Alignment problem in tables AND inconsistent icons in the ruler

[Pierre]

I'm using Word 2003 SP3.

I am using a user-defined style for the rows of my tables. The style is
based on no style.

In most of my tables, my text looks fine...meaning that there is an adequate
amount of space between the beginning of the column and the beginning of the
text. I didn't define the space.

In another table, the beginning of the text touches the beginning of the
column, meaning, there is no space.

I tried doing Table >Table Properties followed by clicking the Table tab >
Options.
Under Default cell margins. It doesn't matter what number I enter, nothing
changes.

In the tables that look good, the Default cell margins is set to 0.08.

In both cases, Automatically resize to fit contents is not selected.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP on news.microsoft.com]

Check the paragraph formatting in the problem table to ensure that it does
not have a negative indent. Such an indent will over-ride the cell margins.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Settings set for specific cells will also override the table default.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

I'm not sure why it sometimes happens, but the paragraph may have a negative
indent. Select the text in the cell and press crtl+space.

PamC

 

[Pierre]

Thank you. That did the trick. Thanks to all for responding.

I don't understand why that particular table got different settings.

Pierre

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Dealing with tables is always a challenge because you often have to examine
every single cell (and every paragraph in each cell) to find the obscure,
subtle setting that is causing the problem.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[j.o.thomas]

Is there something inherently different about the first cell in a table, when
there is no other text in the document, outside of that table?

I am now encoutering a similar problem to that described earlier in this
thread, but in my case all the paragraphs are identically formatted (i.e.
same indent value, all values in paragraph-format window appear identical),
and the checkbox cellmargins/sameAsTheWholeTable is checked. But the first
cell clearly has wider cell margins than the following 9 cells. (Slightly
wider space visible onscreen and on paper, and the text wraps differently, to
fill more vertical space)

Context: This is a page of gift-tags with a 2-column table that itself runs
in 2 columns on the page, so that it prints on business-card stock.
I am running WinXPsp3 with Word2003sp3.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Could be the issue described at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/UnaccountablyIndented.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org