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enter image description here

Above is what my table looks like and it spans over a few pages. It's a single table that I have broken across multiple pages. The problem is, the table parts on all pages are of different heights and it looks odd. So my question is, how do I justify the table size to be same across all the pages? Or manually control the size of the tables? The text box for the table is the same size on all pages.

Thanks

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There is a field width, if you select the columns. This field is by default an "at least" dimension. Means, that you can scale things manually and InDesign will adapt. If you change that field to "exact" and you use the desired width, things should work out fine. enter image description here

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  • Don't you mean height instead of width? – Wolff Jan 18 '18 at 16:44
  • No, I indeed meant width as that was the only scenario I used it. But of course in terms of the question, it should be height, but it's the very same thing. Just 15pixels below :) – Daiaiai Jan 18 '18 at 16:48
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    The difference is that only Row Height has the At Least/Exactly option - Column Width doesn't. – Wolff Jan 18 '18 at 16:51
  • There you go: Right. I thought adjusting the at least/exactly-option would then be used for both, but indeed it is just used for height, while width is always an exact measure – Daiaiai Jan 18 '18 at 17:00
  • I would have to manually keep changing the height of each cell every time I edit the contents. And then I might have to do that to a few other cells for the change to trickle down throughout the table. This way I would end up wasting a lot of time. Any non-destructive method? – Swapnil Rastogi Jan 22 '18 at 13:32
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I haven't been able to find an automated way to do this. I see (at least) 3 ways to do it manually though. Each with its own pros and cons.

  1. You drag the bottom cell height down to the bottom margin on each page.

    PRO: It's easy to do. It won't affect the layout of other cells.

    CON: It takes time. The bottom cell will have more bottom margin than the other cells. If you have to add or remove cells, you'll have to reset the cell heights and drag all the bottom cells once more.

  2. You set the height of the cells to a fixed height (using the Exactly option as Daiaiai has explains in another answer).

    PRO: Very simple solution. Has a clean look.

    CON: You will have to choose a fixed height so the cell can contain any of the cell texts, or have different "Exactly" heights on different pages (the same height divided in 1, 2, 3, 4... - look into Table and Cell Styles for semi-automation). Cells with a short text might look empty.

  3. On your master page you draw the outer rectangle of the table and give it the same fill and teal outer stroke. You also draw in the middle vertical orange line. You could place these objects on separate layers if it helps you. Now on the table, you remove the outer stroke, the fill color and the middle vertical orange stroke. With a little tweaking it can look exactly like solution 1.

    Method 3.

    PRO: Once set up it will be automated for every page. It won't affect the layout of the other cells.

    CON: The bottom cell will have more bottom margin than the other cells.

(It would be nice to have a way to distribute the surplus height to all the cells on each page. It can be done manually by measuring and dividing, but it is too time consuming for page after page of tables.)

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  • The method 3 seems interesting, but I couldn't understand what exactly you did. Any way you could illustrate it further. Probably a link to an existing guide/tutorial? – Swapnil Rastogi Jan 22 '18 at 13:36
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    I don't know of any tutorial - it was just a thought. I have added an illustration of method 3. I hope this is enough explanation? – Wolff Jan 22 '18 at 16:37

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