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> 6 Converting to print RTF > 6.13 Converting tables to print RTF

## 6.13 Converting tables to print RTF

In Word, tables are not objects. They are just paragraphs with border properties that make them look like rows. Therefore, converted tables might not look quite the same in Word as they do in FrameMaker. For example, titles of tables that span all columns and sideheads in FrameMaker might not line up with the left edge of the table in Word. And multiple table header rows might be split across page boundaries.

You might have to use a conversion template (see §30.7 Applying FrameMaker conversion templates) to reduce font sizes in table cells, and reduce cell margins, by 5% to 10%, to keep pagination the same as in FrameMaker; see §6.5.4 Maintaining pagination in Word.

To prevent table titles from being separated from their tables across Word page boundaries, and to keep header rows together, in FrameMaker set Keep With: Next Pgf for all table-title and table-header paragraph formats.

You can use configuration settings to control some table characteristics for RTF output:

Table title

Graphics in tables

Table indents

Cell properties

Straddled columns

For other differences you might have to supply a conversion template (see §2.4 Importing formats from a conversion template), or modify table formats in your FrameMaker document:

Space after tables

Rotated cell content

Straddled rows

Landscape tables

Tables with too many columns

If you use conditional text to hide all the rows in a table (but not the table anchor), you will see extra space in the RTF output where the table would have been displayed. To avoid this space, be sure to hide the table anchor.

Table title

To reposition table titles, and specify whether to remove table variables:

[Tables]

; TableTitles = 0 to leave alone, 1 to put at top, 2 to put at bottom

TableTitles=0

; TableContinued = No (default) to remove variable from table titles

TableContinued=No

; TableContVar = name of the variable used for table (continued)

TableContVar=Table Continuation

; TableSheet = No (default) to remove this variable from table titles

TableSheet=No

; TableSheetVar = name of the variable used for table (Sheet m of n)

TableSheetVar=Table Sheet

In Word, table titles are not always positioned the same horizontally as in FrameMaker. To try to force table titles to maintain FrameMaker positioning in Word (this does not always work):

[Tables]

; TitleInRow = No (default), or Yes (puts table title in a row sized

; according to Frame's implicit rules for table title boxes)

TitleInRow=Yes

Graphics in tables

To reposition graphics in table cells:

[Tables]

; TableGraphics = Standard (default, in cell), None, or Outside

; applies only to non-inline and non-runin frames anchored in cell

TableGraphics=Standard

FrameMaker allows a graphic to overflow its table cell, and overlap cells to the right; Word does not. If your document has tables that contain graphics, make sure any cells under the graphics are straddled.

Table indents

To remove table indents:

[Tables]

;ShiftWideTablesLeft = Yes (default, unindent overwidth tables) or No

ShiftWideTablesLeft=Yes

Cell properties

To adjust cell properties for all tables:

[Tables]

; TableRules = Cell (standard default), None (help default), or one

; of the Box types: Box, Double, Thick, Shadow, Para (variable)

TableRules=Cell

; TableFill = AsIs (default), ColorOnly, ShadingOnly, None

TableFill=AsIs

Cell properties set in [Tables] apply to all tables in your document.

If TableRules has any value except Cell, Mif2Go does not write borders. If TableFill=None or ColorOnly, Mif2Go ignores the table-format configuration settings for shading.

Space after tables

If your FrameMaker table format includes a space-below value greater than zero, Mif2Go adds a blank “spacer” paragraph after the table in the RTF output, because Word has no way to represent the space-below feature of a FrameMaker table.

Rotated cell content

Word 9/2000 and earlier versions cannot handle rotated table cells, unless you put the content of each cell in an anchored frame and rotate it inside the frame. The text will appear correctly in Word unless you try to edit the picture created from the anchored frame; then Word remembers that it cannot rotate text, and unrotates everything. Word 10/XP does allow rotated text in selected table cells, but does not allow rotation of a whole table.

Straddled columns

Given the opportunity, Word handles table cells that straddle columns by combining the cells involved in the straddle into a single cell. Because this might not be what you want in Word output, by default Mif2Go does not combine the cells; however, you can override the default. To combine column-straddling cells into a single cell:

[Tables]

; MergeStradCells = No (default) or Yes (combine col-straddling cells)

MergeStradCells=Yes

Note: For WinHelp output, the default value of MergeStradCells is Yes (the opposite of the default for Word); see §8.5.2 Adjusting table appearance.

Straddled rows

Word 8/97 and later versions can handle straddled rows in tables; Word 7/95 cannot.

Landscape tables

Word never allows a landscape table on a portrait page, with headers and footers in normal portrait positions. If you have a landscape page, you get headers and footers running the long way.

Tables with too many columns

Word seems incapable of handling tables that have more than 63 columns. Such a table ends up in Word with all columns beyond the 63rd merged into the last column allowed, making that cell much taller than the rest, in every row. As a workaround, you can save the FrameMaker file that contains the table as plain text, with tab delimiters for the table cells and hard returns for the rows. Discard everything in the resulting.txt file except the table, and import the file into Excel. Select all columns, resize their widths if necessary, and print to PDF, reducing the size if necessary. Then import the PDF into Word.

> 6 Converting to print RTF > 6.13 Converting tables to print RTF

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