Joined: May 02, 2009 Posts: 51 Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 11:21 pm Post subject: Table trouble
My first venture into using NeoOffice Writer's Table facility has been unsuccessful. In a new document I created an 8x10 table and sought to adjust its size by pulling the bottom edge to the position I wanted, then selecting all cells and clicking on Table>Autofit>Distribute Rows Evenly … nothing happened. Acting on the advice presented in Help I sought to "… distribute rows and columns evenly using the icons on the Optimize toolbar on the Table Bar."; but again to no avail. I could not find an "Optimize toolbar on the Table Bar", and nothing happened when I clicked on the Optimize icon.
Intel iMac: Mac OS X 10.6.2; NeoOffice 3.0.2
I also have another 'glitch' but I'll make a separate entry of that.
May the blessing of four feathers flutter down on those can assist. _________________ "His hands were pure; but he had no hands"
Charles Peguy about Immanuel Kant.
I was able to get the "Distribute Rows Evenly" menu to work by doing the following steps:
1. Insert new table
2. Drag bottom edge of table downward to make the last row the height that you want all rows to be
3. Select the entire table by putting the cursor in any cell and selecting the Edit :: Select All menu
4. Select the Table :: Autofit :: Distribute Rows Evenly menu
Doing the above caused all of the other rows in the table to change to the same height as the last row that I resized.
Do the above steps work for you?
If not, can you try using the Optimize button in the Table toolbar? To find that button, select the entire table using step 3 above. A floating window should appear with Table in the titlebar. There should be an icon that looks like a checkmark on top of a green circle. Click the small arrow immediately to the right of the that icon to display several options. Does any of those options work?
Joined: May 02, 2009 Posts: 51 Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:31 pm Post subject:
OK. I understand how the set-up works … it is exactly as you said. However this function, as it stands, is of limited use to me. What I need to be able to do is, drag-to-change the perimeter of the table, then be able to distribute evenly either rows or columns. To make all rows or columns the same dimension as the largest (does it matter if that is top, bottom or in the middle), seems to me to be of limited use.
I worked out how to make the Optimize facility work.
While working with Table>Autofit>Distribute Rows Evenly, I noticed that as the default condition of "Allow Table To Break Across Pages …" it was 'checked'. I wondered if having unchecked might constrain the distribution of rows to the one page (and therefore their size also). But it did not seem to make any difference.
If what I have observed is correct, how should I go about suggesting that the capability (described above) be added to NeoOffice … preferably as a matter of urgency? _________________ "His hands were pure; but he had no hands"
Charles Peguy about Immanuel Kant.
="GridLox"]OK. I understand how the set-up works … it is exactly as you said. However this function, as it stands, is of limited use to me. What I need to be able to do is, drag-to-change the perimeter of the table, then be able to distribute evenly either rows or columns. To make all rows or columns the same dimension as the largest (does it matter if that is top, bottom or in the middle), seems to me to be of limited use.
I was able to do this by selecting the entire table and then clicking on the "Optimize" toolbar button's "Distribute Rows Equally" option. No matter which row I set as the highest, selecting that option set all rows to the same as the highest row.
Do those steps not work for you?
GridLox wrote:
If what I have observed is correct, how should I go about suggesting that the capability (described above) be added to NeoOffice … preferably as a matter of urgency?
I am sorry to hear that NeoOffice does have the feature you want but a new feature is not something you can "crank out" in a short period of time. Whether you consider a feature urgent or not, such a feature usually requires tens of thousands of dollars of development cost and several months to complete.
You are welcome to post a new feature request in our New Feature Requests forum but since we are small donation-based software application and donations only fund one full-time developer (me), please be aware that we only can add a handful of small features each year so we generally do not start working on new features unless dozens of other NeoOffice donors also post their desire for the same feature. This is the process that the native text highlighting went through over its 3 month implementation.
In other words, NeoOffice may not have every single feature that you want or need. If it does not have the feature that you consider critical, realistically your only options are to either work around not having the feature or purchase another software application that has the feature you need.
Joined: May 02, 2009 Posts: 51 Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:08 pm Post subject:
Sure Patrick, I do understand the constraints under which the NeoOffice team operates … and does a fantastic job. NeoOffice is still my first choice as an office suite … whatever its limitations, and I will continue to donate as often and fully as my own meager resources permit.
As for the table operations feature I'd like … I can see how my wording may have misled you. I do not want "No matter which row I set as the highest, selecting that option set all rows to the same as the highest row", but rather the following: When the perimeter (the edges) of a table are altered manually (click & drag), all cells within the new dimensions can be adjusted - within the new boundary. Thus the largest cell(s) would be reduced in height and all smaller cells would have their height proportionally increased, so that all cells would have the same height … that distance being established by the height between top and bottom edges, divided by the number of rows - each row height being set accordingly. Thus if one wants a given number of rows, all of the same height, to fit on the one page, one does not have to personally determine the distance between the top and bottom of the desired table (outer) dimensions, calculate the mean height for the required number of rows, set one of them to that height, then use either Autofit or Omptimize to render all other rows to the same height … which seems to be the workaround being suggested. At least one problem with this proposed workaround is that, if the initial calculation is wrong and the adjusted row height (to which all others then conform) is too high, the table will spill onto the next page(s). To readjust such an 'oversize' table would then require selecting all rows and by trial and error reduce them to fit. Of course this could be done from the outset … simply guess how high the rows need to be to fit. I'm sure that after a little while one would be come quite good at it.
Anyway, it appears that NeoOffice does not at the moment have the facility I seek. I'll follow up your advice re the ''New Feature Request" option … and try and find a spare $10,000 - or whatever it takes to fund the development of what I want! LOL (written in high good humour and with a smile on my face!!) _________________ "His hands were pure; but he had no hands"
Charles Peguy about Immanuel Kant.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
