Cell Inset?

[davewill]

Is there a way to set a cell inset (space between text and cell border)?
I would think it would be simple but I can't find it anywhere.

 

[Cutter]

I'm guessing that you mean indenting from the left edge of the cell. If
so then go to Format>Cell>Alignment
Under "Horizontal" choose "Left (Indent)"
Now specify the amount of indentation using the spinner control
labelled "Indent:"

 

[JE McGimpsey]

one way:

Format/Cells/Alignment/Indent and choose an indent level to set space
between the left border and the text.


You can customize the space, too:

Use the underscore character in a Custom format. This will leave a space
equal to the width of whatever follows it.

For example, Format/Cells/Number/Custom _|_|@

will leave the width of two pipes to the left of the text (@).

 

[davewill]

I'm actually looking for a feature that will create space on all four
sides so that the text isn't up against the top and bottom also. Rows
are different sizes so to use the row height feature I would have to
choose each one seperatly and set the height. In InDesign I can set a
cell inset on a table which allows me to choose, for example, .05
inches and each cell will have that much space on all four sides
between the content and the border.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[gls858]

I'm actually looking for a feature that will create space on all four
sides so that the text isn't up against the top and bottom also. Rows
are different sizes so to use the row height feature I would have to
choose each one seperatly and set the height. In InDesign I can set a
cell inset on a table which allows me to choose, for example, .05
inches and each cell will have that much space on all four sides
between the content and the border.

Thanks,

Dave

Select cell right click > Format cell > alignment set horizontal
to center, set vertical to center.

gls858

 

[David McRitchie]

Hi Dave,
For vertical alignment you may have some success by selecting
all cells then format, cells, vertical alignment: center
then with all cells selected adjust the demarcation line between
the row numbers by dragging to enlarge the height
(you can also adjust the height from format, rows, height)

To guarantee space on the right you can use the same technique
for standard cell formatting that was shown with the width of two
vertical lines (pipes), which may help when you doubleclick on
the column borders to adjust width. You could just widen all
columns more than needed with fussing the rightside of formatting.

I'm actually looking for a feature that will create space on all four
sides so that the text isn't up against the top and bottom also. Rows
are different sizes so to use the row height feature I would have to
choose each one seperatly [separately] and set the height. In InDesign I can set a
cell inset on a table which allows me to choose, for example, .05
inches and each cell will have that much space on all four sides
between the content and the border.

Thanks,

Dave

Select cell right click > Format cell > alignment set horizontal
to center, set vertical to center.

gls858

 

[davewill]

Thanks everyone. I think Excel is really missing out not allowing yo
to set a basic cell inset. In InDesign you set the inset and no
matter how you size your rows and columns you always have the exac
same inset on all cells where you have set it. You can set it b
cell(s), column(s), row(s), or overall

 

[David McRitchie]

Hi Dave,

It certainly would be useful.

I can see a problem with a quick implementation due to a limit of
4000 formats (combinations of format attributes).

It would add 4 more format attributes (one for each
border) and unless the same numbers were used in all cells the same
way would cause problems -- especially since it is something you
wouldn't really see. Perhaps if it were set as a global attribute, but then
you wouldn't be able to squeeze some columns more than others to fit.

I don't think I have actual problems with characters too close to a border
to be able to read them properly in Excel. I know for instance that I do add
extra space in HTML for just that reason. This can be corrected with styles
in HTML if I wanted more space only on left and right but not all four sides.

 

[davewill]

I'm a graphic designer so my tables aren't very large. They are neve
more than a few pages so having the inset in InDesign is great. I ca
see where it could be a problem for large spread sheets