Rebellious tables

[Magnus H. S?rby]

I have a table with 4 rows were I want to insert a figure in row 1 and
3 and captions in row 2 and 4. The table is positioned at the top of a
page (positioned vertically 0 cm relative to the margin). Everything
is fine until I enlarge the figures. The table then decides that it
would be much better to be at top of the next page instead. It leaves
a big gap at the bottom of the page that it used to be on. When I try
to drag the table back to the original page, it instead merges with
another table which is on the page before the page where I want it to
be.

How can I make the table stay on top on a specific page?

Best regards,
Magnus

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Anchor it to a paragraph on that page and lock the anchor.

 

[Dave M]

Hi, I am also interested in this problem, can you please
further tell the steps how to Anchor a table to a
paragraph?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Good question. It would appear that my answer betrays my ignorance of
wrapped tables, which I never use (and for good reason). In Word 97 and
earlier, all tables are in line with text (part of the text flow). Word 2000
introduced the option to "wrap" tables (wrap text around them). But a
wrapped table is not in the drawing layer like a text box or any other sort
of wrapped object. It is more a hybrid, like a frame, and in fact, wrapped
tables in a document created in Word 2000 or above become framed tables if
the document is opened in Word 97 or earlier.

When an object is in line with text, it doesn't need to be anchored. If it's
wrapped (floating), then it must be anchored to a text paragraph. By
default, it is anchored to the nearest one, but you can drag the anchor to a
different one. To see object anchors, check the appropriate box on the View
tab of Tools | Options. But a wrapped table doesn't appear to have an
anchor, and, although it does have positioning options, "Lock anchor" isn't
one of them (though clearing the check box for "Move with text" might help).
For this reason, if specific placement of a wrapped table is desired, a
better approach might be to put the table in a text box or (better) a frame.

 

[Magnus H. S?rby]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've found out that the problem with the
table jumping to the next page occur when the table squeeze the only
paragraph mark on the page over to the next page.

So the question can be asked more specifically, and it applies to
frames as well:

How can I place a frame or table on top of a page that does not
contain any paragraph marks? I can’t have it inline with the
text because I use justified alignment and the extra paragraph mark
messes up the right margin.

Best regards,
Magnus

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

No, a wrapped object must be anchored to a paragraph on the same page. Text
boxes can be anchored to a paragraph behind the box, but frames don't offer
this option. If your table fills the page, then you have no choice but to
leave it inline. If you want to ensure that it begins and ends on the same
page, you can make the first row "Page break before" or you can format all
rows except the last as "Keep with next."