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Calendar Automation (sorta) - Tables Feedback


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I'm going to use a Calendar as a way of showing a few useful features I found out - and some suggestions.

Firstly, dragging out a table is great! Select the Table icon in the tool bar, select the Snapping tool to get it to snap to the margins, and simply Drag Out the table - you will see it gives dimensions - rows and column counts too! Pretty cool!

There are only a few modifier keys available. A modifier key is when you are using the mouse to move/alter something and press a key on the keyboard to get it to behave a different way.

  • Shift = constrains proportions
  • CMD = sizes from the centre point where you clicked on the screen

What I think is missing is a modifier key to allow the amount of rows and columns  - simple arrow keys could add and remove rows and columns would be super useful!

 985066494_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_03_41.thumb.png.50b010bcff59bbf95603ecd50c97c63d.png

 

For this calendar - I only want the First 3 rows to appear. Month - Days - Dates

I draw out the table and let go of the mouse and low and behold - I have 7 (that was lucky) columns and 3 rows, as I only dragged down that far.

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The added feature that's pretty cool!

With the Table tool still selected - you can drag down the table from the tab as indicated. Or similarly - on the right hand side, grab the tab and drag to add more columns!

You can slide them up and down or left and rigth until you have the desired amount of columns or rows.

485532455_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_14_42.png.a3f05e4f795e256a92b62c80f05bf16a.png

However, once you have made your decision - you cannot remove the rows/columns by dragging them back up. I presume this is to prevent deleting information accidentally, however, if the cells are empty I don't see why this can't be done :)

If you want to remove the column/row you can select it and right click and choose Delete Row

However if you have more than one row/column selected you cannot choose to Delete Rows!

1859700407_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_19_49.png.d41ccb2e7394b7c89a660d7209d2e8d1.png        No option to Delete Rows 921091789_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_19_58.png.bd8172841b7a9d7a19dba1e172361f9f.png

To delete more than one Row/Column you have to use the Table menu and choose "Delete Rows" or "Delete Columns"

1096206190_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_20_05.png.38ab1349918dfb615d78d5b266c7a866.png

 

 

Onto the calendar!

Select the top row and right click and choose Merge Cells

115050116_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_23_10.thumb.png.7e16ba9e8a188c966959a7bf353ecc2b.png

 

View>Studio>Table (I believe this menu and sub menus are subject to change)

 

418110928_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_24_05.png.31ced8b405d8906d2a40e9a1800f1e73.png

 

Select your table and add some "Insets" so the text doesn't butt up against the cell wall - this is optional and you can adjust to how you like. 

Very important to ensure you're on the CELLS portion - there is an option for the FRAME - which is above in the screenshot of the Table  Panel, this is relating to the Frame the table sits in and not the Table Properties.

That's a bit confusing becuase you'd expect the Table options to the forefront of the options, however, not a major issue! 

1539040165_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_29_35.thumb.png.98418251f991bf8240a8461dda85fdb6.png

In fact it's all optional - I'm leaving mine plain because I want to show another feature.

Insert the Month top row - days on the 2nd row - and leave the 3rd row blank.

 

Select the entire 3rd row and go to View>Studio>Paragraph

568102750_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_34_05.thumb.png.49d5a11725330ce0af0be7ed8cb254b4.png   Expand the Bullets and Numbering List!   579763197_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_34_48.thumb.png.a988e0dec272e4f1b3a18e6d728fd07c.png   

 

 

Choose 1. 2. 3. 4.  2030736353_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_36_13.png.37fea88bfccbf49770280bf3bbdde1d7.png   Change the text section to read as. 1454954294_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_36_51.png.fe2b03239c921f6ec3a749bf129933b0.png

 

Note - when you edit this panel option - you need to hit Return - this shouldn't be the case - if you don't hit return your changes won't be implemented. 

Your table should now look like this!

1053409601_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_38_45.thumb.png.90a06f0b648b44ece97257ab118d7161.png

 

Grag the TAB as shown before - to expand the table to add more rows. 

1471992035_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_39_23.thumb.png.5701ce856de88a585f937da959c482fe.png

 

January 2019 starts on a Tuesday (any calendar will tell you that :) )

Cool feature! You can select cells noncontiguous - that means they don't have to be beside each other. 

To do this - select the A3 cell - then let go of the mouse to leave it highlighted. Press the CMD key (possibly CTRL on PC) which is the "modifier key" then select the remaining cells. 

From the List Type in the Paragraph Panel - you can then set this to NO LIST.

305992684_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_41_29.thumb.png.816a85e381a19c926b1429ed658c1383.png

 

Your table will now automatically renumber to ensure all the days have the correct number assigned.

960661910_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_55_56.thumb.png.e2f1d49a336666080211530d3a7cbfec.png

 

Drag the handle down on the side of the table -  to make it fill the page! 

1896090898_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_45_52.thumb.png.228ad3e21ef57d1729d5f7ea70434f07.png

 

Select the numbered rows - right click and select distribute rows evenly

 

1649507866_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_57_00.thumb.png.f4dd22e2375c7765ac5c1e445ec65109.png

 

Duplicate your page

 

829744278_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_58_07.png.ba623a2b84088f6389422c0945a98fb1.png

 

Rename Month to February 

January ended on a Thursday - so February starts on a Friday and February 2018 has 28 days. 

208758667_ScreenShot2018-09-05at10_59_22.thumb.png.1d3e70445843655abe9c77b522fe21e4.png

 

 

Select the first 3 days - and set the Paragraph Numbering to No List

468882959_ScreenShot2018-09-05at11_01_56.thumb.png.c216ee40ecc9405a4d791d04c4ecefdc.png

 

Voila! February is Done! 

888121710_ScreenShot2018-09-05at11_03_38.thumb.png.546450f0c16f367d825a1b9f83b5e557.png

 

Add your icons! 

40787941_ScreenShot2018-09-05at11_07_10.png.6cc0c34bb7bc61daeda704a01229061a.png

 

 

Now you can repeat the steps to make the remaining calendar months! 

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Screen Shot 2018-09-05 at 10.45.45.png

Screen Shot 2018-09-05 at 10.57.00.png

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Fab work Eugene, I'm going to digest this over the next couple of days. Need to get my head around this shortcut for populating the dates for each month, I did mine manually per month. :/

I noticed if you just click the tab that you used to drag for more rows, you get a pop out with a counter, handy for larger number of rows. :27_sunglasses:

 

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Thanks! @GaseousClay Yes a lot of people insert the dates manually - which leaves room for errors.

If you automatically number the cells using Numbering in the Paragraph panels, you can avoid costly mistakes! It's virtually impossible to make a mistake, unless you start on the wrong day! 

As a sidenote: in my youth I designed a comic book called Gaseous Clay, a boxer who won by farting out his opponents - needless to say it never took off - funny though that it's your username, brings back memories... 

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As suggestion you once you complete January save the style of this table.

Then you can apply this style to subsequent months. Of course you could also copy and paste the first table and change the details there.

Great work.

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2 minutes ago, Seneca said:

As suggestion you once you complete January save the style of this table.

Then you can apply this style to subsequent months. Of course you could also copy and paste the first table and change the details there.

Great work.

Thanks!

Yes - I was going to get into the Table Styles but the post was quite long as it is. 

Table Styles are definitely 100% the way to go! 

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  • 2 months later...

This came up on another thread here somewhere but can't find it at the moment...

Select each column of the table where numbering is desired.  Under "Bullets and Numbering" in the Paragraph panel, select the numbering type, set "Name" to a unique value for each column, and set "Restart numbering" to "Below Current Level".

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  • 4 months later...
On 9/5/2018 at 11:08 AM, Eugene Tyson said:

January 2019 starts on a Tuesday (any calendar will tell you that :) )

Alternatively, you can use the handy little formula

W = k + [ 2.6 m - 0.2 ] - 2 C + Y + [ Y / 4 ] + [ C / 4 ] mod 7
      where [] denotes the integer floor function (round down),
      k is day (1 to 31)
      m is month (1 = March, ..., 10 = December, 11 = Jan, 12 = Feb)
             Treat Jan & Feb as months of the preceding year
      C is century (1987 has C = 19)
      Y is year (1987 has Y = 87 except Y = 86 for Jan & Feb)
      W range is [0=Sun,...,6=Sat]

This formula is good for the Gregorian calendar (introduced 1582 in parts of Europe, adopted in 1752 in Great Britain and its colonies, and on various dates in other countries).

It handles century and 400 year corrections, but there is still a 3 day / 10 thousand year error which the Gregorian calendar does not take into account.

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@Eugene Tyson  Have you checked out the latest beta version of AF Pub?  The table controls have a way to easily add and remove rows and columns.  Instead of the box at the end of the column letters and at the bottom of the row numbers, there are a set of up and down arrows that allows you to add or remove the columns and rows.  This makes it a ton easier to create the tables.  Coming soon (I think) are the anchors that allow you to position a table with a piece of text and the table will flow with the text it's anchored to.

Table Controls.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Maybe it is easier to create only 7 tables with days 1-31 in a rows (and 7 tables with days in a columns) each table starting on a different day of the week? After that just use the tables you need it and delete the unnecesarry days.

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  • 1 year later...

I am really disappointed to find that within publishing software there is no calendar wizard to easily create and style calendar tables to insert in documents!

This is helpful, thanks! But I really wanted my previous months days to show and next months days to show, and for them to have a lower opacity than the current months days, as you see on calendar apps.

I thought this could be possible if I linked the table cells, like you link text frames, so the number pattern flowed between linked tables automatically but i don't think it can do that, so I had to just continue to apply the numbered table style and restart the count on the right days for each month and then go back in and manually enter the previous/next months days and give them a separate "lower opacity" style.

Is there really no easier way to achieve this? I really hope they add a calendar generator/wizard because this is so time consuming! 

 

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