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Tables are an effective way to convey large amounts of data in an organized manner. Whether you import a table from Microsoft Word or Excel, or build a new one using InDesign, you can use many powerful methods for designing impressive, professional-looking tables. After designing a table, you can save all the attributes as a style and quickly apply those attributes to another table with just one click using table styles.
Starting up
What you`ll learn in this lesson:
- Creating and importing tables
- Pasting text into a table
- Editing tables and table options
- Formatting cells, rows and text
- Defining a header cell
- Using graphics in tables
- Creating cell and table styles to format tables
Tables are an effective way to convey large amounts of data in an organized manner. Whether you import a table from Microsoft Word or Excel, or build a new one using InDesign, you can use many powerful methods for designing impressive, professional-looking tables. After designing a table, you can save all the attributes as a style and quickly apply those attributes to another table with just one click using table styles.
Starting up
Before starting, make sure that your tools and panels are consistent by resetting your preferences. See “Resetting the InDesign workspace and preferences†in the Starting up section of this book.
You will work with several files from the id06lessons folder in this lesson. Make sure that you have copied the id06lessons folder onto your hard drivefrom the Digital Classroom Books website. You can download the files fromhttp://www.DigitalClassroomBooks.com/epub/indesigncs6. See “Downloading lesson files†in the Starting up section of this book. This lesson may be easier to follow if the id06lessons folder is on your desktop.
The project
In this lesson, you will add tables to a brochure for Bella’s Bakery. The first page of the brochure is complete, but the second page needs tables to list the products for sale. To preview the results you’ll be working toward, navigate to the id06lessons folder and open id0601_done.indd. Once you’ve looked over the layout, you can close the file by choosing File > Close, or keep it open for reference as you work.
This is what the final layout should look like.
Creating a table
You can create a table using one of three methods: from scratch by typing in your data, by copying and pasting information from another table, or by converting tabbed text into a table. In this section, you’ll start with creating a table from scratch, and then explore the other two options as well. Tables exist inside text frames, so to create a table you must first make a text frame. To select or modify a table, you must use the Type tool.
Creating new tables
The Bella’s Bakery brochure needs multiple tables. For this first one, you’ll use the Insert Table control to design your own tables.
1. Within InDesign, choose Window > Mini Bridge to display the Mini Bridge panel. Click the Launch Bridge button, navigate to the id06lessons folder, and open the file id0601.indd. The file opens in InDesign.
2. Click the Pages button (
) in the dock on the right side of the workspace to open the Pages panel. Page 2 should be highlighted in blue to indicate that it’s the active page. If it’s not highlighted, double-click page 2 in the Pages panel to make it the active page.
) in the dock on the right side of the workspace to open the Pages panel. Page 2 should be highlighted in blue to indicate that it’s the active page. If it’s not highlighted, double-click page 2 in the Pages panel to make it the active page.
3. Choose View > Fit Page in Window or press Ctrl+0 (Windows) or Command+0 (Mac OS) to that you can see all of page 2 of your document.
4. Activate the Type tool (
) from the Tools panel, then click and drag to create a new text frame starting in the upper-left corner of the layout’s middle column to the lower-right corner of the same column.
) from the Tools panel, then click and drag to create a new text frame starting in the upper-left corner of the layout’s middle column to the lower-right corner of the same column.
5. Choose Table > Insert Table.
Choose Insert Table from the Table menu.
6. In the Insert Table dialog box that appears, type 7 for the Body Rows, and 4 for the Columns.
The Insert Table dialog box with the correct settings.
7. Click OK to close the dialog box and insert the table. A table with four columns and seven rows appears in the second column’s text frame.
The resulting table has four columns and seven rows.
Copying and pasting table information
You now have a table with no data. You could type the information into the table, but InDesign offers an easier way: cutting and pasting data from another table. InDesign CS6 provides great flexibility when copying information by allowing you to copy data from a Microsoft Excel or Word table and paste those entries into a selected table in InDesign. Using the Clipboard Handling section of the InDesign Preferences, you can specify whether the text pasted from another application retains its original formatting or not. If you check Text Only, the information appears as unformatted text, which you can then flow into a selected table. If All Information is selected, the pasted text appears as the table looked in Word or Excel, and InDesign imports the styles from those programs. You must select the destination table’s cells prior to pasting.
Because you may or may not have Word or Excel, for this exercise you will practice copying and pasting just between InDesign tables.
1. With the id0601.indd file still open, choose Window > Layers, or click the Layers button (
) in the dock to reveal the Layers panel. If you can’t find the panel under the Window menu, choose Window > Workspace > Advanced.
) in the dock to reveal the Layers panel. If you can’t find the panel under the Window menu, choose Window > Workspace > Advanced.
Open the Layers panel.
2. Within the Layers panel, click to select the Pies layer. To the left of the Pies listing, click in the left-hand box to reveal the visibility icon (
), which makes the layer’s contents visible. The layer’s contents appear on the pasteboard to the right of the page.
), which makes the layer’s contents visible. The layer’s contents appear on the pasteboard to the right of the page.
Click the gray square to reveal the layer’s contents.
3. Select the Hand tool (
) from the Tools panel. Click the page with the Hand tool, and drag left to reveal the pasteboard on the right side of the page. Next to the pie images is a table with information on the bakery’s pies. Use the Hand tool to position this area so that you can see both the table and the pie images.
) from the Tools panel. Click the page with the Hand tool, and drag left to reveal the pasteboard on the right side of the page. Next to the pie images is a table with information on the bakery’s pies. Use the Hand tool to position this area so that you can see both the table and the pie images.
4. Select the Type tool (
) from the Tools panel. You edit a table by selecting either the table or its cells with the Type tool, as they reside in text frames.
) from the Tools panel. You edit a table by selecting either the table or its cells with the Type tool, as they reside in text frames.
5. Hover over the top-left corner of the pies table until you see an arrow that points diagonally toward the lower-right corner. Click to select the entire table.
Click when the arrow in the upper-left corner is displayed to select the entire table.
 When hovering over a table, the cursor image indicates which parts of the table you can select. The diagonal arrow means you can select the whole table. An arrow pointing to the right indicates that clicking selects a row. Click when the arrow points straight down, and you select a single column. You can also click and drag across the top or left side of the table to select a range of columns or rows, respectively. |
6. Choose Edit > Copy to copy the selected table to the clipboard.
7. On page 2, you need to select the table you created in the previous exercise, which is the destination table. Double-click the Hand tool to fit the page to the window. Select the whole table by moving the Type tool over the top-left corner of the table, and clicking when you see the diagonal arrow.
8. Choose Edit > Paste to paste the information from the existing pies table into your new table. You have successfully moved table information from an existing table to another new table.
9. Choose File > Save As. In the Save As dialog box, navigate to the id06lessons folder and type id0601_work.indd in the File name text field. Click Save.
Converting text to a table and a table to text
If you prefer, you can bypass the step of creating a table grid, and simply paste data from an existing table into a text frame in your document. The information appears as tab-delimited text, which you can then convert into a table using the Table menu’s Convert Text to Table command. You can also perform this process in the opposite direction using Convert Table to Text. When you choose this command, InDesign removes the table lines and inserts the separators you specify at the end of each row and column.
To demonstrate both commands, you will convert the table you just created to text and then convert the text back to a table.
1. With the table on page 2 still selected, choose Table > Convert Table to Text.
2. In the Convert Table to Text dialog box, Tab should be set as the Column Separator and Paragraph should be set as the Row Separator.
Specify your item separators in the Convert Table to Text dialog box.
3. Click OK. InDesign inserts tabs between each column entry, and paragraph returns after each row, removing all table lines.
The table is now tab-delimited text.
You will now take this mess of text and turn it back into a table.
4. With the Type tool (
), click inside the text frame, and then choose Edit > Select All, or press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac OS), to highlight all the text.
), click inside the text frame, and then choose Edit > Select All, or press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac OS), to highlight all the text.
5. Choose Table > Convert Text to Table. In the resulting Convert Text to Table dialog box, keep the default separator settings and click OK to display the selected text as a table again.
Choose Table > Convert Text to Table to display the selected text as a table.
6. Press Shift+Ctrl+A (Windows) or Shift+Command+A (Mac OS) to deselect everything in the document. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Importing a table
For some projects, you may need to incorporate an existing table created in Microsoft Word or Excel into your layout. Instead of simply pasting a table into the document, the better approach is to use the Place command, which gives you more control over formatting. When you place a Word or Excel document, you can edit the resulting table in InDesign using its Microsoft Word Import options to control the formatting.
1. With id0601_work.indd still open, activate the Type tool (
) and choose File > Place to insert the Microsoft Word document with a table into page 2 of your InDesign file.
) and choose File > Place to insert the Microsoft Word document with a table into page 2 of your InDesign file.
2. Click to turn on the Show Import Options checkbox at the bottom-left of the Place dialog box. Navigate to the id06lessons folder, select id0601.docx, and click Open. InDesign supports the latest XML-based open format from Word and Excel.
3. The Microsoft Word Import Options dialog box appears. Click the Remove Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables radio button, located in the Formatting section of the dialog box, to strip the incoming document of all Word formatting and replace it with the InDesign Basic Paragraph style. This is a good idea if you don’t want any of the styles, colors, or other formatting from Word in your InDesign document. Later in this lesson, you will format the text and save the results as your own styles.
 For more on importing text, see Lesson 3, “Working with Text and Type.†|
Strip the Word document of its formatting to avoid any inconsistencies once it’s in InDesign.
4. Click OK in the Microsoft Word Import Options dialog box. It closes, and to the right of the cursor is a miniature preview of the text.
5. In the left-hand column on page 2, click and drag from the top-left margin to the bottom-right corner to designate the area in which to place the table. You can also just click in the upper-left corner of the margin area to flow the text into the first column. If you see a red overflow box at the bottom-right corner of the text frame, which indicates that there is more placed text than the column can hold, don’t worry: you’ll fix the proportions of the frame soon.
Click to place the table on the InDesign page.
6. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Editing tables and table options
InDesign CS6 has all the same table tools you’ve come to rely on to make your table presentations visually pleasing. In this series of exercises, you will concentrate on ways to adjust the entire Word table you imported. First you’ll change the height of the top row, and then you will explore Table Options to change the border row strokes, column strokes, and fill of the table.
Changing row height
If your rows are too short to hold your entries, you can easily expand them.
1. With the Type tool (
) selected, click inside the table you imported in the left-hand column.
) selected, click inside the table you imported in the left-hand column.
2. Hover between the top row, which holds the word Cakes, and the row below it, which contains Cherry Cheesecake in its left-most cell. When the cursor is directly over the row separator, it becomes a double arrow.
The cursor changes to a double arrow when it is directly over a row separator.
3. Click the row separator with the double-arrow cursor, and drag it to resize the top row. Drag up or down enough so that the height of the row is at a desired size.
 To change just the size of a row or column without affecting the entire table, hold the Shift key as you drag. You can do this for all rows and columns except the right-most row and bottom-most column, where holding the Shift key alters all the rows at the same time. |
Editing the border
Now you will change the size of the table border.
1. With the Type tool still active, click once inside the cell holding the Cakes heading, and then choose Table > Table Options > Table Setup. The Table Options dialog box opens.
Choose Table Options > Table Setup in the Table menu to open the Table Options dialog box.
2. In the Table Options dialog box, type 3 in the Weight text field in the Table Border section. Check the Preview checkbox in the bottom-left corner of the dialog box to see the change take effect. Your bottom row may disappear. If not, keep the dialog box open and jump down to the next section. If it does disappear, click OK; then, with the Type tool selected (
), click the divider between the first and second rows, drag it up to resize the top row again, and then choose Table > Table Options > Table Setup. The Table Options dialog box opens again.
), click the divider between the first and second rows, drag it up to resize the top row again, and then choose Table > Table Options > Table Setup. The Table Options dialog box opens again.
Adjust the weight of the table border in the Table Options dialog box.
Formatting rows and columns
In the previous section, you have changed the border size, and now you will change the color and size of the row and column separators.
1. With the table still selected, and the Table Options dialog box still open, click on the Row Strokes tab at the top of the dialog box.
2. From the Alternating Pattern drop-down menu, choose Every Other Row. This setting allows you to control the appearance of the rows. The options on the left side of the Alternating section are for the first row, and the options on the right side are for the next row. It repeats this pattern throughout the table’s rows.
3. In the Alternating section, beneath the First text field, type 3 in the Weight text field, and choose Dark Blue from the Color drop-down menu. These settings affect the first row and every alternating row beneath it.
4. Type 3 in the Weight text field beneath the Next text field, and choose Light Blue from the Color drop-down menu. This setting affects the second row and every second row beneath that.
The Row Strokes category in the Table Options dialog box allows you to control the appearance of the row strokes in a table, including alternating strokes.
5. Click the Column Strokes tab in the Table Options dialog box.
6. Choose Every Other Column from the Alternating Pattern drop-down menu.
The Alternating Pattern drop-down menu.
7. In the Alternating section, beneath the First text field, type 3 in the Weight field, and choose Dark Blue from the Color drop-down menu. These settings affect the first column and every alternating column after it.
8. Beneath the Next text field, type 3 in the Weight field, and choose Light Blue from the Color drop-down menu. Click OK to apply the changes. Choose the Selection tool. Then press W on your keyboard to toggle into Preview mode to see how the table will appear when printed. Press W again to return to Normal view.
The settings in the Column Strokes tab determine the look of your column separators.
Using fills
To put the finishing touch on your table, you will fill it with color.
1. Select the Type tool (
) and click inside any cell; then choose Table > Select > Table. Choose Table > Table Options > Alternating Fills. This opens the Fills section of the Table Options dialog box.
) and click inside any cell; then choose Table > Select > Table. Choose Table > Table Options > Alternating Fills. This opens the Fills section of the Table Options dialog box.
2. Choose Every Other Row from the Alternating Pattern drop-down menu.
3. In the Alternating section, beneath the First text field, choose Light Chocolate from the Color drop-down menu and type 20 in the Tint Percentage text field.
4. In the color section beneath the Next text field, choose Light Blue from the Color drop-down menu and type 20 for Tint Percentage. With Preview checked, you should see the changes happen instantaneously.
Set the fill color and tint percentage in the Fill section of the Table Options dialog box.
5. Click OK to apply all your fill colors. Press the Esc key to deselect the table. Note that when a table is highlighted, the colors applied to the table appear to be the inverse of their actual color. You need to deselect the table in order to view the actual colors.
The table now reflects all the Table Options changes.
6. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Formatting cells and text
Unlike the Table Options settings that apply to the whole table, your cell styles and Cell Options settings can be different for each cell in the table. You can select and format one cell at a time, an entire row, an entire column, or any other group of cells. You will now format the table on a cell-by-cell basis. You will start by resetting the cell style of all the cells in the table, and then you’ll change the vertical alignment of type within all cells. Finally, you will make four paragraph styles, one each for the table’s header, name, description, and price sections. In later exercises, you’ll use these paragraph styles to create cell styles that will speed the rest of the table’s formatting, and ultimately you’ll use the cell styles to create a table style with which you’ll format the entire Pies table.
Resetting the cell styles within a table
Soon you will make both cell and table styles so that you can quickly apply all the attributes of a table and also the cells within a table using a single click of the mouse. But as we start this lesson, this table has mixed cell styles, which means that some of the settings from Microsoft Word have remained with the table. You’ll start by clearing the additional formatting.
1. With the Type tool (
) selected, hover over the top-left corner of the cakes frame until you see a diagonal arrow, then click to select the Cakes table.
) selected, hover over the top-left corner of the cakes frame until you see a diagonal arrow, then click to select the Cakes table.
2. Choose Window > Styles > Cell Styles to open the Cell Styles panel. Notice the plus sign next to None in the panel’s list of styles. This means that the selected table contains overrides, which are Word styles left over from the original document.
Manage the styles used in your table cells from the Cell Styles panel.
3. Hover your cursor over the plus sign to prompt a small yellow box listing all the items on your page that are formatted using settings not defined in the None style. Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac OS) the word None to clear the overrides. This ensures that the cells are not using any additional formatting.
Clear the overrides to ensure consistent formatting of the table cells. Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac OS) to remove any style overrides from the selected cells.
4. Choose File > Save.
Text alignment and inset within a cell
Some cell formatting options are similar to the Text frame options you worked with in previous lessons. For example, you can use the same alignment options within a cell—top, center, bottom, and justified—as you can in a text box. You also have the same text inset settings that control how far from the edge of a cell text is inset. You will now change these settings for the whole table. You can also change these options one cell at a time, for a range of cells, or for all the cells at once. For the Bella’s Bakery table, you will change the alignment and inset settings for all the cells at once.
1. Make sure the whole table is selected, and then choose Table > Cell Options > Text to open the Cell Options dialog box.
After you select the table, choose Cell Options > Text from the Table menu.
2. In the Cell Insets section of the Cell Options dialog box, type 0.0625 in the Top text field. Press the Tab key to apply the settings to all the insets. If this does not insert 0.0625 automatically in the Bottom, Left, and Right fields, type 0.0625 again and click the Make All Settings the Same button (
) to the immediate right of the top and bottom inset values.
) to the immediate right of the top and bottom inset values.
3. In the Vertical Justification section, choose Align Center from the Align drop-down menu.
4. Click the Preview checkbox to see your changes. The text in each cell is centered and inset from each edge. Click OK to apply the settings.
Set the text alignment and inset in the Cell Options dialog box.
Formatting text within a cell and saving paragraph styles
You can also format the text color and font size in your cells. You can then save these settings as a paragraph style for reuse later; applying styles to cells is as easy as applying them to text frames. In this exercise, you’ll create several paragraph styles from your cell formatting. In the next section, you’ll apply these styles to other cells and see how much time you can save by using styles.
1. With the Type tool (
), click inside the first cell of the second row, and then choose Edit > Select All to highlight the cell’s contents (the words Cherry Cheesecake).
), click inside the first cell of the second row, and then choose Edit > Select All to highlight the cell’s contents (the words Cherry Cheesecake).
2. Type 10 in the Font Size field in the character formatting section of the Control panel, and then click the Small Caps button (
) to apply small caps.
) to apply small caps.
Set the font size and toggle on Small Caps in the Control panel.
3. Open the Swatches panel. Select the Dark Chocolate swatch to make the text dark brown. Make sure your text fill icon is in the foreground.
Select Dark Chocolate from the Swatches panel.
4. Press Shift+Ctrl+C (Windows) or Shift+Command+C (Mac OS) to center the type in its box.
5. Choose Type > Paragraph Styles to open the Paragraph Styles panel. Click the panel menu button (
) in the Paragraph Styles panel and choose New Paragraph Style from the contextual menu.
) in the Paragraph Styles panel and choose New Paragraph Style from the contextual menu.
Create a new paragraph style in the Paragraph Styles panel.
6. In the resulting New Paragraph Style dialog box, type Name in the Style Name text field, click the Apply Style to Selectioncheckbox, then click OK to create a new style based upon the attributes from the selected text. You’ll use the Name style to format the names of all the baked goods listed for Bella’s Bakery.
Name your style in the New Paragraph Style dialog box.
 Making a style does not automatically apply that style. By checking Apply Style to Selection in the New Paragraph Style dialog box, InDesign applies the newly created style to the selected text, linking the selected text to the style. If the style is updated, the text that was selected when the style was created will also be updated. |
7. Select the Name listing in the Paragraph Styles panel. If a plus sign appears next to it, Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac OS) it to clear all overrides.
The Paragraph Styles panel automatically lists your new style.
You will now make a paragraph style for the cake’s descriptions.
8. Repeat steps 1 to 6, using the text in the third-from-left cell in the second row, the paragraph that starts with the sentence,Cheesecake is quite possibly the best food in the world. Set the font size to 8 points if it isn’t already, and leave Small Caps toggled off. Set the paragraph alignment to center and name this new style Description.
You will now make a paragraph style for the price listings.
9. With the Type tool, click inside the last cell on the right in the second row (the one containing $15). Choose Edit > Select All, and repeat steps 3 to 6, naming the new style Price.
10. Select the Price listing in the Paragraph Styles panel to apply the style to the selected cell. If necessary, clear all overrides.
The Paragraph Styles panel now includes three new styles, and the Cakes table is taking shape.
11. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Formatting text in tables by column
You can easily apply paragraph styles to groups of cells, such as a column. The process involves selecting the group and then applying a paragraph style. You will now select the first column of the table and apply one of the paragraph styles created in the last exercise.
1. With the Type tool selected (
), click in the Cherry Cheesecake cell (second row, first cell), and drag down until all the cells below it in the column are highlighted.
), click in the Cherry Cheesecake cell (second row, first cell), and drag down until all the cells below it in the column are highlighted.
2. Click on the paragraph style Name in the Paragraph Styles panel to apply it to all the selected cells.
Highlight the first column’s cells, and apply the Name paragraph style.
3. Now click in the second cell of the third column (Cheesecake is quite possibly…), drag to select all the cells below it, and select Description in the Paragraph Styles panel to apply the Description style.
Select the third column, and apply the Description style.
4. Click the $15 cell, drag down until all the price column’s cells are highlighted, and select the Price style in the Paragraph Styles panel.
Working with tables in Story Editor
InDesign CS6 lets you view tables in the Story Editor. You can use the Story Editor to make sure you have applied the correct paragraph styles to the selected columns.
1. Click anywhere inside the table with the Type tool (
).
).
2. Choose Edit > Edit in Story Editor. The Story Editor opens up and allows you to view the table away from the page, while you can still see which styles are applied to each row and column. Each row is displayed in blue text in the Story Editor and each entry within each row represents a column or cell within that row.
The Story Editor in InDesign CS6 displays tables and identifies styles applied to them.
Make sure that the correct styles are applied. You can make edits directly in the Story Editor and the changes are immediately applied to the layout. Close the Story Editor by clicking the “X†in the top-right corner (Windows), or the red circle in the top-left corner (Mac OS).
Merging cells
You can merge multiple cells in the same row or column into a single cell. To demonstrate, you will merge the top four cells (the first row) of the example table so that the top row (with the word Cakes in it) looks more like a title. In the next section, you’ll format it to stand out even more.
1. Select the cells in the first row by hovering your cursor over the left edge of the box until you see an arrow pointing to the right. Click to select the entire row.
2. Choose Table > Merge Cells or click the Merge Cells button (
) in the Control panel to make the top four cells into a single cell.
) in the Control panel to make the top four cells into a single cell.
Merge the top four cells into one cell for the Cakes header.
Defining a header cell
For a large table that spans multiple columns, frames, or pages, you can designate header or footer rows in order to repeat identifying information at the top or bottom of each portion of the divided table. If your table spans over several pages, headers are vital to orienting readers with the table’s data. For instance, if the number of cakes sold by Bella’s Bakery increased enough to require two columns in its brochure, the next linked frame would automatically contain a header row. This saves you the time of inserting the header on each subsequent page.
Because it treats header cells as special cases, InDesign enables you to color and format them independently, without changing the features of the rest of the table. You can take advantage of this to help the headers stand out from the body of your table. Your header will be instantly identifiable when repeated in a multi-page, -column, or –frame layout, and your readers will be able to more easily decipher the information in the table. In this exercise, you will convert the Cakes cell into a header cell, apply unique formatting, and create a new paragraph style from it. Then you’ll create a header for the Pies table.
 If you just click in a cell or even highlight its contents, InDesign thinks you want to color the text. Either click with the right-pointing arrow or press the Esc key to select an entire cell. |
1. Making sure the top row is still selected, choose Table > Convert Rows > To Header to make the top cell a header cell. Click once inside the cell with the Type tool (
), and notice how the color drops out of the cell. It’s a header cell now, so InDesign strips the normal cell formatting. You’ll now add some header-specific formatting.
), and notice how the color drops out of the cell. It’s a header cell now, so InDesign strips the normal cell formatting. You’ll now add some header-specific formatting.
2. The cell’s fill should automatically change to None because it is now separate from the rest of the table. Select the cell in the first row by hovering your cursor over the left edge of the box until you see an arrow pointing to the right. Click to select the entire row. In the Swatches panel, make sure the Fill icon (
) is in the foreground and click the Paper swatch to color the topmost cell.
) is in the foreground and click the Paper swatch to color the topmost cell.
Paper is opaque and represents the background on which the document will print. By contrast, the None option is transparent and displays any objects beneath it.
Choose Paper for the fill in the Swatches panel.
3. With the Type tool (
), click anywhere in the header cell to activate the cell, and then double-click on the word Cakes to select only the text.
), click anywhere in the header cell to activate the cell, and then double-click on the word Cakes to select only the text.
Now you will stylize the type and make a paragraph style.
4. Center the type in the cell by pressing Shift+Ctrl+C (Windows) or Shift+Command+C (Mac OS). In the Control panel, click on the Small Caps button (
) to convert the title to a mix of large and small caps, and type 24 in the Font Size text field. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to increase the size of the text.
) to convert the title to a mix of large and small caps, and type 24 in the Font Size text field. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to increase the size of the text. If the type disappears from the cell, the type is too large for the cell to contain it. Hover over the bottom of the header cell until you see the double-arrow cursor, and then click and drag down. Make sure you don’t lose any of the table at the bottom because of overflow. |
5. Choose Type > Character to reveal the Character panel. Type 100 in the Tracking text field and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). You can use either the Character panel or the Control panel to control character formatting.
Change the tracking in the Character panel.
6. Click the Swatches button (
) in the dock to open the Swatches panel. Bring Fill to the foreground and click Light Blue to choose it for the fill color. Click the Stroke icon to bring it to the foreground, then choose Black to add a black stroke around the text.
) in the dock to open the Swatches panel. Bring Fill to the foreground and click Light Blue to choose it for the fill color. Click the Stroke icon to bring it to the foreground, then choose Black to add a black stroke around the text.
7. With the formatting finished, you can now save it as a paragraph style. Choose Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles to reveal the Paragraph Styles panel. Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac OS) the Create New Style button (
) to open the New Paragraph Style dialog box. Type Header in the Style Name text field, and click OK.
) to open the New Paragraph Style dialog box. Type Header in the Style Name text field, and click OK.
Create a new header style based on the formatting settings you’ve chosen.
8. In the Paragraph Styles panel’s list, click Header to apply the style to the selected text.
The title Cakes stands out from the rest of the table thanks to its Header style.
9. The Pies table in the second column on page 2 needs a header as well. Click anywhere in the table with the Type tool.
10. Choose Table > Table Options > Headers and Footers to open the Table Options dialog box.
11. In the Table Dimensions section, type 1 in the Header Rows text field. Click OK to create a header row.
Create a header row for the Pies table.
12. Select the header row in the Pies table, and then choose Table > Merge Cells to convert the row to a single title cell.
13. Click inside the header row with the Type tool, then type Pies.
Add the title Pies to the second table’s header cell.
14. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Setting column and row dimensions
At this point, you’ve adjusted the contents of rows and columns, but you haven’t modified the row height or column width directly. By default, row height is determined by the height of the current font. Tables imported from Microsoft Word or Excel, however, can retain their original, exact row heights. If neither of these options fits your layout, InDesign enables you to change row height and column width in the Cell Options dialog box. Here you can specify whether you want a fixed row height that does not change when you add to or delete from the row, or, if you prefer, a variable height. For a fixed height, choose Exactly from the Row Height drop-down menu, and then specify the height you need. Choose At Least to specify a minimum row height; with this setting, rows increase in height as you add text or increase the font size, but will not be smaller than the minimum you set. Try out these cell options on the Cakes and Pies tables.
Setting a fixed row height
For the Cakes and Pies tables, a fixed row height works best. In the steps that follow, you’ll adjust the size of the cells and also change their Row height to be an exact value. Then you will do the same for the Pies table.
1. Using the Type tool (
), click in the Cakes header cell, and then press the Esc key to select the cell.
), click in the Cakes header cell, and then press the Esc key to select the cell.
2. Choose Table > Cell Options > Rows and Columns to open the Cell Options dialog box. In the Row Height section, choose Exactly from the drop-down menu. Type 0.5 in the Row Height text field, and then click OK. The height of the header row changes.
Set the row height to exactly 0.5 in the Cell Options dialog box.
3. Click and drag from the Cherry Cheesecake cell in the top-left corner to the $24 cell in the bottom-right corner to select the rest of the table.
4. Choose Table > Cell Options > Rows and Columns. Choose Exactly from the Row Height drop-down menu, type 1.0625 in the Row Height field, and click OK.
5. Now you need to set the row height for the Pies table. Click and drag from the Apple Pie cell in the top-left corner to the $15cell in the bottom-right corner to select the rest of the table.
 If the table is overset, use the Selection tool ( ) to extend the boundaries of the text frame down below the page. Setting row height fits the table into the column. |
6. Choose Table > Cell Options > Rows and Columns to open the Cell Options dialog box. If it is not already selected, choose Exactly from the Row Height drop-down menu. Type 1.0625 in the Row Height text field, and then click OK.
7. Using the Type tool, click in the Pies header cell, and then press the Esc key to select the cell.
8. Choose Table > Cell Options > Rows and Columns. In the resulting Cell Options dialog box, choose Exactly from the Row Height drop-down menu and type 0.5 in the Row Height field. Click OK.
The Pies table now has a header row height of 0.5 and a body row height of 1.0625.
9. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Setting column width
You will now fix the column width for the Pies table.
1. Activate the Type tool (
), and then click inside the $12 cell, to the right of, or after, the text. Press Shift+down-arrow to select the current cell, and then press Shift+down-arrow six more times to select the whole column.
), and then click inside the $12 cell, to the right of, or after, the text. Press Shift+down-arrow to select the current cell, and then press Shift+down-arrow six more times to select the whole column.
2. Choose Window > Type & Tables > Table to open the Table panel, and make similar changes as you did using the Cell Options dialog box. Type 0.4215 in the Column Width text field and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
Enter the desired width in the Column Width text field of the Table panel.
3. Click inside the cell in the top-right part of the table containing the paragraph that starts with Just like Grandma’s. Press the escape key once to select the cell, then press Shift+down-arrow several times to select the entire column.
4. In the Table panel, type 1.0438 in the Column Width text field, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
Use the Table panel to adjust the column width for the column containing the pies’ descriptions.
5. Click inside the topmost empty cell (the second from the left), and then press Shift+down-arrow seven times to select the whole column.
6. Type 0.9715 in the Column Width text field in the Table panel, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
7. Click the Apple Pie cell, and then press Shift+down-arrow seven times to select the whole column.
8. Return to the Table panel and type 0.9382 in the Column Width text field. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). All row and column formatting is now complete for the Pies table.
9. Choose File > Save to save your file.
Using graphics in tables
Images can spice up any table and, perhaps, help sell a few more of Bella’s pies and cakes. InDesign offers three ways to insert graphics into tables: select a cell with the Type tool and choose File > Place, or select the graphic with the Selection tool, cut or copy it, and then paste it into the table with the Type tool, or use the blue anchored object indicator located in the upper-right of a frame to drag and drop into position. When you add a graphic that is larger than the cell, the cell height increases to contain the graphic; the width of the cell doesn’t change, but the image may extend beyond the right side of the cell. If you place a graphic in a cell of a row set to a fixed height and that image is taller than the row height, InDesign marks the cell as overset and adds a red circle, instead of the image, to the cell. You then need to correct either the height of the table row or the size of the image so the image appears in the cell.
Placing graphics in cells
In this exercise, you’ll add images to the Bella’s Bakery tables. To expedite the process, the document’s pasteboard contains appropriately sized graphics that are ready to place. Instead of using the Selection tool to select them, changing to the Type tool, and then back to the Selection tool, you’ll use a much more efficient shortcut to manage this task.
1. With the Selection tool (
), click the cherry cheesecake picture in the top-left area of the pasteboard to select it. If you are still in Preview mode, you can’t see your pasteboard. Press W on the keyboard to exit or enter Preview mode.
), click the cherry cheesecake picture in the top-left area of the pasteboard to select it. If you are still in Preview mode, you can’t see your pasteboard. Press W on the keyboard to exit or enter Preview mode.
Choose the cherry cheesecake image on the pasteboard to the left of the document.
2. Choose Edit > Cut, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+X (Windows) or Command+X (Mac OS) to cut the image to the clipboard. You will put all the graphics into the empty table cells in exactly the order they already appear on the pasteboard.
3. In the Cakes table, double-click the second-from-left cell in the second row. Double-clicking any cell that can contain text automatically turns the Selection tool into the Type tool (
).
).
4. Press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac OS) to paste the picture into the selected cell.
5. Move back over the pasteboard, and then press and hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) to change the Type tool to the Selection tool, and click the picture of the chocolate cake.
6. Press Ctrl+X (Windows) or Command+X (Mac OS) to cut the picture.
7. Click the second cell of the third row, and then press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac OS) to paste the picture into the cell.
Cut and paste the cheesecake and cake images into the Cakes table.
When you paste a figure into a table cell, you’re creating an inline graphic or graphic that behaves as a piece of text. InDesign CS6 offers an efficient way to create inline graphics with drag and drop ease.
8. With the Selection tool, click the third graphic on the pasteboard and hover your cursor over the blue box located in the upper-right corner of the frame. Press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard, click the blue box, and drag it to the second cell in the Bundt Cake row. The graphic is immediately added to that location.
Shift+drag the blue box in the upper-right corner of the graphics frame to the empty cell in the table.
9. Repeat step 8 for the remaining cake pictures, and then repeat them again to paste the pie graphics from the right side of the pasteboard into the Pies table to fit in their respective rows, or use the copy/paste method.
Using the drag-and-drop method to place graphics in table cells lets you format the tables quickly.
 It is possible to make a photo fit entirely within a table cell; however, there are a few things to account for. Every cell has a text inset applied by default. To ensure that a photo fits within the cell, remove the cell inset so the photo can extend to the cell border. In addition, if you have any strokes applied to a cell, you need to reduce the size of the graphics frame by the value of those stroke values. |
Cell styles and table styles
With InDesign CS6, you can use cell styles to format cells, and table styles to format tables, in the same way you use paragraph and character styles to format text. Beyond that, you can nest cell styles into a table style in the same way that you can nest character styles into paragraph styles. Cell styles contain such information as paragraph styles, cell insets, strokes, and fills, which means that you can apply all these attributes to a cell or range of cells with one click. When you make a cell style, however, it does not automatically include all the selected cell’s formatting. From a collection of cell styles, you can build table styles. Table styles contain cell styles as well as Table Options settings, including table borders and row and column strokes. As with all InDesign styles, when you update a table or cell style, all elements to which the style is applied update automatically. These Table styles give you the ability to format an entire table with one click and implement changes throughout a document’s tables.
By default, each new document contains a Basic Table style with basic table formatting. However, you can customize Table styles to apply to the tables you create. In addition, each document contains a default cell style called None, which is a quick way to remove all cell attributes, as you discovered in the “Resetting the cell styles within a table†section. You cannot modify the None style.
When you use cell styles in a table style, you can specify which cell styles are applied to different sections of the table: header and footer rows, left and right columns, and body rows.
Cell styles
Because you have already formatted the table and cells and also created paragraph styles, you can now reap the rewards of setting up a table using the correct process. With all these elements in place, you can now easily create cell styles. In this exercise, you’ll create four cell styles—Header, Name, Description, and Price—that contain the paragraph styles you made earlier.
1. Using the Type tool (
), click inside the Cherry Cheesecake cell, and then press Ctrl+/ (Windows) or Command+/ (Mac OS) to select it.
), click inside the Cherry Cheesecake cell, and then press Ctrl+/ (Windows) or Command+/ (Mac OS) to select it.
2. Choose Window > Styles > Cell Styles, to open the Cell Styles panel.
3. Choose New Cell Style from the Cell Styles panel menu (
).
).
Choose New Cell Style from the Cell Styles panel menu.
4. In the New Cell Style dialog box that opens, type Name in the Style Name text field. Note that because the cell was selected when creating a new style, all the attributes of the cell have been incorporated into the cell style definition. Choose Name from the Paragraph Style drop-down menu, and click OK to create the Name cell style. You have now created a cell style that contains a paragraph style.
You will apply the style in the next exercise.
Choose Name from the Paragraph Style drop-down menu.
5. Click the Cakes header cell using the Type tool, and then press the Esc key to select it.
6. Choose New Cell Style from the Cell Styles panel menu, type Header in the Style Name field, choose Header from the Paragraph Styles drop-down menu, and click OK to create the Header cell style.
7. Click the first description cell (Cheesecake is quite possibly the best…), and then press the Esc key to select it.
8. Repeat step 6, naming the new cell style Description and choosing Description for the associated paragraph style.
9. Click the $15 cell, and then press the Esc key to select it.
10. Repeat step 6, naming the final cell style Price and choosing Price for the associated paragraph style.
Applying cell styles
You can apply cell styles to cells with the usual point-and-click ease. Try it out by applying the styles you just created to the Cakes table.
1. Click inside the Cakes header cell using the Type tool (
), and then press the Esc key to select it.
), and then press the Esc key to select it.
2. Click the Header style in the Cell Styles panel to apply that style to the selected cell.
Click a name in the Cell Styles panel’s list to apply a cell style to a selected cell.
3. Click at the end of the Cherry Cheesecake text, press Shift+down-arrow to select its cell, and then press Shift+down arrow six more times to select the rest of the column.
4. Click the Name style in the Cell Styles panel’s list to apply that style to the selected cells.
5. Click in the first description cell (Cheesecake is quite possibly the best…) and drag down and to the left to select all the images and descriptions.
6. Click Description in the Cell Styles panel to apply the style. This centers the images in the cells for you as well.
Click and drag to select both the images and descriptions, and then apply the style.
7. Click in the $15 cell, and then drag down to select it and the rest of the price cells. You can also press Shift+down arrow seven times to select the remaining cells.
8. Click Price in the Cell Styles panel to apply the final style.
Creating table styles
Compared to setting up the initial attributes, making a table style from a group of cell styles is fast and easy. All you have to do is choose which cell styles you want to use and tell InDesign which style to use where. The action takes place in the New Table Style dialog box. Here you can specify which cell styles are applied to different sections of the table: header and footer rows, left and right columns, and body rows.
In this exercise, you’ll compile the cell styles from your Cakes table into a table style for use on the Pies table.
1. Using the Type tool (
), select the entire Cakes table by clicking in the top-left corner of the table frame when you see a diagonal arrow.
), select the entire Cakes table by clicking in the top-left corner of the table frame when you see a diagonal arrow.
2. If necessary, choose Window > Styles > Table Styles to open the Table Styles panel.
From the Table Styles panel, you can create and apply table styles.
3. Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac OS) the Create New Style button located at the bottom of the Table Styles panel. The New Table Style dialog box opens. Notice the Cell Styles section, which contains five drop-down menus. This is where you match the cell style to the location where it should be applied. Header and Body Rows are self-explanatory. The Left and Right Column menus, however, let you specify unique styles for the cells, so that you could have unique formatting for each.
4. In the New Table Style dialog box, type Bella’s Bakery in the Style Name text field.
5. In the Cell Styles section, choose Header from the Header Rows drop-down menu.
6. Choose Description from the Body Rows drop-down menu, choose Name from the Left Column drop-down menu, and choose Price from the Right Column drop-down menu. Click OK.
Assign the cell styles you want to use in the New Table Style dialog box.
7. With the table still selected, choose the Bella’s Bakery style to apply it. Open the Cell Styles panel and click None to remove any manually applied Cell Styles as the Table Style is now doing all the work. Choose File > Save.
Applying table styles
Here’s where all that hard work pays off: you can format an entire table with one click. In this exercise, you’ll style the Pies table and a new Cookies table.
1. Select the entire Pies table using the Type tool (
) by clicking in the top-left corner of the table’s frame when you see the diagonal arrow.
) by clicking in the top-left corner of the table’s frame when you see the diagonal arrow.
2. Choose Bella’s Bakery from the Table Styles panel to apply the style. If there are any plus signs to the right of the table style name, Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac OS) to clear the overrides. You may need to hold the Shift key and adjust the vertical size of the table with the Type tool. Now you can try it again.
Choosing Bella’s Bakery from the Table Styles panel formats the entire Pies table with one click.
3. Click the Layers button (
) in the panel dock to open the Layers panel, and then click on the left-hand gray box next to the Cookies layer (the visibility button). A table listing different types of cookies appears in the right-hand column of the document.
) in the panel dock to open the Layers panel, and then click on the left-hand gray box next to the Cookies layer (the visibility button). A table listing different types of cookies appears in the right-hand column of the document.
4. Select the entire Cookies table by clicking with the Type tool in the top-left corner of the table frame when you see a diagonal arrow.
5. From the Table Styles panel, choose Bella’s Bakery from the list to apply the style to the Cookies table. You may need to adjust the height of the cells in the Cookies table so that they match the other tables.
6. Click the left-hand gray box next to the Background layer (the visibility button) in the Layers panel. This shows you the intended background color that has been set to the bleed.
7. Choose Edit > Deselect All so that nothing in the layout is selected, and then press the W key on your keyboard to preview the finished layout. If necessary, choose Edit > Fit Spread in Window to view the project. Press W again when you are done previewing the project.
8. Select File > Save and you’re done!
Take a look at the finished Bella’s Bakery brochure.
Self study
Save another copy of your document as id0602_work.indd.
Because all three of your tables are designed with styles, you can make universal changes. Try changing the paragraph style Description, changing the font, and turning hyphenation off; click the Preview button to see all three tables change as you choose different options.
Select a cell and give the cell a stroke; then redefine the style in the drop-down menu of the Cell Styles panel to see the global change.
Change all the fonts and colors in the first table. Make new paragraph styles, and apply them. Change the attributes of the four sections of cells you used. Make a new set of cell styles, apply them to the first table, and then create a table style from that table. Apply your new table style to the other two tables.
Review
Questions
1. What are four ways to select a cell?
2. Can paragraph styles be included in cell styles?
3. In which five sections of a table style can you apply cell styles?
4. If you needed to remove all formatting to reduce a table down to its basic appearance, how would you make these changes?
5. If a plus sign (+) appears next to your table style name, it indicates that some change has occurred and there are overrides to some of the cells, tables, or text within the table. How do you clear these overrides?
Answers
1. Click and drag until the whole cell is highlighted; press Ctrl+/ (Windows) or Command+/ (Mac OS); click in a cell and press Shift+down arrow; press the Esc key.
2. Yes, but they are not chosen by default; you must select them in the Cell Style drop-down menu.
3. You can apply cell styles in a table style in these sections: header rows, footer rows, left columns, right columns, and body rows.
4. In the Table Styles panel, click on Basic Table.
5. Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac OS) the style name to clear overrides.