Setting Page, Column, and Frame Breaks on Tables

You can set page, column, and frame breaks on tables using a couple of different options. For additional information about frame breaks and why you might use them, see Setting Frame Breaks on Paragraphs and Headings.

In regular stylesheets, you can set breaks on the standard HTML table tags. The most common approach for page breaks is to set them on table rows through the tr style. Another option is that you can set breaks on rows (and on entire tables) through a table stylesheet. And because you can create patterns in table stylesheets, each pattern item might have different settings for breaks.

You might use standard HTML table tags in a regular stylesheet if you want all tables to follow the same behavior when it comes to breaks. On the other hand, you might use table style settings if you have complex tables and patterns requiring some table elements to break in a certain way and other elements to behave differently.

How to Set Breaks for Tables in a Regular Stylesheet

1. Open the stylesheet you want to modify or create a new one.

2. From the Medium drop-down in the Stylesheet Editor, make sure the proper medium is selected before you begin. In the Advanced view, you can open multiple mediums at once; you just need to look at the title at the top of the medium pane and make sure you are working in the correct one. If you are not using stylesheet mediums for your different outputs or if you want all mediums to have the same settings, just leave the medium set to default and continue.

   Please note that Contributor remembers the last medium that you used when working in the stylesheet, so it may or may not be the one that you want to use the next time around.

3. In the local toolbar, make sure the first button displays . If the button displays instead, then click it.
4. In the upper-left corner of the editor, click in the drop-down field and select .
5. From the list below, select the appropriate style. Usually you want to put a break on table (which sets the break on the entire table) or tr (which sets the break on rows, allowing you to easily end a page with one row due to the amount of content, and begin the next page with the following row).
6. From the Show drop-down list on the upper-right side of the editor, select .
7. (Optional) You can use the toggle button in the local toolbar to show properties below in a group view or an alphabetical view .
8. If you are using the grouped view, expand the PrintSupport group.

9. Select the appropriate property and set a value for it. For example, you can click to the right of page-break-inside, and select avoid. If you do this for the tr style, Contributor will automatically create a break between rows so that row content does not continue from one page to another.

   column-break-before

   To the right of the property, click and set a column break before the element.

   • always A break will always occur before the element.
   • auto A break will neither be forced nor prevented before the element.
   • avoid A break will not occur before the element.
   • inherit The break setting of the parent tag is used.

   column-break-after

   To the right of the property, click and set a column break after the element.

   • always A break will always occur after the element.
   • auto A break will neither be forced nor prevented after the element.
   • avoid A break will not occur after the element.
   • inherit The break setting of the parent tag is used.

   column-break-inside

   To the right of the property, click and set a column break inside the "rendering box" of the element.

   • auto A break will neither be forced nor prevented inside the rendering box of the element.
   • avoid A break will not occur inside the rendering box of the element.
   • inherit The break setting of the parent tag is used.

   frame-break-before

   To the right of the property, click and set a frame break before the element.

   • always A break will always occur before the element.
   • auto A break will neither be forced nor prevented before the element.
   • avoid A break will not occur before the element.
   • inherit The break setting of the parent tag is used.

   frame-break-after

   To the right of the property, click and set a frame break after the element.

   • always A break will always occur after the element.
   • auto A break will neither be forced nor prevented after the element.
   • avoid A break will not occur after the element.
   • inherit The break setting of the parent tag is used.

   frame-break-inside

   To the right of the property, click and set a frame break inside the "rendering box" of the element.

   • automatic A break will neither be forced nor prevented inside the rendering box of the element.
   • avoid A break will not occur inside the rendering box of the element.
   • inherit The break setting of the parent tag is used.

   page-break-before

   To the right of the property, click and set a page break before the element.

   • always A break will always occur before the element.
   • auto A break will neither be forced nor prevented before the element.
   • avoid A break will not occur before the element.
   • inherit The break setting of the parent tag is used.
   • left One or two breaks will occur before the element so that the next page is formatted as a left page.
   • right One or two page breaks will occur before the element so that the next page is formatted as a right page.

   page-break-after

   To the right of the property, click and set a page break after the element.

   • always A break will always occur after the element.
   • auto A break will neither be forced nor prevented after the element.
   • avoid A break will not occur after the element.
   • inherit The break setting of the parent tag is used.
   • left One or two breaks will occur after the element so that the next page is formatted as a left page.
   • right One or two breaks will occur after the element so that the next page is formatted as a right page.

   page-break-inside

   To the right of the property, click and set a page break inside the "rendering box" of the element.

   • auto A break will neither be forced nor prevented inside the rendering box of the element.
   • avoid A break will not occur inside the rendering box of the element.
   • inherit The break setting of the parent tag is used.
10. Click to save your work.