Tables: how to size them and control defaults

[naturedr]

I am having a problem when inserting tables, which is something I must do several times daily. I want one column to be wide for the text description I enter, so I set it under preferences to say 2", and I want all the other columss to be narrow as those will just get a number, so I set those at 0.5". However if I have only 2 other columns to be 0.5", they enlarge by default to go across the page and the width I have chosen is ignored. The choices for relative width, etc are only sometimes available as clickable choices- otherwise they are shaded to not be an option.
I struggled for 30 min to create a usable table for my needs and finally get the table the way I want it. but now:

• is there an option to save this table so I can keep using the same one as my own personal template?

Also, despite creating this slimmed down table, when I cut and paste it into an email all the borders around the cells are lost and the table continues to go way beyond the width of a standard email. What is going on? I didn’t have this problem a few months ago!

Please help! these tables have become such a ridiculous waste of time for me!

[Lupp]

The default table alignment is Automatic and will use the full width of the page (Right AND Left aligned).
If you want to change the total width, you need to set a different alignment under >Table Properties...>>Table.

I don’t know a way to create a Table Style (factually not a style but a kind of template) preserving the alignment. The “styles” for TextTable objects were introduced not long ago. Pobably the featue will be enhanced.

Anyway you can keep a Writer file containing tables like you need them for Copy/Paste operations. All the table properties you are interested in are transferable. Since you seem to need texts with tables of the described format on a regular basis, you should probably derive your single documents from a Writer template containing every format you want.

Emails should not be expected to support table formats. However, I don’t understand the behavior you describe. What email client are you using?

[anon87010807]

It’s odd that those settings aren’t available on the Insert Table dialog box.

[naturedr]

Thank you- I will look into creating the writer template you talk about as I do not know anything about that.
As for the email: I am using Gmail, as always. It used to be that I could copy and paste a portion of the document that had the table and the table would paste with all formatting intact. However, in the past several months (maybe longer?) the tables copy with no borders around the cells and like I said, go on and on to an excessive width (usually only showing the first column in the body of the email, making one scroll way right to see the rest of the columns, which are so spread out, and without the cell borders, make them impossible to follow).
I appreciate your help.