Table Effects Summary
Open the Table Effects palette using Fixup> ASCII Table Special Effects
(or click 
in the toolbar):
| Table Select | Designate the current selection of text as a table. The selection is highlighted a salmon color and other table effects are enabled. |
| Table Deselect | Clear the table highlighting and disable table effects. |
| Insert Vertical Line | Insert a vertical column of stile characters the height of the table immediately to the right of the insertion point. |
| Add Vertical Line | Replace the vertical column of spaces to the right of the insertion point with stile characters. |
| Space Out Table | Insert a blank line between each line of the table. |
| Auto Columns | Scan the table for columns, defined as data separated horizontally by at least two spaces. Add a vertical line to the right of each column. |
| Delete Sel. Line | Delete the currently-selected vertical column of stiles. Opposite of Insert Vertical Line. |
| Remove Sel. Line | Replace the currently-selected vertical column of stiles with spaces. Opposite of Add Vertical Line. |
| Compress Table | Removes all empty lines from the table, reversing the effect of Space Out Table. |
| Select Prev Line | Select the column of stile characters to the left of the insertion point. The line is highlighted green and becomes the object of Move, Delete, and Remove operations. (Left-arrow when focus in table palette.) |
| Select Next Line | Select the column of stile characters to the right of the insertion point. The line is highlighted green and becomes the object of Move, Delete, and Remove operations. (Right-arrow when focus in table palette.) |
| Line Deselect | Clears the highlighting from the current vertical line. |
| Justify Column: L/C/R/Rewrap | Switches that set whether cells will be rewrapped when a vertical line is moved, and how: Left-aligned, Centered, or Right-aligned. |
| Move Line Left | Move the currently-selected vertical line left by removing one column of spaces. If Rewrap is off, line only moves if there is a space in every row. If Rewrap is on, cells to the left are rewrapped to fit the smaller space. (Ctl-left-arrow when focus in table palette.) |
| Move Line Right | Move the currently-selected vertical line right by inserting a column of spaces. If Rewrap is on, cells to the left are rewrapped to fit the larger space. (Ctl-right-arrow when focus in table palette.) |
| Table Right Column | Field specifying the width of the table for Grid/Step conversion. |
| Convert Grid to Step | Converts a conventional table to a stepped form; see below. Caution: table must be spaced out first for good results. |
| Undo Redo |
Quick access to Undo and Redo when a table action doesn't do what you expected. |
| Convert Step to Grid | Reformats a stepwise table to rectangular form, spaced to the width specified as Table Right Column. |
Table Effects Tutorial
Suppose your book has a table like the following:
/* PETER'S OUTDOOR PLANTING TABLE NAME DEPTH TO DISTANCE APART PLANT SEEDS FURROWS Bean (Bush) 2 in. 12-20 in. 3 ft. Beet 1-1/2 in. 4-9 in. 12-15 in. Cabbage 1/2 in. 20-24 in. 3 ft. Corn 1-1/2 in. 3 ft. 3-4 ft. (hills) Pumpkin 1-1/2 in. 8-10 ft. 8-10 ft. (hills) Radish 1/2 in. 3 in. 6-8 in. Tomato 1/2-1 in. 3 ft. 3 ft. (hills) Turnip 1/2 in. 6 in. 12 in. */The table spanned two pages so was proofed by different proofers who used different columns and different alignment styles. (You can copy this text out, paste it into Guiguts, and follow along.)
You could fix it manually, but instead you open the Table Effects dialog. You drag to select the data rows of the table (you'll fix up the headings manually, later) and then you click the Table Select button. The table is highlighted salmon.
Then you click the Auto Columns button and Guiguts makes its best guess at where the columns are, based on data separated by at least two spaces. It inserts vertical lines between columns and left-aligns the data:
You can foresee a problem in the fourth column: you'd like it to align right, but those three values ending in "(hills)" are going to push their entries left. One solution would be if the "(hills)" entries were in a column by themselves. Guiguts didn't put them there because they are only one space away from other data.
What to do? You click the Undo button. That removes the columns. (Most Table Effects actions can be undone with a single click of Undo, which makes experimentation easy.) Then you manually insert another space left of each "(hill)". And one more time, click Auto Columns. Guiguts gives you the extra column:
You would like to convert the middle three columns from left-aligned to right-aligned. Table effects will do that, but only when you allow it to "rewrap" the cell data. In order to rewrap cells, Guiguts has to know where each cell begins and ends—it can handle cells with multiple lines of text. In order to define the rows, you click the Space Out Table button. Guiguts inserts a blank line between each line of the table:
Now you are ready to operate. You click in the document to put the insertion point in any value in the second column, and click Select Next Line. Guiguts highlights the vertical line to the right of the insertion point, the line between columns 2 and 3. The width of the table column is shown in the table palette.
Because you want Guiguts to rewrap the cell data, you turn on the Rewrap Cols switch and the R (right-align) button:
You do the same for the third and fourth columns, right-aligning them as well:
You could leave the vertical columns of stile characters in the table but you decide it would look more like the original without them. One by one you select each vertical line and eliminate it. You can either click Remove Sel. Line so that the stiles are replaced with spaces, or click Delete Sel. Line so that the stile characters are deleted and closed up. The final table is ready:
Grid Versus Step Table Formats
A few books have tables with many columns with sentences or paragraphs of text in each, so that it is very difficult to format the table within the 75-column limit of an ASCII etext. Here is an extreme example from an actual project:
TABLE FOR VEGETABLE STORAGE
VEGETABLES|HOW BEST |PREPARATION|AMOUNT |REMARKS |
|STORED |FOR STORAGE|FOR | |
| | |FAMILY | |
| | |OF TWO | |
| | | | |
Irish |Must be kept|Potatoes |10 to 15|Remember |
Potatoes |cool with a |must be dug|bus. |Irish |
|slight |before the | |potatoes are|
|degrees of |ground is | |ruined by |
|moisture. |crusted | |freezing. |
|Use either |with frost.| |Potatoes |
|cellar or |Frosted | |should be |
|cave |potatoes | |kept |
|methods. No |will spoil,| |absolutely |
|potato |one after | |dark to |
|should be |another. | |prevent |
|more than |Impossible | |greening by |
|four ft. |to sort out| |light. Never|
|from air if |frosted | |buy potatoes|
|stored in |potatoes. | |in sacks |
|barrels, | | |that show |
|boxes, | | |wet places |
|crates or | | |due to a |
|bins. | | |frosted |
| | | |potato. |
| | | | |
Sweet |Require |When the |2 to 3 |If you are |
Potatoes |warmth and |sweet |bus. |in doubt as |
|dryness. In |potatoes | |to whether |
|crates or on|are dug | |the sweet |
|shelves in |they should| |potatoes are|
|warm dry |be allowed | |matured |
|room. Can be|to lie in | |enough for |
|spread on |the sun and| |storage, cut|
|the floor in|wind for 3 | |or break one|
|the room |or 4 hours | |end and |
|above the |so as to | |expose it to|
|kitchen |become | |the air for |
|where they |perfectly | |a few |
|will have |dry. They | |minutes. If |
|plenty of |must be | |the surface |
|heat, |well | |of the cut |
|especially |ripened and| |or break |
|for the |free from | |dries, the |
|first 2 or 3|bruises. | |potato is |
|weeks after |Can be kept| |mature. But |
|they are |on shelves | |if moisture |
|dug. |in a very | |remains on |
| |dry place | |the surface,|
| |and they | |it is not |
| |need not be| |fully |
| |kept | |ripened. In |
| |specially | |places where|
| |cold. Sweet| |there are |
| |potatoes | |early |
| |keep best | |frosts, |
| |when they | |sweet |
| |are showing| |potatoes |
| |just a | |should be |
| |little | |dug about |
| |inclination| |the time the|
| |to sprout. | |first frost |
| |However, if| |is expected,|
| |they start | |without |
| |growing the| |considering |
| |quality is | |maturity. |
| |greatly | | |
| |injured. | | |
| | | | |
Carrots |Are best |Can remain |1 to 3 |If you store|
|stored in |in the |bus. |carrots in |
|sand in |ground | |the cellar |
|cellars, |until the | |and it is |
|caves or |weather is | |extremely |
|pits; or in |quite cool;| |dry cover |
|tightly |then be | |them with a |
|covered |pulled, the| |little |
|boxes or |tops cut | |moistened |
|crocks. Must|off and | |sand. |
|be kept cold|then | | |
|and |stored. | | |
|evaporation | | | |
|must be | | | |
|prevented, | | | |
|for | | | |
|otherwise | | | |
|they become | | | |
|wilted. | | | |
Copy the preceding text and paste it into a clear Guiguts window. Select all the table lines (from "VEGETABLES" down through "wilted.") and click Table Select. Set a margin of 50 in the Table Right Column field. Then click Convert Grid to Step. This reformats the table so:
TABLE FOR VEGETABLE STORAGE
VEGETABLES
|HOW BEST STORED
| |PREPARATION FOR STORAGE
| | |AMOUNT FOR FAMILY OF TWO
| | | |REMARKS
| | | |
Irish Potatoes
|Must be kept cool with a slight degrees of
|moisture. Use either cellar or cave methods.
|No potato should be more than four ft. from
|air if stored in barrels, boxes, crates or
|bins.
| |Potatoes must be dug before the ground is
| |crusted with frost. Frosted potatoes will
| |spoil, one after another. Impossible to
| |sort out frosted potatoes.
| | |10 to 15 bus.
| | | |Remember Irish potatoes are
| | | |ruined by freezing. Potatoes
| | | |should be kept absolutely dark
| | | |to prevent greening by light.
| | | |Never buy potatoes in sacks
| | | |that show wet places due to a
| | | |frosted potato.
| | | |
Sweet Potatoes
|Require warmth and dryness. In crates or on
(etc)
This "stepped" form preserves the table data while keeping the
paragraphs readable. A very wide table can be squeezed into 75
or fewer columns in this way. If you don't like the look, or
want to try a stepped form with a wider right margin, Undo the conversion.
The stepped table form is an end-form; the other table effects should not be used on a stepped table. If you need to edit the table contents further, you should first either Undo or click Convert Step to Grid to get back to the grid form.