[Solved] Tables always add a blank line after the table

[backwards]

Basically I need to create a table that fills the entire page, left to right, top to bottom. The problem that I've encountered is that all tables automatically add a blank line immediately following the table. I can resize the table to fill the entire page, but due to the blank line added after the table it causes a new page to appear by wrapping that blank line to the next page. I was hoping that it would be possible to create a 1 page document with a table that filled the entire page. If I click on the blank line and hit delete all it does is move the cursor to the last line of text within the table. It never actually deletes the blank line. At this point the only solution I've come up with is to make the blank line as small as possible. I've resized the blank line by changing the font size to 2 pt for that line. However that's not my preferred solution and I know there has to be a way to get rid of that blank line. Any ideas?

Another problem I'm having is that anytime I click outside of a table and then click back in a table a dialog box pops up. How can I prevent that table dialog box from popping up each time I click in a table?

[Villeroy]

1. The new paragraph is the position where to continue with other content. Delete forward (Del) in order to move the subsquent content behind the paragraph break or insert a manual page break.

2. [Tutorial] Turning off Context-Sensitive Toolbars

[backwards]

Many thanks for your response Villeroy. My second problem seems to be solved now as I have edited the toolbar that is displayed when I click in a table. However I still can't seem to get rid of the blank line.

I'm not able to delete the blank line by pressing DEL. Pressing DEL doesn't seem to have any affect on the line. However if I press Backspace then I am taken to the end of the last line within the table, but the blank line still remains at the end of the page. The following image shows the blank line following the table.

The image below depicts what I would like my document to look like. A single page with 1 table and no blank line at the end. In the following image the blank line has been wrapped to page 2 which is why it's not visible.

[acknak]

It is in fact not possible to remove that line. I'm not sure why.

The appropriate workaround depends on what specific problem the line is causing.

If the line is flowing over to a new page, you have a number of choices:
a) make the bottom page margin smaller--there's nothing there but a blank line, so it won't hurt anything.
b) make the font size for that line smaller: 2pt works
c) hide the line: Insert > Fields > Other > Functions > Hidden paragraph

If it is some other problem, then please exaplain, and perhaps there is another workaround to suggest.

PS: One more, just for fun:
d) Create a frame and anchor the frame "as character". Enter a word in the frame. Select the word, and do Table > Convert > Text to table. Now you have a table in a frame, and the frame occupies the single document paragraph: there is no "extra" line.

[foxcole]

Every table requires an accompanying text paragraph. It usually follows the table, although in some cases I've been able to associate my tables with the preceding paragraph. (Been a while since I've done that, so I'd have to revisit the particulars.)

The reason for this is that a table is not a standalone object, nor is it a graphic object, it is a text object. (That's why you can't just drag it around on a page.) Therefore it requires a holder for all the information about that text structure, and text information is stored in the paragraph container. You can't have text without a paragraph.

You might feel glad that it's possible to make that paragraph mark tiny without affecting the rest of the table.

[backwards]

I've decreased the bottom margin size and set the last line of the page to 2pt to address this problem. Many thanks for everyone's help and suggestions.

[zeppe]

Even though this won't be relevant to the original author, I'm adding this comment for other people that, like me, will land on this page looking on how to delete the blank line after a table.

The solution is: go to the end of the last right cell of the table, and press Shift+Ctrl+Del.

The full list of shortcuts is available at the entry "Shortcut Keys for OpenOffice.org Writer" of the documentation.

[acknak]

Thanks for that tip!

However, it doesn't work for a table at the end of the document: Writer will add the extra, empty paragraph back again the next time you load the file.

I think the best workaround is to add a hidden paragraph field to hide that last extra paragraph.

[onkeltem]

The solution is: go to the end of the last right cell of the table, and press Shift+Ctrl+Del.

Many many thanks!

[John-P]

This topic is marked as "solved" and I guess that's true IF "solved" includes things that just are because no one wants to fix them.

The Shift+Control+Delete works only temporarily. The result is that one has to FIX the PROBLEM every time the document is opened. Otherwise, a sheet of paper is wasted or worse added in the middle of printer output where it is unwanted, messes up two-sided printing, etc.

Seems to me that a program should faithfully redisplay what was last saved -- not what it "thinks" the user wanted. I'm no fan of MS, but at least Word has resolved this, which was once upon a time an issue.

[acknak]

There are three workarounds in my post above; all of those are saved in the document file.

I'm not sure what the reason for the "extra" paragraph is; it may be required by the document format. If you want it to be treated as a bug, see [Tutorial] Reporting bugs or suggestions

[RoryOF]

If the last line is shrunk to 2 points high, it will save in the file and not need to be changed on next opening.