How to work with the Table Mode

How to apply and use the Table Areas

Before using the Table Area mode in a project, we recommend that you carry out the inspection of the documents first, to ascertain if the table mode is necessary. The current version of TVT works more methodically with tables than previous versions and there may be no need to use the table mode. If, however, after the initial inspection there are many unmapped table contents it may then be necessary to apply the table mode to the inspection. To do this first reset the project.

To enter in Table mode, click on the Table Mode button . This allows you to draw a green box around the table(s). Once the box is drawn, you have to select the method by which the table is to be ordered. To do this, right click inside the table area box that you have drawn. A pop-up dialog will then appear with the following options:

To understand how the flow ordering works "Table g" serves as basic example. The text flow will be different depending on the order mode.

                                                                                  Table ‘g’

Without Table Area:

The reading order from MS Word, RTF and PDFs created from MS Word will usually equals the Cell Mode:

1a → 1b → 2a → 2b → 3a → 3b → 4 → 5 → 6

The reading order for PDFs created from InDesign will usually equal the Line Mode:

1a → 2a → 3a → 1b → 2b → 3b → 4 → 5 → 6

Other PDF creating applications may yield other results.

Line Order:

1a → 2a → 3a → 1b → 2b → 3b → 4 → 5 → 6

Cell Order:

1a → 1b → 2a → 2b → 3a → 3b → 4 → 5 → 6

Column Mode:

1a → 1b → 4 → 2a → 2b → 5 → 3a → 3b → 6

In some artwork creation programs it is possible for the PDF to be arranged with tables visually look to be correct but are out of sequence. In the example ‘j’, the table was created by first inserting the contents in row (a) and column 1. Then the data in the remaining cells were added in the following order a1, a2, a3, a4, b1, c1, d1, b2, b3, b4, c2, c3, c4, d2, d3, d4. While the table appears to be in the correct order, the resulting PDF order flow would be as indicated by the red arrows in ‘j’; the visual order, however, is as shown by the blue arrows in figure ‘k’.

                                                                                   Figure ‘j’

                                                                                   Figure ‘k’

When the order by line/cell/column mode is selected nothing is reordered within an individual line/cell/column, if the visual order differs from the construction order.

However, Strict Line ordering creates an exception to this rule, allowing the contents of individual cells/columns to be ordered by line. It does not have an effect on the Order by line option.