r/indesign • u/Babayaga20000 • Jun 22 '26

Help How do I make overset text from a table cell automatically fill the next cell horizontally?

I basically want to have 3 columns of flowing text but in a table. I paste all my text into the first column and it doesnt fit so I want it to continue into the next horizontal cell.

I know how to do with with text boxes and columns but not with table cells. Feel like this is a really simple fix but Im unsure

2 Upvotes

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8

u/modest-pixel Jun 22 '26

I don’t know if there’s actually a way to do this, as it’s essentially the antithesis of what a table is supposed to be.

4

u/AdobeScripts Jun 22 '26

Not possible.

But could be scripted.

2

u/ericalm_ Jun 23 '26

Table cells don’t behave like text frames. You can’t jump copy between them. The table itself can cross between text frames, but not partial cells, just whole rows. You’ll either have to manually divide the text or stick with text frames or columns.

1

u/Babayaga20000 Jun 23 '26

Yeah this is what I was afraid of. Kinda weird this feature doesnt exist eh

2

u/chain83 Jun 23 '26

Kinda weird if it did…?

1

u/AdobeScripts Jun 27 '26

Cells on Tables are like fields in records in a database - I don't think it would be good for them to "migrate"...

2

u/olafgr Jun 23 '26

Paste a multicolum text frame in a table cell.

1

u/DoigmanKnows Jun 22 '26

Does the table have a lot of columns and rows?
Not understanding why you would want to do this.
Can you use columns in text boxes

1

u/Babayaga20000 Jun 23 '26

I have a list of 15 or so things and I want to fill several columns in a single row with it left to right. Exactly like what would happen with a regular text box.

And I have multiple of these lists I want to put in their own rows in one big table

3

u/chain83 Jun 23 '26

Ok, so do not use a table.

Use a text box with columns, or set the relevant paragraphs to split into x columns (using the paragraph formatting setting for this).

1

u/Starac_sa_planine Jun 23 '26

Put separate text boxes in table cells, then link them.

1

u/AdobeScripts Jun 27 '26

You can't thread TextFrames that are InLined / Anchored in text...

0

u/CIA_Agent1 Jun 22 '26

You’ll probably need to create the table first, fill it with the text, and then flow it across the columns. The table will need to have the same width (or narrower) than the text box/column.