Importing/Exporting text from tables in Word 2008

[mdh]

Is there some way to preserve a table's formatting when pasting in
plain text? (Word grabs the "Table Grid" style and apply that, so I
need to go back through the table and reapply the paragraph styles I
want.)

Also, when copying text out of a table, most of it is coming out tab-
delimited. However, my first column ends up with a carriage-return
(and no tab). There aren't any extraneous paragraph marks showing
when hidden characters are displayed. This column was generated with
an auto-text entry and contains two fields separated by a hyphen.
Deleting the content and clearing the formatting of the cell (so all
fields are gone, but without deleting the cell itself) still gives the
extraneous paragraph break when exporting the row as text. If that
auto-text entry is copied in the context of a regular paragraph of
text, there aren't any extra paragraph breaks.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? (based on something else
I've read here, I'm wondering if it might be related to the base
(paragraph) style that was in effect when the autotext was defined,
and how that interact with a table?)

thanks!
Matt

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Matt:

If you set the Table Style to "Table Normal" that's the equivalent of "No
Table Style", unless you have modified your Table Normal style.

Never do that... Otherwise there is no way to get rid of Table Styles.

And until you get rid of the Table Style, there is no way to get normal
styles to work reliably, because the underlying Table Style will always
spoil the result.

So if you want to use styles properly, you need to set your Table Default to
"Table Normal" style.

If your Table Normal style has been fiddled with, you need to replace your
Normal Template to get rid of it.

Cheers

Is there some way to preserve a table's formatting when pasting in
plain text? (Word grabs the "Table Grid" style and apply that, so I
need to go back through the table and reapply the paragraph styles I
want.)

Also, when copying text out of a table, most of it is coming out tab-
delimited. However, my first column ends up with a carriage-return
(and no tab). There aren't any extraneous paragraph marks showing
when hidden characters are displayed. This column was generated with
an auto-text entry and contains two fields separated by a hyphen.
Deleting the content and clearing the formatting of the cell (so all
fields are gone, but without deleting the cell itself) still gives the
extraneous paragraph break when exporting the row as text. If that
auto-text entry is copied in the context of a regular paragraph of
text, there aren't any extra paragraph breaks.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? (based on something else
I've read here, I'm wondering if it might be related to the base
(paragraph) style that was in effect when the autotext was defined,
and how that interact with a table?)

thanks!
Matt

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[mdh]

Hi John,
I haven't adjusted any of the table styles. New tables (ie, created
by "convert text to table") automatically pop up with a style called
"Table Grid" (Table Normal + Space AFter: 0 pt, Box : (Single solid
line, Text 1, 0.5 pt Line width).

Are you saying that I need to reset this to "Table Normal" before I
apply my paragraph styles?

(and, presumably, that there is no way to paste content into an
existing table without needing to redo the formatting? -- sounds like
a future applescript project to me)


Matt

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Matt:

You can apply paragraph styles at any time, but the result will be an
algebraic sum of the properties in the paragraph styles (or character
styles, or list styles...) and the table style, until you get rid of the
table style by setting the formatting of the table to Table Normal.

You should be able to set Table Normal as the default style for new tables
that you insert, but due to a bug in the Word 2008 design, this seems to be
impossible. Every table will be created using a table style. After it is
created you then have to get rid of the stupid table style.

I had to look this up... I found a post by a fellow by the name of John
McGhie who seemed to know what he was talking about... It's really tragic
when you can't remember what you said in March on the subject ...

Sorry... Wait for VBA to come back, and then you will be able to get
control of your table formatting.

In the meantime, you "can" customise one of the built-in table styles to
have no formatting, no borders, no shading... You have to turn absolutely
everything off. Than save your Normal template and set the "blanked" style
as the Default for new Tables. Due to another bug in the design, Word won't
allow you to set anything other than the built-in table styles as defaults.

Of course, most of the built-in table styles are so horrid that blanking
them would be seen as a kindness to readers, so you won't be losing anything


Cheers

Hi John,
I haven't adjusted any of the table styles. New tables (ie, created
by "convert text to table") automatically pop up with a style called
"Table Grid" (Table Normal + Space AFter: 0 pt, Box : (Single solid
line, Text 1, 0.5 pt Line width).

Are you saying that I need to reset this to "Table Normal" before I
apply my paragraph styles?

(and, presumably, that there is no way to paste content into an
existing table without needing to redo the formatting? -- sounds like
a future applescript project to me)


Matt

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[mdh]

In the meantime, you "can" customise one of the built-in table styles to
have no formatting, no borders, no shading...  You have to turn absolutely
everything off.  Than save your Normal template and set the "blanked" style
as the Default for new Tables.

Does the Normal Table style suffer from the same problems as the
Normal paragraph style?
(causing problems during document exchange with other users?)

Matt

 

[Clive Huggan]

Further to what John has said, you can bypass (literally) many such problems
by formatting some sample tables while avoiding the built-in table styles,
selecting them and creating AutoText entries. Then all you do is key the
letters you have specified for each design -- in my case if I want 4 columns
and only horizontal borders I key "4ch" -- followed by Command-Option-v
followed by Return.

For full details of this easy process, take a look at page 125 of some notes
on the way I use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which
are available as a free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html).

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

Note: In Word 2008, which I don't use, some of the information may not
apply, or may be accessible through a different interface. If that causes
problems, post back and someone will help you further.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[John McGhie]

Yes. Or No. depending on your understanding of "Normal" style

Normal style is simply "Style Zero", the first style listed in the
document's style table. It must exist, in order for the file to be a Word
document.

Normal style is one of several document defaults that exist in any Word
document. Table Normal is another.

In modern versions of Word, Normal and Table Normal are empty. This enables
them to inherit their properties from the Document Theme.

But they're just styles. You can set properties in them. And if you do,
those properties remain in the document until changed.

So I am not sure it is valid to say that "Normal style causes problems with
other users during the interchange of documents." Normal style is just a
style. But I can think of some users who would suffer problems with a
notepad and pencil

Cheers

Does the Normal Table style suffer from the same problems as the
Normal paragraph style?
(causing problems during document exchange with other users?)

Matt

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]