Word Merges Blank and Non-Blank Table Cells Differently

ID: Q106254

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

Word version 6.0 for Windows merges non-blank and blank table cells differently. Previous versions of Word do not handle them differently.

CAUSE

By design in Word 6.0, if a table cell is blank, Word does not add a paragraph mark to the merged cell. By contrast, if a table cell contains text, Word does add a paragraph mark to the merged cell. For example, if you merge these blank table cells, 

   __________________________________________
   |o           |o            |o            |
   ------------------------------------------

   (Note: The "o" represents an end-of-cell marker, not actual text.)
the resulting merged table cell looks like this: 

   __________________________________________
   |o                                       |
   ------------------------------------------

   (Note: The "o" represents an end-of-cell marker, not actual text.)
Likewise, if you merge these non-blank table cells, 

   __________________________________________
   |TEXT o   |o            |o               |
   ------------------------------------------

   (Note: The "o" represents an end-of-cell marker, not actual text.)
the resulting merged table cell looks like this (notice that Word inserts a paragraph mark for the non-blank cell but does not insert a paragraph mark for the blank cells): 

   __________________________________________
   |TEXT P                                  |
   |o                                       |
   ------------------------------------------

   (Note: The "P" is the paragraph mark, not actual text. The "o"
   represents an end-of-cell marker, not actual text.)

MORE INFORMATION

Previous versions of Word insert a paragraph mark for each blank table cell you merge, which creates one line for each cell you merge. For example, if you merge these blank table cells, 

   __________________________________________
   |o        |o            |o               |
   ------------------------------------------

   (Note: The "o" represents an end-of-cell marker, not actual text.)
the resulting merged table cell looks like this: 

   __________________________________________
   |P                                       |
   |P                                       |
   |o                                       |
   ------------------------------------------

   (Note: The "P" is the paragraph mark, not actual text. The "o"
   represents an end-of-cell marker, not actual text.)

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word User's Guide," version 6.0, Chapter 13, "Working With Tables," "Merging and Splitting Cells" topic

KBCategory: kbusage KBSubcategory: kbtable Additional query words: 6.0 winword word6 

Keywords          : kbtable 
Version           : 6.0
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: February 6, 1998