Spacing Before and After Tables

It worked. Thank you.

Thank you!!

Thanks this was driving me crazy!! Great tip!

If you want an "around" table to always follow a particular paragraph simply give the preceding paragraph the Keep with next attribute.

When a caption is applied to a table using the Insert Caption of the References ribbon then the caption paragraph it is automatically given Keep with next.

I found out the issue I was having and here is how I fixed it. Triple-click to select the space between the tables. Open Paragraphs by using the toolbar at the top or right-clicking and selecting Paragraph. Under SPACING, "After:" was set to 8 pt for some reason. Once I reduced it to 0 pt, the spacing between the tables returned to normal line spacing. [{fig}}

OK, here is the trick that I use: I adjust the space after tables in my document by inserting an extra row in the table and assigning paragraph style to the cells on this row - Table-last-line.

This has some advantages:
- by modifying this style I can modify the width of the space after the table
- table cells can have keep with next attribute defined in their style, this keeping tables together. Table-last-line does not use keep with next.
- the "space" is attached to the table rather then to the following paragraph, thus if I need to shuffle paragraphs around, it does not matter whether these were right after tables or not.

Disadvantage:
- empty cells inside the table are not accessibility friendly approach

Doesn't work - we are not even getting the highlights or selection which you are mentioning..

THANK YOU! I had ONE table that was giving me problems and this solved it.

This is very helpful! Thank you ^_^

"F" wrote: "I've deleted any vertical space between the tables, put the positioning on 0 (deleted spacing before/after paragraphs), disabled overlay but they still collide/scale up/go crazy when you try to move them too close to each other. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong? I didn't make this document, I'm just trying to correct and format it."
To prevent neighboring wrap-type tables from overlapping, take three steps:
1. Under Table Properties > Positioning, clear the checkbox "Allow overlap." You've already done that.
2. Under Table Properties > Positioning, stagger (or alternate) the horizontal positioning of neighboring tables. If one table is positioned "Left relative to column," position the next table "Right relative to column." Of course, your carefully laid arrangement can unravel if a new table is inserted or an old table is moved. But that's something you can fix.
3. Adjust the table widths to get neighbors to "play nice." Some tables might need to be widened.
By practicing all three steps, I've created documents whose wrapped tables and wrapped text boxes "play nice" together.

"There is one drawback with this approach: Your table now is treated as an independent element in the document, which means that text can flow around it."
Which in turn creates a second drawback: If your wraparound table spills onto a second page, the header row won't repeat.

I like your non-inline trick a lot. To prevent text from appearing to the right of a table that is not full-width, insert a text-wrapping break.

Regarding the solution for inline tables, rather than creating a variant Body style, I prefer to create a 'Filler' style, with a line spacing of exactly 6 points. And simply add an empty line with that style.
This works regardless of what style comes before/after the table, and has lots of other use cases.

I've deleted any vertical space between the tables, put the positioning on 0 (deleted spacing before/after paragraphs), disabled overlay but they still collide/scale up/go crazy when you try to move them too close to each other. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong? I didn't make this document, I'm just trying to correct and format it.

Allen says, “If you want your table to remain inline, then the proper approach to take is to adjust the spacing on the paragraph immediately before the table and the paragraph immediately after the table.”

If your table needs to stay inline and your table does not have (top/bottom) borders, you can cheat by setting white (top/bottom) borders equal in width to the desired space.

This lets you avoid creating and managing the extra paragraph styles Allen describes.

What i f I need to remove spacing between two tables, and still have word treating the tabes as two tables?
My goal: I want row nb. 2 to be shown as Top row on all followong pages.

Fantastic, THANK YOU ! Very well explained. I was having trouble with a table that was displaying several lines below the title. I had to change the positioning of the table defaults ! It worked, THANK YOU !

I need to make a space between two tables row and I don't want the space row to be a table.
Word 2010

Thank you

You wrote at the top of this page that spacing before and after paragraphs aggregates (or sums) between both the paragraph above and the paragraph below. But i checked it out and it doesn't seem to sum in Word 2010.
Word seems to just check that the greater one is satisfied.

Marilyn,
The behavior you've described is called called HTML auto spacing. In Word 2007 and 2010, you can disable it by File > Option > Advanced > Layout Options. ? > Don't use HTML paragraph autospacing. But like so many Word settings, that setting may contend with a competing setting set elsewhere--say, for Normal or tables.

Thank you for the valuable tips. Cheers

Is the spacing between 2 paragraphs the result of some deep hidden selection? Word 2010 on my computer will use the larger of the after setting on the preceding paragraph and the before setting on the current paragraph.

Hi Allen. Thanks for your interest in my comment. I use Word 2007 and determined this behavior through experimentation. When setting up templates, understanding this behavior allows greater flexibility in how paragraphs interact. I use 6 points before and 6 points after on my body text, and 0 points after on my headings. I have an optional subheading style that uses 0 points before and 6 points after. So the spacing between headings and body text is 6 points, and the spacing between body text paragraphs is 6 points; but when I include a subheading, the spacing between the heading and subheading is 0 points, while the spacing between the subheading and the body text remains at 6 points. I'll send you a sample document if you respond privately.

I agree with Doug. My experience is the same as his; therefore I use 12 points after each paragraph. Six points before and six points after results in six points between paragraphs. I'm using Word 2010.

Doug,

That's not my experience with Word. Can you tell me what you are basing your comment on?

-Allen

I would like to clarify one comment you make in your introductory paragraph. The spacing between two paragraphs is determined by the larger of the "before" and "after" settings, not the sum of them. For example, two paragraphs, both with with "6 points before" and "6 points after," will have only six points between them. If the first paragraph has "12 points after" and the second has "6 points before," there will be 12 points between them.