Some Very Precise Table Control Settings in OpenOffice Writer

If you don't have really specific requirements, you can just insert  a table and drag the columns around to make it spaced the way you want it.

You can also do a lot of good work with the automatic spacing options on the Table toolbar. (View > Toolbars > Table.)

But for good old-fashioned "I want this column to be 2.53 inches wide and I don't care who think's that's anal and geeky" control, you want the Table and Colums tabs of the Table Properties window. (Table > Table Properties.)

Here we go.

So let's say you're not happy with the table just spreading itself all over the whole width of the page. You can drag the right-hand edge if you want or you can be more precise.

Select your table and choose Table > Table Properties. Click the Table tab.

To align at the left, which is the default, select Left. However, to have an indent from left, select From Left.

Then in the Left field, specify how far in from left you want to indent, such as a half inch.

Click OK, and you see the results.

Also in the Table Properties window, if you selected the table and went back in again, you could specify a smaller width for the table in the Width field. The value for how far in from Right the indent is would be recalculated, in the Right field.

Click OK, and you see those results.

The other interesting option in the Table tab, for alignment, is the Manual tab. Select Manual, and  set your indents from the left and right in the Left and Right fields.

You can use the Manual setting in combination with the column measurements in the Column tab. Click the Column tab.

If you leave both the checkmarks unmarked, here's what happens. Just put the measurements that you want for each column in the appropriate field. If these measurements don't add up to the same amounts you set in the Table tab, then the margins will be adjusted and the column widths will remain the same.

Click OK and you see the results.

Let's say that you want the margins to be the same but the table width to be adjusted, under the same circumstances. Then select the Adapt Table Width checkbox, and the margins from the Table tab will remain the same but the column widths you enter here will be goofed around a bit. I find this setting a bit annoying, but try it if the margins are the most important thing.

If you want to still preserve the margins but adjust the widths of the columns proportionately under the same circumstances, select the Adjust Columns Proportionately checkbox. Warning, however. It's not proportionate adjustment. If you have columns of 3, 2, and 1, and you decrease the first column to 2.5, then both of the other columns are decreased by the same amount. This is weird.

That's about it for today's installment of table measurement control. Generally, if you want absolute control, select the Manual option in the Table tab. Then enter your margin measurements in the Table tab and your column measurements in the Columns tab. And don't select either of the wacky checkboxes in that tab.

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