Joining Tables

[Idaho Word Man]

Okay, this is probably a really simple problem, but I'm already brain-dead
this morning.

I have a form that contains two tables, but I want the two to be one. There
does not seem to be anything between them (no ¶, for example), but they are
behaving as two separate tables, rather than as one. For example, if I'm in
the last cell of the first table, tabbing adds a line, rather than taking me
to the first cell of the next table.

I tried adding a line at the bottom of the first table and another line at
the top of the next table, but I couldn't join the cells. (That option wasn't
available on the toolbar or the dropdown menu.)

How do I join two tables, when there isn't anything between them? I'm
running Office 2003 in Windows XP Professional.

Thanks,

Fred

 

[Idaho Word Man]

I've also tried adding a row at the bottom of the first table, selecting the
rows of the second table, and dragging them up to the first table. Instead
of inserting them as rows in the first table, they insert them as a separate
table in the last row of the first table.

Fred

 

[Jay Freedman]

The behavior -- especially the one of tabbing from the last cell of the
first table and getting a new row there -- indicates that there must be
something between the tables. It might be a paragraph mark that's formatted
as hidden text or as 1 point font size, or it might be a "style separator"
character which behaves like a hidden paragraph mark.

Try turning on nonprinting characters (click the ¶ button). With the cursor
at the end of the last cell in the first table, press the right arrow twice;
the first one puts the cursor between the last cell and the row marker, and
the second one puts it to the left of whatever is separating the tables. Now
press the Delete key, and see if that joins the tables.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Idaho Word Man]

I have my hidden characters showing (¶ button) and I have my Tools - Options
set to show hidden text. I also have my track changes set to show deleted
text as red strikeout. Nothing shows between the tables, and when I set
everything to be 12-point type, nothing suddenly appears.

When I put my cursor at the end of the row and move one space, hitting
delete removes the first character in the first row of the second table. But
when I put my cursor at the end of the row and hit Tab, it adds a row. When I
center one table, it does not center the other, and when I adjust column
widths in one table, it only adjusts them down to the break between the
tables. The border between the tables shows as twice as wide as a single cell
border should be (borders set to 3/4 point, but between the tables shows
twice that wide).

I think I'm just going to add rows to the first table and type the
information in. There's only about 25 rows in each table.

Thanks,

Fred

 

[Idaho Word Man]

I also tried pasting the same style onto both tables (one was "Normal" and
the other was "Table Grid"), but that didn't make them join. I also tried
accepting all tracked changes, and that didn't make them join.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Another cause can be having the first row of the second table marked as a
heading row or having one or both tables wrapped.

 

[Idaho Word Man]

Hooray! That did it! I unmarked the Heading Row Repeat option and they
joined like magic! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Fred

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Glad you got it sorted. I've seen that problem in a document where *none* of
the known solutions helped, so I didn't have any confidence that you would
succeed.