SmartDoc fields are certainly great at displaying narrative text, but they also offer a number of ways to display more structured data. An example is the Table feature which allows you to organize information in your SmartDoc, and complete with shading and resizing of rows and columns - all of the tools you need to make your data understandable and visually compelling.

Tables are particularly good for displaying more structured or categorized data, especially when there are a number of types of information that are distinct from one another. A few guidelines for when to use tables:

Tables are added through the slash-command menu. Here are the steps:

The Table will be added to your SmartDoc, and your cursor will be focused in the upper-left cell of the control - you're ready to add your content. Also, the Table will default to a 2x2 configuration to get you started.

Here's how it will look:

Chances are you'll need something other than a 2x2 grid to hold all of your data. No problem, just click on a cell's 3-dot (...) menu to access the following options to expand your table:

Rows and columns are just as easy to remove. Click on a cell in the target row or column, click on the cell's 3-dot (...) menu and you have the following options:

Note that these options are colored in red to remind you that they remove elements from your table. You can also use Control-Z to undo your change and get your row or column back (with data, of course...).

To resize any of your columns, just hover over their border to display a grabber. Click your mouse button and hold it down; you'll be able to adjust the size of the column. It looks like this:

Notice that the default table is configured as a Header Row, which applies bold formatting and a shaded gray background. You have several options for configuring rows and columns as "header" types, which apply this formatting to them - or removes it if toggled off.

The controls for these settings are toggles, meaning they switch header display mode on or off for the selected cell's row or column. You have the following choices in the Table menu:

If you select any of these options and just have a single cell highlighted, you will apply the effect either to just that cell (for background color) or to the selected cell's row or column.

You can select multiple cells to apply these effects to many cells (or their respective rows and columns) all at once. Just do one of the following:

Once you have the cells highlighted, you can click on the displayed 3-dot (...) menu which appears in the lowest-right cell to access the header and shading options for the entire selection.

If you're familiar with spreadsheet applications, you know that most of them allow you to merge multiple cells together to reflect appropriate relationships between cells and their data. SmartDoc has this same capability, allowing the Table feature to support a wide range of configurations to best represent your information.

Merge cells

Here are the simple steps to merging cells:

The results will look something like this, depending on the number of cells merged:

Unmerge (Split) cells

To unmerge cells that were previously merged, just do this:

The cells will return to their original configuration - with one caveat... all of the data from the previously merge cells will be placed into the cell that is in the uppermost left-hand corner of the group of unmerged cells.

You can put just about anything you want inside a Table - use your creativity to arrange things just the way you want them!

Now you would never do this in the real world, but here's a view into what you can put inside a Table (umm - everything!)

If you don't need your Table anymore you can easily remove it from your SmartDoc. Just do the following:

The Table is immediately deleted. Decide you want it back? Just click Control-Z on your keyboard to undo the delete and get the whole Table back - content and all!