Table Overview

Aspose.Words is a class library designed for server-side processing of documents in various formats – PDF, HTML, different Microsoft Word formats and others – and supports tables in the following ways:

  • tables in a document are preserved during open/save and conversions
  • it is possible to edit table, content, and its formatting, and then export the changes to a file in a format that supports tables

In this article, we will learn more about table structure, cells, rows, and columns supported by Aspose.Words, and the details of working with such tables.

Table Structure

As already mentioned, the table consists of such elements as Cell, Row and Column. These are concepts that are common to all tables in general, regardless of the document format.

This is a common example of a table found in a Microsoft Word document:

tables-overview-aspose-words-python-1

Table Nodes

A table from any document loaded into Aspose.Words is imported as a Table node. The table can be found as a child of:

  • main text
  • an inline story such as a comment or a footnote
  • cells when a table is nested within another table

Table Content

The table node does not contain any real content – instead, it is a container for other such nodes that make up the content:

  • Table contains many Row nodes. The table provides all the usual node elements, allowing you to freely move, modify, and remove the table in the document.
  • Row represents a single table row and contains many Cell nodes. In addition, the Row provides elements that define how the row is displayed, such as height and alignment.
  • Cell is what contains the true content visible in the table and is made up of a Paragraph and other block level nodes. Additionally, cells can contain nested tables.

tables-overview-aspose-words-python-2

Empty Paragraph after Table

The picture above shows that the document contains a table of several rows, which in turn consists of two cells. Each of the two cells includes a paragraph, which is the container for the cell’s formatted text.

It is also worth noting that separating two consecutive tables in a document requires at least one empty paragraph after the table. Without such a paragraph, consecutive tables would be joined together into one. This behavior is identical in both Microsoft Word and Aspose.Words.

In Aspose.Words, all classes and properties related to tables are contained in the Aspose.Words.Tables module.

See Also

FAQ

  1. Q: How can I retrieve all tables in a document, including those located in headers, footers, footnotes, or comments?
    A: Use Document.get_child_nodes(NodeType.TABLE, True) which returns a collection of all Table nodes in the entire document tree. The True argument ensures that nodes from the main story, headers, footers, footnotes, and comments are included.

  2. Q: How do I add a new row to an existing table?
    A: Create a Row object, add the required number of Cell objects to it, and then append the row to the table with Table.append_child(row). Each new cell can be populated with a Paragraph containing the desired text.

  3. Q: What is the correct way to merge cells horizontally in a table?
    A: Set the first cell’s cell_format.horizontal_merge property to HorizontalMerge.FIRST and the subsequent cells that should be merged to HorizontalMerge.PREVIOUS. This merges the cells into a single larger cell while preserving the table layout.

  4. Q: Why do two consecutive tables sometimes appear as a single table, and how can I prevent this?
    A: Word treats adjacent tables as one unless there is at least one empty paragraph between them. Insert an empty Paragraph node after the first table (document.append_child(Paragraph())) to keep the tables separate.

  5. Q: How can I access a specific cell by its row and column indexes?
    A: Use Table.rows[rowIndex].cells[cellIndex] where rowIndex and cellIndex are zero‑based. This returns the Cell object, allowing you to read or modify its contents.

Work with Columns and Rows