1
00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:13,120
Hi there! In this video we’ll be learning how to 
create a table in InDesign, so let’s get started.

2
00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:18,960
A table consists of rows and columns 
of cells. A cell is like a text frame,  

3
00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:23,040
in which you can add text, inline 
graphics, or other tables. 

4
00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:29,280
To create a table in InDesign, just go to the 
table menu, and select ‘create table’, to reveal  

5
00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:36,720
the pop-up settings. From here, you can make 
changes to the number of rows or columns you want.  

6
00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,880
You can even select the header and footer rows, 
which we’re going to learn a little later,  

7
00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:46,240
so let’s leave them at zero, for now. Since 
we haven’t created any table styles yet,  

8
00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:51,440
we’re going to stick to the ‘basic table’ style, 
and hit okay. You should find that your cursor is  

9
00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:58,080
now loaded, so all you need to do is, click 
and drag, and your table should be ready.

10
00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:02,880
Another thing to note is that, if you pick the 
selection tool, and click and drag one of the  

11
00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:08,160
corners, to enlarge the table, you’ll find 
that only the frame gets enlarged, leaving  

12
00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:14,480
the table intact. What we learn from this is, 
in InDesign, even when you insert a table,  

13
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:20,240
a frame is inserted automatically. In earlier 
versions of InDesign, you would have to first  

14
00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:25,840
create a text box, and only then, you could insert 
a table in it, which is not the case anymore.

15
00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:31,520
To expand the width of the table to the size 
of the frame, you’ll have to double-click any  

16
00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:36,400
of the cells in the extreme right column, 
and when you find your cursor blinking,  

17
00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:42,400
take your cursor to the right edge of the column, 
until it changes to a bi-directional arrow,  

18
00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:47,120
and then, click and drag to the margin 
on the right, to expand that column.

19
00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,600
Now take your cursor to the top left corner 
of the table, until you find your cursor  

20
00:01:53,600 --> 00:02:00,560
transforming into a bold diagonal arrow. Click it, 
to select the entire table, and then right-click,  

21
00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:07,920
and select ‘distribute columns evenly’ option, 
and all the columns shall be evenly spaced.

22
00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:13,520
To add another row to your table, simply take 
the cursor to the last cell of the last row,  

23
00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,840
and hit the ‘tab’ key, and another 
row shall be added to your table.

24
00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:22,720
To shorten the height of the row, take 
your cursor to the bottom edge of the row,  

25
00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:28,800
until it changes into a bi-directional arrow. 
Click and drag, to reduce the height. Same way,  

26
00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,920
click and drag to reduce the 
height of other rows as well.

27
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,960
To add a number of rows together, 
click the edge of the bottom row,  

28
00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:43,760
and then hold Option on a Mac, or Alt on a PC, 
and drag it down to add multiple rows together.  

29
00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:49,840
Mind you that these rows that you add will be the 
size of the last row you clicked and dragged from.

30
00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:55,440
To distribute the rows evenly, take your 
cursor to the top left corner of the table,  

31
00:02:55,440 --> 00:03:02,080
until it changes into a bold diagonal arrow, 
and click once to select the table. Right-click,  

32
00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,520
and select ‘distribute rows 
evenly’, to have even rows.

33
00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,680
Let’s select some of the rows from 
the bottom, and then right-click,  

34
00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,640
and select ‘delete’, and then ‘rows’, 
and the selected rows will be gone.

35
00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:19,680
Another way to add rows to your table is 
to take the cursor to the cell of any row,  

36
00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:26,640
and then right-click, and go to ‘insert’, 
and then ‘row.’ In the popup menu,  

37
00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:32,080
select whether you want the rows to be added 
above, or below the active row, and then add  

38
00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:38,000
the number of rows you want added, and hit 
okay, and your rows will be added instantly.

39
00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,320
Now let’s copy and paste some 
information from an excel sheet.  

40
00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,840
In fact, before doing that, 
let’s go to ‘preferences’,  

41
00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:52,160
and select ‘clipboard handling’, and in the 
pasting option, select ‘all information’,  

42
00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:58,800
and hit okay. What it does is, it pastes, not just 
the text, but the swatches or styles etc. as well.

43
00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:04,240
Let’s switch to our excel sheet, and 
copy these five rows by selecting them,  

44
00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,240
and using Command C on a Mac, or Ctrl C on a PC.  

45
00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:15,600
Let’s get back to InDesign, and hit Command V on 
a Mac, or Ctrl V on a PC, to paste the selection,  

46
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:22,160
and you shall find it pasting like this. 
Let’s move it to the pasteboard. Let’s also  

47
00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:28,560
extend its frame to cover the entire pasted 
table. Now double-click, and select the text,  

48
00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:36,240
and copy it using Command C on a Mac, or Ctrl C on 
a PC, and if you double-click the InDesign table,  

49
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:45,360
and just hit Command V on a Mac, or Ctrl V on a 
PC, this is what happens. Let me zoom in. You see,  

50
00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:51,280
it looks more like a table, within a table, and 
this is not what we wanted, so let’s hit Command  

51
00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:58,560
Z on a Mac, or Ctrl Z on a PC, to undo the last 
action. The imported table has eight columns,  

52
00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:06,240
and five rows, so what we need to do is, click and 
select eight columns, and five rows on our table,  

53
00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:13,440
and only then, hit Command V on a Mac, or Ctrl 
V on a PC, and it shall be pasted perfectly.  

54
00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:20,400
The pink highlighter behind our text is 
because of a font mismatch, so select the text,  

55
00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:27,360
and change the font to ‘Raleway light’, 
and also reduce the size to 8 points.

56
00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,920
I think the text is way too light. Let’s 
change the font style to ‘regular’, instead.  

57
00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:38,080
So that’s how you can copy, 
and paste from an excel sheet,  

58
00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,080
but what if we need to import 
an excel file to InDesign?

59
00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:46,400
Let’s delete the table, so select 
it, and hit delete, or backspace.  

60
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:55,040
Let’s also delete the text copied from excel. Now 
grab the type tool, and make a text box covering  

61
00:05:55,040 --> 00:06:02,480
the entire page, and while the cursor is blinking 
inside the text box, go to file, and then place,  

62
00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:08,320
and locate the excel file on the 
computer, and before hitting ‘open’,  

63
00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:13,280
ensure that you check the ‘show import 
options’ box, and only then hit ‘open.’

64
00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:20,160
On the import options popup, select the sheet 
you’d like imported, so we need to import Sheet2,  

65
00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:26,880
so let’s select that from the dropdown 
list. We could also see the cell range here,  

66
00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:35,040
that tells us that that it has 8 columns from ‘A’ 
to ‘H’, and 55 rows. It’s an unformatted table,  

67
00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:39,920
with the ‘basic table’ style, which is the 
default style, applied to it, so just hit okay.

68
00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:47,280
You’ll find the table imported, but we don’t have 
the entire table. How do we know that? You see the  

69
00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:53,440
red plus button at the bottom right corner. That 
tells us that there is more text unaccounted for,  

70
00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:58,560
so grab the selection tool, and click the red 
plus button once, to load the cursor with the  

71
00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:04,800
remaining text, and then click the top left corner 
of page 2, to throw the rest of the text there,  

72
00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:10,400
but hey it’s still showing the red plus button, 
which means that if I have to import an excel  

73
00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:17,600
file with thousands of rows I’ll have to keep 
doing it for hours. No I will not! Let’s undo  

74
00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:26,080
the last few actions, until all the text is gone, 
using Command Z on a Mac, or Ctrl Z on a PC. Grab  

75
00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:32,640
the selection tool, and let’s go to the ‘pages’ 
panel. Double-click the A master, to select it.  

76
00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:40,480
Now grab the type tool, and make a text box, 
so that every page copies it from the A master.  

77
00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:47,920
Let’s go back to page 1, and remember it’s a 
text box on our A master, which means to select  

78
00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:55,680
it on page 1, I’ll have to override it. Hold Shift 
and Command on a Mac, or Shift and Ctrl on a PC,  

79
00:07:55,680 --> 00:08:00,720
and then click the text box on page 1, 
and you will have overridden the A master.  

80
00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:05,520
Now double-click, to have the cursor 
blinking inside the text box on page 1,  

81
00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:12,480
and go to file, and then place, and 
locate the excel file on the computer.  

82
00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,440
Also ensure that ‘show import options’ 
is checked, before hitting ‘open.’

83
00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:22,800
On the import options popup, select 
Sheet 2 from the dropdown, and hit okay,  

84
00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:28,960
and this time you’ll find that the entire table 
has been imported. Much like regular text,  

85
00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,600
this table is also connected, so any 
changes you make to the table on page 1,  

86
00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,440
will be reflected on the rest of the 
pages, as well. So if I drag this  

87
00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:42,080
column to expand it, you could see that 
it is getting expanded even on page 2.

88
00:08:42,799 --> 00:08:48,480
Another thing to note is that the header is 
only showing on page 1. When you go to page 2,  

89
00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:55,040
you’ll find the information continued from page 1, 
but no header, so in order to copy the header on  

90
00:08:55,040 --> 00:09:03,680
all the pages, let’s go to page 1, and select 
the header, and then right-click, and select  

91
00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:09,440
‘convert to header rows’ option. Now when you go 
to page 2, you’ll find the header sitting there.

92
00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:16,240
Another interesting feature is, being able to move 
the columns or rows, so let’s say I want to move  

93
00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:21,360
this column to the right, so I’m going to take my 
cursor to the top edge of this column, until it  

94
00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:27,680
turns into a bold arrow, facing downwards. Click 
it, to select the column, and it selects not  

95
00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:32,880
just the column on this page, but the rest of the 
pages as well, as you can see. Now click anywhere  

96
00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:38,720
on this highlighted column, hold, and drag to 
the right, where you want this column to move,  

97
00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:44,240
and release the mouse, and the column will have 
moved. Let’s move the column back to its position.

98
00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:50,560
Same way, select a row, and then click, hold, 
and drag, to move it to wherever you want it,  

99
00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:55,840
in the table, and it shall move. One last thing 
to mention is that copying the entire column,  

100
00:09:55,840 --> 00:10:01,760
or row is as simple as moving the column, or row, 
so let’s say I want to copy this row, so I’m going  

101
00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:07,600
to select it, and now to copy it, I’m going to 
first click it, and then hold Option on a Mac,  

102
00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:13,920
or Alt on a PC, you shall find a small plus sign 
appearing right behind the cursor, which means  

103
00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:19,760
it’s ready to copy, so drag it to the location you 
want to copy it to, and ‘mission accomplished!’

104
00:10:21,680 --> 00:10:24,720
Alright guys! That concludes 
this session. We’ll be talking  

105
00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:31,840
about formatting the table in 
the next video, so stay tuned!