internal cell margins

[Caryl]

To most people it would not really matter because the printed table does not
show much difference But - it really bothers me that I do not understand why
my table looks the way it does. Any replies are helpful. Here is the best
way to describe what is going on. : I have a large table that I am trying
to fit onto one page. Font size is low & is consistent through out the
table. I have changed the internal margins to be set @ .02" on left & .0" @
right. I have added colums & rows, deleted columns & rows, reset the whole
table size, reset the cell alignment so that currently it is centered horiz
as well as vert, & etc. I have autosize to make all rows same size. Now -
when I highlight the whole table, some of the cells are fully filled in &
some of the cells are highlighted with some white showing on the top & bottom
indicating to me that there is an internal top & bottom margin. which is fine
with the cell alignment set @ centered vert. So why are some of the cells
completely fillid in?

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Caryl

There are two lots of cell margins: the cell margins that apply to the table
as a whole and, should you choose, cell margins for an individual cell.
Perhaps the problem cells have had their margins set individually. If so,
select the cell, do Table > Properties. On the Cell tab, click Options and
tick the "Same as whole table" box.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To add to what Shauna has said, when you highlight an entire table, you are
selecting the text in it, not the entire table cells. If some cells contain
more text than others (vertically), then you will see the result you
describe. To see this dramatically, insert a table with three or more cells
in a row. Type a single line of text in one, two lines in another, and three
in a third (use line breaks as needed to do this). Then select the table.
You'll see considerable white space in the cells with fewer lines of text.

There will be a less dramatic but still perceptible difference if you have
different font sizes in adjacent cells. For a similar experiment, insert a
line of text in each of two or more cells. Increase the font size of the
text in one cell. When you select that row (or the whole table), you'll see
white space in the cells with the smaller font size. You can even see the
same effect with different fonts at the same point size. For example, you'll
see a little white space in a cell containing 12-point Monotype Corsiva
compared to 12-point Times New Roman or Arial.

The bottom line is that the row height (unless set to an exact amount) is
going to be determined by the cell with the most/largest text, and cells
that are not completely filled will reflect that in the way they are
highlighted.

 

[Caryl]

Thanks Shauna & Suzanne - The troublesome table is at work & I am home early
today due to our computers being down. I will check out my table again next
week & let you know!