This table was created from the original WP via my conversion program. I’m calling it a table cuz you can see the automatic decimal alignment. But Navigator doesn’t recognize it as a table or as anything else. Spotlight gives me a hatched blue line on the left that’s full of zeros where the table is. What do they mean? Clearly some formatting or other, but I can’t identify it. And the little blue arrows – sometimes they seem to be plain vanilla tabs but not in this case.
You could select the tabulated text, copy it elsewhere and then click Table > Convert > To table. Use the original to compare to the table so data ends up in the correct cell.
The text that has multiple spaces preceding it is probably just as easily dealt with after conversion to table. I presume the multiple spaces indicate it should belong with the text immediately above it.
When you are happy that the data and the table match, then you could delete the data and paste the table in its place.
It is generally easier to deal with tables than tabulated data as can be seen with the extra spaces
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Actually I’m quite happy with it as it is, I just don’t understand what’s going on. If Navigator doesn’t show it as a table, then what IS it? In WP there’d be a decimal tab code in there. Is there perhaps a tab ruler somewhere?
It is not a Writer table. A table is a specific “object” consisting of several sub-documents (cells) arranged on a rectangular grid.
What you have is a collection of text paragraphs.
As I already mentioned in another post, Writer does not use “formatting codes”. Explicit tab stops are defined in the Tab tab of paragraph styles (or on the ruler for direct formatting – to be avoided in “maintained” documents). This is where you specify the stop properties: position and alignment.
It is much more difficult to maintain correct alignment if you mix tabs and spaces (or even text and spaces as is shown in your screenshot for lines 7-4 and the next one). Using a table for tabular data is the recommended approach (for example, the caption in column 2 will automatically wrap on next line if it is too long without overflowing in next columns and messing up the rest of text due to tabs).
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I see it ,thanks. Almost invisible tho, can it be made a bit more robust?
… the screencap magnifies it. In practice the thing is drawn with one pixel.
Thanks all:
(or on the ruler for direct formatting – to be avoided in “maintained” documents)
I get it. But right now I’m working with what my conversion program gave me. I see that my ‘table’ is really individually direct formatted paragraphs, and I see through a magnifying glass – it’s so small that I have to use my jeweler’s loop and get within an inch of the screen – that within my table the ruler shows an icon that I’m taking to be a decimal tab … and that’s exactly what I’m getting in the ‘table’ so that makes sense. I’ll fiddle with trying to convert it to a legit. table. Right now I’m wanting to be able to see the ruler without a jeweler’s loop.
BTW, if possible I’d also like a bigger ‘internal’ font – the font used within all the various options screens. It’s big enough to read but I’d make it a bit bigger if I could.
Answers already in the comments, but to wrap it up:
You are both right. What you have is, technically, a table. It is not listed as a table in the navigator because it is not created as a separate table object. Rather, it is created by using “typewriter style” tabulation stops within text flow.
IOW it is not what the ODF file structure considers a table, but it is a table for practical purposes (conveying information laid out in grid-structured form).
The tab stops used in word processing apps have some options in addition to true typewriter stops:The left aligned is the “standard” true typewriter stop. The others are right aligned, centered, and decimal. The position and type of each stop will be displayed on the ruler at the top of your edit pane.
What to do
How to create a table is up to you. Taste, or what is practical, should dictate the choice.
For some contexts, the table object is better:
- When tabulated entries exceed column width so they need multiple lines.
- When you need a drawn grid to clearly distinguish the table “cells”.
For other contexts, the “traditional” tabulation often works better:
- When you need decimal aligned numbers and the count of decimals may vary.
- When you have frequent non tabulated lines in between the tabulated ones.
- When you need a compact output (table objects impose some “padding” between elements; possible to circumvent but can be fiddly).
You can also have a decimal tab stop within a cell of a “structured object table”. The ->| (tabulation) key will skip to next cell when you are inside such a table, so you need to press Ctrl+->| to insert a tab skip inside a table cell.
The numbers given by Format-Spotlight-Paragraph styles appear to show how many paragraph styles you are using in your document. Each style used is given a number, and the base style (usually Default style or Text body) is #0.
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In addition to @keme1’s very informative answer, a hatched colour indicates presence of direct formatting over the paragraph style.
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Most applications now use that idea where you hover over the screen and you get the popup box telling you what’s under the cursor, but it’s usually haphazard. I must say that LO gets the gold medal – it’s so complete, so well done. My question is answered right there.