at a time, I then cut the grouped circles, Direct Selected the cell (which had already been converted to a graphic cell using TABLE -> Convert to graphic cell) and instead of pasting, I used the PASTE INTO feature (Control+ALT+V on my PC--not sure what the Mac equivalent would be). It was a tedious to do them all but now it's far easier to re-arrange the rows and to create future tables like this (as I said, I have at least 125 more data rows to create).