Chapter 9

Working with Tabs and Tables

Chapter Objectives

• Work with tabs• Create and format a table• Format text in a table• Place graphics in a table

Work with Tabs

• Tabs are used to position text at specific horizontal locations within a text frame.

• To use tabs, select text, then click Tabs on the Type menu.

• Tabs dialog box aligns with left edge of text.

Work with Tabs

Example of tabs used in InDesign

Work with Tabs

• Click tab buttons on dialog box and click inside ruler to set tabs.

• Once aligned on tab, moving tab moves the text.

• To delete a tab, drag it off ruler.

Work with Tabs

• Using different tab alignments– The Tabs dialog box offers four types of tab

buttons for aligning text:• Left-Justified Tab• Center-Justified Tab• Right-Justified Tab• Align to Decimal Tab

Work with Tabs

Work with Tabs• When Align To Decimal Tab button is used, text

can be aligned to characters other then decimal, such as:– hyphen (–) – star ()– bullet ()

Work with Text

• Text insets determine how far from the edge of the frame the text is positioned.

.25" text inset top and left

Work with Tabs• Rules are lines added above or below

paragraphs.• Rules for text are defined in the Paragraph

Rules dialog box.

Work with Tabs

• Adding rules above or below paragraph defined in Paragraph Rules dialog box

Click to add a rule

Create and Format a Table

• A table helps you communicate large amounts of information efficiently.– Tables consist of rows and columns made up of

cells– InDesign regards tables as text– Tables can only be created in text frames

Create and Format a Table

• Creating tables– First create text frame– Click Table on Menu bar, then click Insert Table– Insert Table dialog box allows you to specify

number of rows and columns

Create and Format a Table

• Choose settings in the Insert Table dialog box.

Create and Format a Table

• Formatting tables– Table panel is used for manipulating tables

• Modify number of rows and columns using Table panel• Modify width and height of cells

Create and Format a Table

• Table cells can contain text and graphics• You can apply shading to each cell• You can format the text in each cell

Create and Format a Table

Example of an InDesign table

Create and Format a Table

• Apply strokes and fills to a table – Select single cell, multiple cells, or entire row or column– Use Type tool to select elements of table– Use Swatches panel to add stroke or fill color– Use Stroke panel to modify weight of strokes– Use Table menu to apply or alter fills and strokes

Format Text in a Table

• Enter text in table by selecting Type tool and begin typing– Press [Tab] to move from column to column– Use arrows to move to cells in any direction– Modify text using Character and Paragraph panels

Format Text in a Table

• One way to modify a table is to select row or column and enter greater height for rows or width for columns.

• Drag cell border left or right to increase or decrease column width.

• Drag cell border up or down to change row height.

Format Text in a Table

Drag resizing arrow to adjust column width

Column too narrow

Format Text in a Table

• Insetting text within a cell– Cell inset text boxes in Table panel allow control of

text inset on all four sides of cell

Format Text in a Table

• Insetting text within a cell– Cell inset text boxes in Table panel allow text inset

to be adjusted

Format Text in a Table

Example of a formatted table

Place Graphics in a Table

Placing graphics in a table• To place graphic in table cell, click in cell and

use the Place command.• If graphic is too large, increase size of cell or

decrease graphic size.

Place Graphics in a Table