Writer Guide

9

Chapter
Working with Tables

This PDF is designed to be read onscreen, two pages at atime. If you want to print a copy, your PDF viewer shouldhave an option for printing two pages on one sheet ofpaper, but you may need to start with page 2 to get it toprint facing pages correctly. (Print this cover page
separately.)CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2006–2010 by its contributors as listed
in the section titled Authors. You may distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of either the GNU General Public License, version 3 orlater, or the Creative Commons Attribution License, version 3.0 or
later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Authors
Peter Hillier-Brook
John Kane
Stefan A. KeelIain Roberts
Gary Schnabl
Janet Swisher
Barbara M. Tobias
Jean Hollis Weber
Bob Wickham
Michele Zarri
Magnus Adielsson

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:authors@documentation.openoffice.org

Acknowledgments
This document is derived from a chapter written by Vincenzo Ponzi for
OOo 1.1.x.

Publication date and software version
Published 23 January 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.

You can download
an editable version of this document fromhttp://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/

Contents
Copyright............................................................................................... 2
Introduction........................................................................................... 5
Creating a table.....................................................................................5
Inserting a new table..........................................................................5
Creating nested tables........................................................................7
Using AutoCorrect to create a table...................................................7
Create a table from formatted text..................................................8
Example........................................................................................... 8
Formatting the table layout.................................................................... 9
Default parameters.............................................................................9
Resizing and positioning the table....................................................10
Resizing rows and columns...............................................................11
Inserting rows and columns..............................................................13
Merging and splitting cells...............................................................14
Specifying table borders...................................................................14
Selecting background colors and graphics.......................................16
Displaying or hiding table boundaries..............................................18
Formatting the table text.....................................................................19
Specifying text flow..........................................................................19
Vertical alignment............................................................................. 21
Number formats................................................................................ 21
Rotating text in a table cell...............................................................22
Data entry and manipulation in tables.................................................22
Moving between cells.......................................................................22
Sorting data in a table......................................................................23
Using spreadsheet functions in a table.............................................23
Additional table operations..................................................................25
Adding a caption............................................................................... 25
Cross-referencing a table..................................................................28
Automatic formatting of tables.........................................................28
Creating a heading row in an existing table.....................................30
Working with Tables

3

Merging and splitting tables.............................................................30
Deleting a table................................................................................. 31
Copying a table................................................................................. 31
Moving a table..................................................................................31
Inserting a paragraph before or after a table...................................32
Using tables as a page layout tool....................................................32
The Table menu and toolbar................................................................. 32

4

Working with Tables

Introduction
Tables are a useful way to organize and present large amounts of
information, for example:• Technical, financial, or statistical reports.
• Product catalogs showing descriptions, prices, characteristics,
and photographs of products.
• Bills or invoices.
• Lists of names with address, age, profession, and otherinformation.
Tables can often be used as an alternative to spreadsheets to organize
materials. A well-designed table can help readers understand better
what you are saying. While you would normally use tables for text or
numbers, you could put other objects, such as pictures, in cells.
Tables can also be used as a page-layout tool to position text in areas ofa document instead of using several Tab characters. For example, thedescriptions under Figure 13 were created in a table with invisible
borders. Another, perhaps better example would be in headers andfooters to support independent positioning of different elements, suchas page number, document title etc. This use of tables is described in
Chapter 4 (Formatting Pages).

Creating a table
Before you insert a table into a document, it helps to have an idea ofthe visual result you want to obtain as well as an estimate of thenumber of rows and columns required. Every parameter can bechanged at a later stage; however, thinking ahead can save a large
amount of time as changes to fully formatted tables often require asignificant effort.

Inserting a new table
To insert a new table, position the cursor where you want the table toappear, then use any of the following methods to open the Insert Table
dialog box (shown in Figure 1):• From the main menu, choose Table > Insert > Table.
• Press Control+F12.
• From the Standard toolbar, click the Table icon

Creating a table

5

Figure 1: Inserting a new table using the Insert Table
dialog box
Here you can specify the properties for the new table.
Under Name, you can enter a different name than the OOo-generated
default for the table. This might come in handy when using theNavigator to quickly jump to a table.
Under Size, specify the initial number of columns and rows for the newtable. You can change the size of the table later, if necessary.
Under Options, set up the initial table characteristics. Selecting theoptions in this section of the dialog produces the following results:• Heading — Defines the first row(s) in the table as headings. The
default Table Heading paragraph style is applied to the headingrows and thus makes the text centered, bold, and italic. You can
edit the OOo-predefined Table Heading paragraph style in the
Styles and Formatting window to change these default settings.
When splitting a table into two tables, the Heading row(s) arecopied in the second table.
• Repeat heading — Repeats the heading row(s) of the table at the
top of subsequent pages if the table spans more than one page.
The first ... rows —Specifies the number of rows to be repeated.
Default is 1.
• Don’t split table — Prevents the table from spanning more than
one page. This can be useful if the table starts near the end of apage, and would look better if it were completely located on thefollowing page. If the table becomes longer than would fit on one
page, you will need to either deselect this option or manually split
the table.
6

Working with Tables• Border — Surrounds each cell of the table with a border. Thisborder can be modified or deleted later.
The AutoFormat button opens a dialog box from which you can selectone of the many predefined table layouts. See “Automatic formatting oftables” on page 28 for more information.
After making your choices, click OK. Writer creates a table as wide as
the text area (from the left page margin to the right page margin), withall columns the same width and all rows the same height. You can thenadjust the columns and rows later to suit your needs.

Tip

To directly insert a table with the default properties, click on thelittle arrow next to the Table icon on the Standard toolbar. A
graphic appears where you can choose the table’s size (rows andcolumns). To create the table, click on the cell that you want to
be on the last row of the last column. Holding down the mousebutton over the Table icon will also display the graphic.

Creating nested tables
You can create tables within tables, nested to a depth only limited byimagination and practicality. Figure 2 demonstrates a simple, two-level
example.
To achieve this, simply click in a cell of an existing table and use any ofthe methods mentioned in “Inserting a new table” above.

Figure 2: Nested table example. The shadedtable is nested in a cell of the larger table.

Using AutoCorrect to create a table
You can also create a table by typing a series of hyphens (-) or tabs
separated by plus signs. Use the plus signs to indicate column dividers,
while hyphens and tabs are used to indicate the width of a column.
For example, this character sequence:+-----------------+---------------+------+Creating a table7

creates a table like this:

Note

CautionThis function can be disabled or enabled in Tools > AutoCorrect.
On the Options tab, deselect or select Create table.
When using tabs instead of a table to line up your data, always
make sure that you know how wide they are set and rememberthat default tabs may be different when the document isdisplayed on a different computer or even when copying thesame data in a new document.

Create a table from formatted text
It is possible to create a table starting from plain text by means of theTable > Convert > Text toTable menu. In order forthis command to work
effectively, the starting textneeds to have clear
demarcation between what
will become the columns of
the table. Paragraph marks
indicate the end of a row.
To convert text to a table,
start by selecting the text
you want to convert andchoose Table > Convert >Figure 3: Dialog box to configure the text Text to Table to open theto table conversion
dialog shown in Figure 3.
In the top part of the dialog, select the symbol that separates thecolumns. This would normally be a tab, but it could be a semicolon orcomma if you are importing a CSV file. The other options in this dialog
are the same as those in the dialog used to insert a table shown in
Figure 1.

ExampleIn this example we will convert the following text into a table.
Row 1 Column 1; Row 1 Column 2; Row 1 Column 3
Row 2 Column 1; Row 2 Column 2; Row 2 Column 38Working with Tables

In this case, the separator between elements is a semicolon. By
selecting the text and applying the conversion, we obtain the following
result.
Row 1 Column 1

Row 1 Column 2

Row 1 Column 3

Row 2 Column 1

Row 2 Column 2

Row 2 Column 3

Note that, unlike when creating a table with other mechanisms, theconversion from text to table preserves the paragraph style applied tothe original text.
You can also use the Convert menu to perform the opposite operation;that is, to transform a table into plain text. This may be useful when
you want to export the table contents into a different program.
To transform a table into text, place the cursor anywhere in the table,choose Table > Convert > Table to Text in the main menu, pick the
preferred row separator, and click OK to finish.

Formatting the table layout
Formatting a table is, generally speaking, a two-step process:formatting of the table layout (the subject of this section) andformatting of the table text (the subject of the next section).
Formatting the layout normally involves one or more of the following
operations: adjusting the size of the table and its position on the page,
adding or removing rows or columns, merging and splitting individual
cells, changing borders and background.

Default parameters
If you create a table using the Insert Table dialog box or the Table iconon the Standard toolbar and activate the Heading option, thefollowing defaults are set:
• The cells in the heading row (or rows) use the Table Heading
paragraph style. In the default template, the text is centered and
set with a bold and italic font.
• The remaining cells use the Table Contents paragraph style,which, in the default template, is identical to the Default
paragraph style.
• The default table occupies all the space from margin to margin(text area).
• The default table has thin black borders around each cell (grid).
Formatting the table layout

9Resizing and positioning the table
Using the default settings, any newly created table will occupy theentire width of the text area. This is sometimes what you want, or you
may prefer a smaller table. To quickly resize a table, first move themouse to either the left or right edge. When the cursor changes shape
into a double arrow, drag the border to the new position. This
operation only changes the size of the first or last column; it does notchange the alignment of the table on the page.
If you need more precise control over the size and position of the tableon the page, open the Table Format dialog box by choosing Table >Table Properties or by right-clicking anywhere in the table andchoosing Table from the pop-up menu. Select the first page of the
dialog box (Table).

Figure 4: The Table page of the Table Format dialog box
On this page you can set the alignment of the table, choosing among
the following options:• Automatic: the default setting for a table.
• Left: aligns the table with the left margin.
• Right: aligns the table with the right margin.
• From Left: lets you specify under Spacing exactly how far fromthe left margin the table is placed.
• Center: aligns the table in the middle between the left and rightmargins. If the table width is greater than the margin, the table
will extend outside of the margins.
• Manual: lets you specify the distances from both left and rightmargins under Spacing.

10

Working with Tables

Selecting an alignment option other than Automatic activates the
Width field in the Properties section, where you can enter the desired
size of the table. Select Relative to see the width as percentage of thetext area.
In the Spacing section, use the Above and the Below boxes to modify
the separation between the text and the table. When the size of thetable is less than the size of the text area, OOo will insert some values
in the Left and Right boxes. You can only change both values if you
select Manual alignment and you can change the Left box value only
when you select the From Left alignment. Note that the sum of thetable width, and the values in the Left and Right boxes, needs to equal
the width of the text area.

Resizing rows and columns
You can adjust the height of rows and the width of columns in a tablein several ways.
• Move the mouse next to the edge of the cell and when a doubleheaded arrow appears, click and hold the left mouse button, dragthe border to the desired position, and release the mouse button.
• On the horizontal ruler, column dividers are marked by a pair ofthin gray lines; the vertical ruler indicates row dividers in thesame way. You can resize a row or column by holding the mousebutton down on the appropriate divider and dragging it to thedesired location.
• Use the keyboard as described below.
Selecting Table > Autofit from the main menu also offers someresizing options:• The Optimal Column Width or Optimal Row Height options
make the selected columns or rows as narrow as possible whilestill fitting their contents.
• Selected columns and rows can be distributed evenly to quickly
bring them back to all being the same width or height.
For greater control over the width of each column, use the Columns
page of the Table Format dialog box.

Formatting the table layout

11

Figure 5: Table Format dialog box: Columns page
Right-click on the table and choose Table from the pop-up menu or
choose Table > Table Properties from the menu bar. On the Table
Format dialog box, select the Columns tab.
• Adapt table width: If a table already stretches to the pagemargins, it cannot stretch any wider and the Adapt table width
option is not available. If the table is narrower, increasing thewidth of a column will increase the width of the whole table.
If the table width already extends pasts the margins with the
Adapt table width option checked, attempting to change a column
width will automatically decrease that column’s size so that thetable will now shrink to the page margins while keeping any othercolumn sizes intact.
• Adjust columns proportionally results in all columns changing
their widths by the same percentage when one is changed. For
example, if you reduce by half the size of a column, all the othercolumns sizes will be halved.
• Remaining space shows how much further the table can expand
before hitting the limit of the margins. This value cannot beedited and will not be negative in the event that the table width isalready larger than the space between the left and right margins.
• Under Column width, each individual column can be adjusted. If
you have more than six columns, use the arrows at the right andleft to view them all.
Rather than start from the Table Format dialog box, it is often more
efficient to make rough adjustments to a new table using the mouse,
and then fine tune the layout using the Columns page in conjunction
with the Table page of the Table Format dialog box.

12

Working with Tables

It is also possible to resize a table using only the keyboard. This is on
occasions easier than using the mouse.
1) Place the cursor on the cell whose size you want to change.
2) Press and hold the Alt key while using the arrow keys to change
the size.
To adjust the resizing parameters and behavior for keyboard handling,choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Table.
Use the Row and Column values in the Move cells section to determine
the amount of change produced by a single keystroke while resizing. In
the Behavior of rows/columns section you can choose one of thefollowing three strategies when resizing:• Fixed: select this if you want the resizing to only affect theadjacent cell, and not the entire table. The width of the table does
not change when resizing its cells.
• Fixed, proportional: when resizing a cell with this option selected,
all the other cells are also resized proportionally, Also in this casethe width of the table remains constant.
• Variable: this is the default value. Resizing a cell affects the tablesize. For example, when you widen a cell, the width of the table
increases.

Inserting rows and columns
To insert any number of rows or columns:
1) Place the cursor in the row or column where you want to add newrows or columns and right-click.
2) On the pop-up menu, choose Row > Insert or Column > Insert.
This will display a dialog box where you can select the number ofrows or columns to add, and whether they appear before or after
the selected one.
3) Set Amount to the number of rows or columns to insert, andPosition to Before or After.
4) Click OK to close the dialog box.

Note

Clicking on the Insert Row icon on the Table toolbar inserts one
row below the selected one. Clicking on the Insert Column iconon the Table toolbar inserts a column after (to the right of) the
selected one.
Regardless of how they are inserted, new rows or columns havethe same formatting as the row or column where the cursor waswhen the insert command was issued.

Formatting the table layout

13You can also quickly insert a row or a column using only the keyboard:
1) Place the cursor in the row or column next to the row or column
you want to insert.
2) Press Alt+Insert to activate keyboard handling.
3) Use the arrow keys as desired to add a row or column:
Left to insert a new column to the left of the cell where the cursor
is located.
Right to insert a new column to the right of the cell where thecursor is.
Down to insert a new row below the cell where the cursor is.
Up to insert a new row above the cell where the cursor is.
The above keyboard technique can also be used to delete rows orcolumns by substituting the Alt+Insert keystroke combination in Step
2 with Alt+Delete.

Merging and splitting cells
To merge a group of cells into one cell:
1) Select the cells to merge.
2) Right-click and choose Cell > Merge on the pop-up menu, orchoose Table > Merge Cells from the menu bar.
To split a cell into multiple cells:1) Position the cursor inside the cell.
2) Right-click and choose Cell > Split on the pop-up menu, orchoose Table > Split Cells from the menu bar.
3) Select how to split the cell. A cell can be split either horizontally(create more rows) or vertically (create more columns), and you
can specify the total number of cells to create.
It is generally a good rule to merge and split cells after completingother layout formatting. This is because some operations such as
deleting a column or a row may produce a result difficult to predict
when applied to a table with merged or split cells.

Specifying table borders
On the Table Format dialog box, select the Borders tab.
Here you can set borders for a whole table or groups of cells within atable. In addition, a shadow can be set for the whole table.

14

Working with Tables

Borders have three components: where they go, what they look like,and how much space is left around them.
• Line arrangement specifies where the borders go. If a group ofcells is selected, the border will be applied only to those cells. You
can specify individually the style of the border for the outsideedges of the selected cells as well as for the the cell divisions.
Writer provides five default arrangements but you can just as
easily click on the line you want to customize in the User-definedarea to get exactly what you want. When multiple cells are
selected, the User-defined area allows you to select the edges ofthe selection as well as the cell dividers. By clicking at theintersection of the lines, you can modify multiple borders
simultaneously. For example, in Figure 6 the right edge andhorizontal separators are modified with a single operation.

Note

When the selected cells have different styles of border the Userdefined area shows the border as a gray line. You can click on
the gray line to choose a new border style (first click), leave theborder as it is (second click) or delete the border (third click).

Figure 6: Table Format dialog box: Borders page
• Line specifies what the border looks like: the style and color.

There are a number of different styles and colors to choose from.
The Line Style and Color will apply to those borders highlighted
Formatting the table layout

15

by a pair of black arrows in the User-defined map on the left handside of the dialog box.
• Spacing to contents specifies how much space to leave between
the border and the cell contents. Spaces can be specified to theleft, right, above, and below. Check Synchronize to have thesame spacing for all four sides. This spacing is like a padding andit is not factored in when calculating the text measurements.
• Shadow style properties always apply to the whole table. A
shadow has three components: where it is, how far from the table
it is cast, and what color it is.
• If Merge adjacent line styles is checked, two cells sharing acommon border will have their borders merged, rather than beingside by side.

Tip

To reset everything if you are having problems with borders,
right-click in the table and choose Table or choose Table >Table Properties from the menu bar. On the Borders tab,select the Set No Borders icon under Line arrangement:
Default (the box on the left).

Selecting background colors and graphics
A table background can greatly improve the readability of the data,visually highlight important parts of the table (such as the heading or a
specific cell), or just make the table more appealing. You can choose
between two types of background when formatting the table: solid
color or graphic. The background can be applied to the whole table, toa single cell, or to a row. The background selected for a cell will be infront of the row background which in turn will hide the tablebackground.
The row background option is quite handy when you want to create
alternate color rows or assign a different background to the heading of
the table. The tables in this guide adopt this technique.
To set the background for a cell, row, or table:
1) Place the cursor anywhere inside the cell, row or table you want
to work with. If you want to apply a background to a group ofcells, select the group.
2) Right-click and choose Table from the pop-up menu, or choose
Table > Table Properties from the main menu.
3) In the Table Format dialog box, select the Background tab.

16

Working with Tables

4) In the For section, chose whether to apply the settings to cell,row, or table.
•
If you choose Cell, changes apply only to the selected cells, orthe cell where the cursor currently resides. Even whenselecting a group of cells, the background settings are applied
to each cell individually.
•
If you choose Row, changes affect the entire row where thecursor resides.
•
If you choose Table, changes will set the background for theentire table, regardless of the cursor position or selected cells.

Figure 7: Table Format dialog: inserting a graphic
background5) In the As section, choose whether the background is a color or agraphic.
To apply a color, select the color and click OK. Remember thatyou can add custom colors by choosing Tools > Options >Colors.
To apply a graphic:a) First select the graphic from your computer’s file system with
the Browse button. (Writer supports a large number ofgraphics formats.)

Formatting the table layout

17b) You can use the Link option to link the graphic file. If it islinked, changes to the graphic (for example, if you edit it in adifferent software package) are reflected in your document.
However, you also need to keep the linked graphic file withthe document file. If, for example, you email the document
without the graphic file, the graphic will no longer be visible.
c) Under Type, select the type of placement for the graphic.
•
If you choose Position, you can select in the position map
where the graphic will be displayed in the selected area.
•
If you choose Area, the graphic is stretched to fill thewhole area.
•
If Tile, the graphic is tiled (repeated horizontally andvertically) to fill the area.
d) If the Preview option is checked, the graphic displays in thepane on the right.
e) To apply the graphic, click OK.
Figure 8 shows an example of a table set with a background image,and the first row background colored. As you can see, the row
background covers the table background.

Figure 8: Example of table with different row
and table backgrounds

Displaying or hiding table boundaries
A table boundary is a set of pale (usually gray) lines around the cells
when viewed on-screen in OOo. These boundaries are not printed; their
only function is to help you see where the table cells are.
To display the table the same way on the screen as on the printed
page, with no boundary lines, right-click on the table and choose Table
Boundaries from the pop-up menu. Repeat this to have the boundaries
appear again.

18

Working with Tables

NoteTurning boundaries off does not hide the borders that the table
may have.

Tip

You can also turn table boundaries on and off through Tools >Options > OpenOffice.org > Appearance. On that page, you
can display or hide boundaries around text, pages headers andfooters, figures, and other parts of a document.

Formatting the table text
Once the table layout is satisfactory, you can move on to formatting thetext in the individual cells. You can apply manual formatting as withany other paragraph in the text, but it is highly recommended, for thesake of consistency and ease of maintenance, that you define your own
paragraph and character styles.
Besides the paragraph and character styles, there are other aspects toconsider when placing text in a table cell; such as text flow, alignmentand orientation.
You can format each cell independently of other cells, or you cansimultaneously format a group of cells by selecting them before
applying the desired formatting.

Specifying text flow
On the Text Flow page of the Table Format dialog box (Figure 9), youcan:• Insert a page or column break either before or after the table.
Use the Text Flow: Break option, combined with the Page orColumn and the Before or After buttons.
If you insert a page break before the table (that is, start the table
on a new page), you can also change the page style that will gowith it by checking the With Page Style box and selecting a newpage style. As with any page break, you can also reset the page
numbers using the Page number box.
• Keep a table on one page by deselecting the Allow table to split
across pages and columns option. If this item is deselected, thenext item is not active.
• Keep each row on one page by deselecting the Allow row tobreak across pages and columns option.

Formatting the table text19

• Use the Keep with next paragraph option to keep the table andan immediately following paragraph together if you insert a page
break.
• Use the Repeat heading option, and its associated numbers box,
to select the number of table heading rows that will be repeatedon each page. A complicated table may need two or three headingrows to be easily read and understood.
• Use the Text direction list to select the direction for the text in thecells. The most common setting is Left to right for Western
languages.
Note

The phrase Use superordinate object settings means “use theformatting settings from the paragraph before the table”.

Figure 9: Table Format dialog box: Text Flow page
• Select the vertical alignment of the text in the table or theselected cells; the choices are to align with the top of the cell, thecenter of the cell, or the bottom of the cell. This alignment is inaddition to the Left-Right alignment options available on the Table
page of the Table Format dialog box.

Note

20

A table heading row can not span two pages, but any other row
can. A one-row table (often used for page layout purposes), if set
up with the default of including a heading, will not break acrosspages. The cure is to make sure the table is defined without aheading row.

Working with Tables

Vertical alignment
By default, text entered into a table is aligned to the top-left of the cell.
You can change the default for the entire table, as described above, orfor individually selected cells.
To vertically align the text in specific cells:• Place the cursor in the cell you wish to change, or click and dragto select multiple cells.
• Right-click in the selected area and choose Cell > Center, Top,or Bottom in the pop-up menu to vertically align the text asdesired.

Number formats
The number format can be set for a whole table or group of cells. For
example, cells can be set to display in a particular currency, to fourdecimal places, or in a particular date format.
Number recognition specifies that numbers in a text table arerecognized and formatted as numbers. If number recognition is
selected, numbers are automatically bottom-right aligned. Number
recognition option can be enabled under Tools > Options >OpenOffice.org Writer > Table.
Select the cells to format, then right-click and choose Number
Format from the pop-up menu. The Number Format dialog box opens
for you to set options for various categories of numerical data.
• In the Category list, select the category you want, such as
currency, date, or text.
• In the Format list, choose a format for the category you justselected.
• For some categories, such as date, you may wish to change thelanguage using the Language list while for other numericalcategories the Options section of the dialog box allows you tocustomize the appearance.

Tip

You will notice that OOo displays the formatting code for the
category and format selected in Format Code section at thebottom of the dialog box. For example, if you select a dateformat such as 31 Dec 1999 the corresponding code is D MMM
YYYY. Advanced users can easily customize this formatting code
as well as create new user-defined codes.

Formatting the table text21

Rotating text in a table cell
You can rotate text in a table cell by 90 or 270 degrees. Text rotation isuseful when you have long headings for narrow columns.
• Select the text to be rotated and then choose Format >Character.
• On the Position page, in the Rotation / scaling section, choose therotation angle and click OK.
Figure 10 shows a sample table with rotated headings.

Figure 10: A table with rotated headings

Note

Text rotation within table cells can also be achieved with the useof paragraph styles, discussed in greater detail in Chapter 7(Working with Styles).

Data entry and manipulation in tables
Moving between cells
Within a table, you can use the mouse, the cursor keys, or the Tab key
to move between cells.
The cursor keys move to the next cell only if there is no text in the way.
For example, pressing the right cursor key will move the cursor to theright within the text in the current cell, then to the next cell.
The Tab key moves directly to the next cell and, if the cursor is in thelast cell in the table, creates a new row. Pressing Shift+Tab moves the
cursor back a cell.
22

Working with Tables

Tip

To enter a Tab character as part of the text of the cell, press theControl and Tab keys at the same time.

Sorting data in a table
Just as in a spreadsheet, Writer allows data in a table to be sorted. Up
to three levels of sorting can be specified (for example, sort first by age
numerically, then alphabetically by name within each age).
To sort data in a table:• Select the table (or part of the table) to be sorted.
• From the menu bar, choose Table > Sort. In the Sort dialog box:–
Decide whether you want to sort in the direction of rows orcolumns. The default sorting direction is by rows, which
results in sorting the data in a column.
–
Select up to three keys to sort on, in the correct order.
–
For each key, select which column or row to sort on, whether
the sort is Numeric or Alphanumeric and whether it isAscending or Descending.
–
Click OK to perform the sort.

Note

You have to select all cells that might be affected by the sorting.
For example, if you select only the cells of one column, the sortaffects that column only, while the others remain unchanged. Insuch a case, you risk mixing the data of the rows.

Using spreadsheet functions in a table
In a table in a Writer document, you can use some of the mathematical
functions that are normally implemented by OpenOffice.org Calc. For
many simple functions, Writer tables can be used as basic
spreadsheets.
Just as in a spreadsheet, each table cell is identified by a letter (for thecolumn) and a number (for the row). For example, cell C4 is the cell inthe third column from the left and fourth row from the top. When the
cursor is in a cell, this cell reference is displayed on the status bar.

Tip

Basic spreadsheet functions in tables are much the same as in
OpenOffice.org Calc. The main difference is that cell references
are formatted differently. Cell A2 (first column, second row) is
referred to in Calc as A2 (or $A$2 for an absolute reference). In
Writer tables, it is referred to as <A2>.

Data entry and manipulation in tables

23

For example, suppose you had two numbers in cells <B1> and <C2>
and wanted to display the sum of the two in cell <A1>, as shown in
Figure 11.

Figure 11: Using spreadsheet functions in a table
Do the following:
1) Click in cell <A1> and press the = key. The Formula bar appears
automatically, near the top of the screen. In the leftmost side of
the bar, you can see the coordinates of the selected cell.
2) Click in cell <B1>. The identifiers of this cell are automaticallydisplayed in the Formula bar and inserted into cell <A1>.
3) Press the + key.
4) Click on cell <C2>. You can see the final formula = <B1>+<C2>
displayed both in the selected cell and in the Object bar.
5) Press the Enter key or click the green tick (checkmark) on the
Formula Bar.

Tip

To display the list of the mathematical functions that you can use
in a table:
1) Display the Formula toolbar by pressing F2 or by selecting a
blank cell and pressing the = key.
2) Click and hold the Formula f(x) icon.

In our example, this gives the result 9 in the top left cell. For
contiguous cells, you can simply select the cells in the row, column, or
the rectangle of rows and columns. Thus, for example, to add a columnof numbers, do this:1) Type an equals sign = in an empty cell.
2) Select the cells to be added together—in this case the cells from
A2 to A5. The formula should be something like =<A2:A5>.
24

Working with Tables

3) Press the Enter key or click the green tick (checkmark) on the
Formula Bar.
4) The answer appears in the cell you have selected.
When using a function, you can enter the cells manually or by selecting
them. Thus, to add up the four numbers that we added above (A2, A3,
A4, A5), do this:1) Type an equals sign = in an empty cell.
2) Type sum or select it from the function list f(x).
3) Select the cells to be added together. The formula should besomething like =sum<A2:A5>.
4) Press the Enter key or click the green tick (checkmark) on the
Formula Bar.
5) The answer appears in the cell you have selected.
Caution

Unlike Calc, when inserting or deleting rows or columns of thetable, formulas are not updated automatically. If you plan to use
complex formulas you should consider embedding a Calc
spreadsheet in your Writer document.

Additional table operations
Adding a caption
You can easily add a caption to any table. Writer will keep track of all
your captioned tables, automatically number them, and update any
links to them.
To add a caption to a table:
1) Place the cursor in the table.
2) Right-click and choose Caption from the pop-up menu.
Alternatively, the Insert > Caption menu option becomes
available whenever your cursor is inside a table cell.
3) Enter the text for your caption, your category selection, thenumbering style, separator, and position (above or below thetable).
4) Click OK.

Additional table operations

25

Note

Once the category, numbering style and separator are
established in the Caption dialog box, you can edit them in the
document if you choose. However, doing so may damage theautomatic numbering and reference links. If you need toestablish the numbering and reference link for the caption, you
can choose to leave your caption blank in the Caption dialog box
and add it later.

Writer supplies five different category labels for captions: <None>,
Drawing, Table, Illustration, and Text.
You can also create your own category labels, formatting, andseparators. For example, you might want your tables to be labeled as
Fantasia, formatted with roman numerals, and using a period (‘.’) as aseparator, as follows:
Fantasia I. Interesting data
Fantasia II. More interesting data
Fantasia III. Yet more interesting data
To accomplish this:1) Open the Caption dialog box following the instructions above.
2) In the Category field, select the text and type the word Fantasia.
3) In the Numbering drop-down, select the Roman (I II III) option.
4) In the Separator field, select the text and type a period (.)
followed by a space.
Note

OOo will use exactly what you type into the Category and
Separator fields, so be sure to include any additional spaces orpunctuation you want to see in your caption.

Additional options for numbering captions by chapter are available
under the Options button in the Captions dialog box. Some of thesesettings which refer to the outline level will only have an effect if you
are using outline level paragraph styles on the chapter headings withinyour document. See Chapter 7 (Working With Styles) for information.
By adding chapter numbers to your captions, OOo will restart thecaption numbering for each chapter it encounters. For example, if thelast figure caption you create in chapter 1 is Figure 1.15, and the next
figure caption you create is in chapter 2, the numbering will start over
at Figure 2.1.
Options available to chapter numbering for captions include thefollowing:

26

Working with Tables• Use Level to specify the outline levels that triggers a restart of

•
•

•

•

the numbering as well as how many levels of outline numbering
are shown before the table number. An example may be useful.
Suppose your document uses Heading 1 style for chapters andHeading 2 style for sub-headings, and that this is how you set up
your outline numbering. If you want all the tables in a chapter(that is, between two Heading 1 paragraphs) to be numberedsequentially independently of the sub heading they are under,
select 1 as Level. If instead you want to restart the numbering at
each sub-heading select level 2.
Use the Separator field to establish the separator between thechapter number and figure number.
Use Character style to set a character style for the caption. Thisis useful if the separator of your choice is not a symbol included in
the default font type of your document or if you want the caption
to have a special color, size and so on.
The Apply border and shadow option does not apply to tablecaptions. OOo normally wraps the objects you can add a caption
to in a frame, but not for tables.
Use Caption order to specify whether you want the category or
numbering to appear first in the caption.

All of the features described above can also be set up to automatically
apply to any new tables you create in your document.
To automatically caption all your tables:
1) Place the cursor in a table.
2) Right-click and choose Caption > AutoCaption from the pop-up
menu.
3) Select OpenOffice.org Writer Table and select the settings you
want and click OK. This dialog box is covered in more detail in
Chapter 2 (Setting up Writer).
When AutoCaption is enabled for tables, any new tables will be
captioned according to your selections in the AutoCaption dialog box;
however, you will need to add the specific text for each caption onto
the table manually.

Cross-referencing a table
You can insert a cross-reference to a captioned table. Clicking on the
cross-reference takes the reader directly to the table.
1) Position the cursor where you want the cross reference.
2) Choose Insert > Cross-reference from the main menu.
Additional table operations27

3) Set the Type to Table. A list of captioned tables will be shown in
the Selection panel; select the one you want to reference.
4) In the Format pane, choose how the cross reference will appear.
•
Page creates a reference of the page number that the caption
appears on.
•
Chapter places a reference to the chapter number in which
the caption appears. This will only produce an empty space
unless you have setup your chapter headings with outline
level paragraph styles.
•
Reference inserts the entire caption's category, number andcaption text as a reference.
•
Above/Below inserts “above” or “below” depending onwhether the table appears above or below the cross-reference.
•
As Page Style creates a reference of the page number thatthe caption appears on using the page style format.
•
Category and Number creates a cross-reference with only
the caption's category and number; for example, Table 1 forthe first table.
•
Caption Text creates the reference using the caption text,
leaving off the category and number.
•
Numbering inserts only the number of the caption.
5) Click Insert to add the cross-reference and click Close to exit the
dialog box.

Automatic formatting of tables
Using AutoFormat, you can apply an elaborate format to your tablewith just a few clicks. AutoFormat is somewhat similar to paragraphstyles and will enable you to obtain consistent looking tables acrossyour document. You can also create your own table formats and savethem as another AutoFormat option.
To apply an AutoFormat, place the cursor anywhere in the table andchoose Table > AutoFormat. This opens the dialog box shown in
Figure 12.
Select from the list on the left the Format most suitable for your table
and click OK to apply it. Clicking the More button opens anothersection of the dialog box where you can rename the selected tableformat scheme as well as decide which parts of the predefinedformatting you want to apply to your table. You can selectively apply
the number format, the font, the alignment, the border, or the pattern.

28

Working with Tables

Figure 12: The table AutoFormat dialog
To create your own AutoFormat, proceed as follows:
1) Create a table and manually format it as you wish, including
borders, spacing of text from the top and bottom borders, fonts to
be used in the table heading and data cells, and backgroundcolors.
2) Position the cursor anywhere in the table and then click Table >AutoFormat.
3) On the AutoFormat dialog box, click Add and give the tableformat a name in the Add AutoFormat dialog box and click OK.
4) The newly named AutoFormat now appears as an available
format. Click OK to close the AutoFormat dialog box.

Tip

This technique does not include table and column widths in thetable format. To insert a table with predefined full formatting,save it as AutoText. See “Using AutoText” in Chapter 3 (Working
with Text) for instructions.

Creating a heading row in an existing table
To create a heading row in an existing table that does not have one,you need to apply an AutoFormat that does have a heading defined.
(Here is where having some personalized table formats could come invery handy.) Place the cursor anywhere in the table and then click
Table > AutoFormat. Choose a format. Click OK. Use the Morebutton and deselect the formatting options you do not want to apply toyour table.

Additional table operations29

Merging and splitting tables
One table can be split into two tables, and two tables can be merged
into a single table. Tables are split only horizontally (the rows above
the split point are put into one table, and the rows below into another).
To split a table:
1) Place the cursor in a cell which will be in the top row of thesecond table after the split (the table splits immediately above thecursor).
2) Right-click and choose Split Table in the pop-up menu. You canalso use Table > Split Table from the menu bar.
3) A Split Table dialog box pops up. You can select No heading oran alternative formatting for the heading—the top row(s) of the
new table.
4) Click OK. The table is then split into two tables separated by ablank paragraph.
Note

If cells in one table include formulas using data from the othertable, those cells will contain an error message: **Expression isfaulty**.

To merge two tables:1) Delete the blank paragraph between the tables. You must use theDelete key (not the Backspace key) to do this.
2) Select a cell in the second table.
3) Right-click and choose Merge Tables in the pop-up menu. You
can also use Table > Merge Table from the menu bar.
Tip

To see clearly where the paragraphs are and to delete themeasily, choose View > Nonprinting Characters (Ctrl+F10) or
click the ¶ button in the Standard toolbar.

Deleting a table
To delete a table:
1) Click anywhere in the table.
2) Choose Table > Delete > Table from the main menu.
Or:1) Select from the end of the paragraph before the table to the startof the paragraph after the table.
2) Press the Delete or the Backspace key.
30

Working with Tables

Note

The second method also merges the paragraph after the tablewith the paragraph before the table, which may not be what you
want.

Copying a table
To copy a table from one part of the document and paste it into anotherpart:1) Click anywhere in the table.
2) From the main menu choose Table > Select > Table.
3) Press Control+C or click the Copy icon on the Standard toolbar.
4) Move the cursor to the target position and click on it to fix theinsertion point.
5) Press Control+V or click the Paste icon in the Standard toolbar.

Moving a table
To move a table from one part of a document to another part:
1) Click anywhere in the table.
2) From the main menu, choose Table > Select > Table.
3) Press Control+X or click the Cut icon in the Standard toolbar.
(This step removes the contents of the cells but leaves the empty
cells, which must be removed in step 6.)
4) Move the cursor to the target position and click on it to fix theinsertion point.
5) Press Control+V or click the Paste icon in the Standard toolbar.
(This pastes the cells and their contents and formatting.)
6) Return to the original table, click somewhere in it and thenchoose Table > Delete > Table from the main menu.

Inserting a paragraph before or after a table
To insert a paragraph before a table, position the cursor before any
text or other contents in the first (upper left-hand) cell and press
Alt+Enter. To insert a paragraph after a table, position the cursor after
any text in the last (lower right-hand) cell and press Alt+Enter.

Additional table operations

31

Using tables as a page layout tool
Tables may be used as a page layout tool to position text in a document
instead of using tabs or spaces. For example, the Tip below isformatted as a table.
For more information and tips about using tables in page layout, see
Chapter 4 (Formatting Pages).

Tip

When inserting a table used for layout, you may wish to deselectthe Heading and Border options (see Inserting a new table on
page 5).
To remove the borders from an existing table, right-click on thetable, choose Table from the pop-up menu, select the Borders
tab (see Figure 6 on page 15), and select the icon for no borders.

The Table menu and toolbar
All of the table commands described in this chapter are conveniently
located in the main menu under the Table item and on the Table
toolbar, shown in Figure 13.
Table 1 describes the effects of using these icons. When you create atable or select an existing table, the Table toolbar may be displayed
automatically, or you can manually display it by clicking View >Toolbars > Table. The toolbar can float over the main Writer window(as shown in Figure 13), or it can be docked along any edge of themain window. See Chapter 1 (Introducing Writer) for more about
docking and floating toolbars, and how to hide and display specifictools on a toolbar.

32

Working with Tables

1 Table

9 Top

17 Select Column

2 Line Style

10 Center (vertical)

18 Select Row

3 Line Color (border) 11 Bottom

19 AutoFormat

4 Borders

12 Insert Row

20 Table Properties

5 Background Color

13 Insert Column

21 Sort

6 Merge Cells

14 Delete Row

22 Sum

7 Split Cells

15 Delete Column

8 Optimize

16 Select Table

Figure 13: Table toolbar
Table 1: Functions of the icons on the Table toolbar
Name

Description

Table

Opens the Insert Table dialog box where you can set up andinsert a table into the document, name the table for use
with the Navigator, and set some other options. If you press
the small black triangle pointing down next to the icon, you
can use the mouse to drag to select the number of rows
and columns to include in the table.

Line Style

Opens the Border Style window where you can modify theborder line style.

Line Color(border)

Opens the Border Color window where you can modify theborder color.

Borders

Opens the Borders window where you can select which
sides of the table or of the selected cells will have a border.

Background
Color

Opens the Background toolbar where you can select thebackground color of the table or of the selected cells.

Merge
Cells

Combines the selected cells into a single cell. Refer to
Merging and splitting cells on page 14 for an example ofusing this button.

The Table menu and toolbar

33

Name

Description

Split Cells

Opens the Split Cell dialog box where you can define how
to split a cell. Refer to Merging and splitting cells on page
14 for an example of using this button.

Optimize

Opens the a drop down menu with four options you can use
to let OOo optimize the distribution of the columns or rows
or optimize the row height or column width.

Top

Press this button to align the contents of the selected cells
to the top of the cell.

Center(vertical)

Press this button to align the contents of the selected cells
to the vertical center of the cell.

BottomPress this button to align the contents of the selected cells
to the bottom of the cell.

Insert Row

Inserts a row below the selected row.

InsertColumnInserts a column after the selected column.

Delete Row

Deletes the selected row(s) from the table.

DeleteColumnDeletes the selected column(s) from the table.

SelectTable

Selects the entire table.

SelectColumnSelects the column in which the cursor is positioned.

Select Row

Selects the row in which the cursor is positioned.

AutoFormat

Opens the AutoFormat dialog box where you can selectamong several predefined formatting sets. Each set ischaracterized by its own fonts, shading, and borders styles.
You can also select AutoFormat from the Insert Table
dialog box.

Table
Properties

Opens the Table Format dialog box where you can control
all the properties of the table, for example name,alignment, spacing, column width, borders, andbackground.

Sort

Opens the Sort dialog box where you can specify the sortcriteria for the selected cells.

Sum

Activates the Sum function. Refer to “Using spreadsheetfunctions in a table” on page 23 for an example of using
this function.

34

Working with Tables