table - centering text in merged cell

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FA1
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table - centering text in merged cell

Post by FA1 »

This is probably easy, but it wasn't clear to me, and I tried looking it up in the manual. I have a table with a merged cell, but don't know how to center the text.

Edit: I should clarify - if I hit the center text button in the toolbar, the left margin of the text will be in the center (in this example, of two merged cells). Surely there is a way to have the entire text actually centered in that cell. Hopefully that makes sense.
donb
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Post by donb »

This is strange behavior for Mellel, and I wonder if you have missed or got something wrong, since centering text in merged or unmerged cells works fine for me.

Try this:
1. click on the table icon and choose, say, 5 columns and 6 rows.
2. with your mouse button pressed, choose two or three adjoining columns in any of the rows.
3. while they are still highlighted, click on the merge cells icon at the bottom of the table palette.
4. place your cursor in the merged cell, and click on the Align Centre icon in the toolbar (the four icons next to the tabs group).
5. If your cursor does not go immediately to the center, and your typing does not come out right, check that you do not have a margin setting interfering in that cell. (Check with the ruler to see where the paragraph indent indicator is.)

If having done all this, it does not come out right, I suggest you e-mail me a screen shot of your trial table (showing also the ruler and the table palette) and I'll see whether I can diagnose where the problem lies.

Don Broadribb
donbroadribb@optusnet.com.au
FA1
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Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:36 am

Post by FA1 »

I assume it has to do with the paragraph ruler, this was the default setting. I didn't mess with it (and I don't really know how yet). Here's what a new document looks like with a table after typing the text and hitting the center align button

Image
Mart°n
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Post by Mart°n »

The shown example works without a problem on my machine but you may be right by guessing that the problem is caused by your paragraph style. I may be wrong but the word “testing” on your screenshot looks like it is aligned on the second tabulator which you could see on your ruler.

You could either test a different paragraph style or try to delete the tabs and move the first line indent (the small v-shaped triangle above the first tab on your ruler) to the left most position.

Hope this helps
FA1
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Post by FA1 »

Yeah, moving the first line indent did the trick, or using a different style that doesn't have a first line indent.

I didn't realize the paragraph style would affect the table like that.

Thanks.
Mart°n
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Post by Mart°n »

FA1 wrote: I didn't realize the paragraph style would affect the table like that.
Thanks.
Until this very moment, I too haven’t thought of such a influence :D
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