How to stop EN from resizing tables?

[tavor 668]

I see two different table resizing behaviors in EN:

1. EN does not attempt to squeeze all the columns onto the screen/note window, and lets them run off, and you have to scroll to the right to see them.

2. EN resizes the columns to make them fit the note window, which renders columns very difficult to read. 

How do I get EN to default to behavior #1?

[CalS 5,280]

If you are comfortable messing with the table code in the note you can use a tool called ENML http://enml-editor.ping13.net/  to modify the note to a fixed width table which will give you 1 above.  Basically replace width:100%;table-layout:fixed with  table-layout:fixed;width:600px replacing 600 with whatever width you want for the table.  Then, the table width and columns will remain the same as long as you don't drag the right border of the table.  Sounds harder than it is.  Screen shots below.

 

 

[gazumped 11,666]

I'm lazy. I set up a table in Word and set the preferences there to a specific width (the options are % or pixels);  then copied and pasted the table to a template note and copied the template for new notes.  That seems pretty stable for me..

[CalS 5,280]

I did the same using the above to create templates (300, 600, 800 and 1000 px versions).  But on occasion I revisit a note with a table which was created pre whenever EN made the changes that modified table behavior, and I can't help myself, just need to fix it. 

[tavor 668]

13 hours ago, csihilling said:

If you are comfortable messing with the table code in the note you can use a tool called ENML http://enml-editor.ping13.net/  to modify the note to a fixed width table which will give you 1 above.  Basically replace width:100%;table-layout:fixed with  table-layout:fixed;width:600px replacing 600 with whatever width you want for the table.  Then, the table width and columns will remain the same as long as you don't drag the right border of the table.  Sounds harder than it is.  Screen shots below.

 

 

The table I have in mind is an expanding table with a wide leftmost column, and equally sized columns to the right of that first column. Those equally sized columns represent dates, so I add one each day. 

So for the two behaviors described in the OP, when I add a column to the first table, EN just pushes the rightmost column further off the screen, and does not resize columns to fit. This is the desired behavior. I didn't do anything in particular to get this result.

In the second table (in a different note), when I add a column, EN resizes all the columns. Undesired behavior.

Would your method of editing table code work for my use case? Or I suppose I could copy the first note with the desirable table behavior and populate the copied note with the data from the second note.

[CalS 5,280]

@tavor

Probably not, the above method works best for static width tables.  If you were to set up the table with all the columns to start it would work, though that doesn't sound like what you want to do. 

Copy and populate may be the way to go.  You could use ENML to see what the differences are in the table set up, but that may not be worth the effort.  Sorry I'm not of much more help on this.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

6 hours ago, tavor said:

The table I have in mind is an expanding table with a wide leftmost column, and equally sized columns to the right of that first column. Those equally sized columns represent dates, so I add one each day. 

So for the two behaviors described in the OP, when I add a column to the first table, EN just pushes the rightmost column further off the screen, and does not resize columns to fit. This is the desired behavior. I didn't do anything in particular to get this result.

As @gazumped suggested, try creating your tables in MS Word, and then copy the table and paste into Evernote.  I find this works very well, and gives me the most flexibility.

My preference is to create the Word table with "Size to fit content" for all columns.  This works for me 99% of the time.  Of course, after having set the table that way, you could set individual columns to a fixed size.

To facilitate this, you can create a "template" Note in Evernote, and attach one or more Word files that have table layouts you want to use.

[tavor 668]

9 hours ago, csihilling said:

@tavor

Probably not, the above method works best for static width tables.  If you were to set up the table with all the columns to start it would work, though that doesn't sound like what you want to do. 

Copy and populate may be the way to go.  You could use ENML to see what the differences are in the table set up, but that may not be worth the effort.  Sorry I'm not of much more help on this.

Copy and populate failed me The copied note's table behaves like the new note's table.

The (desired) first table was created in July 2015, which may have been before EN's table update release. The (undesired) second table was created after EN's table update release, so perhaps that's the difference. And I just tried inserting new columns into the (desired) first table (first time since EN's table update), and it is now behaving in the undesired fashion - it subdivides the column, so that the overall table doesn't get larger.

[tavor 668]

15 hours ago, gazumped said:

I'm lazy. I set up a table in Word and set the preferences there to a specific width (the options are % or pixels);  then copied and pasted the table to a template note and copied the template for new notes.  That seems pretty stable for me..

 

4 hours ago, JMichaelTX said:

As @gazumped suggested, try creating your tables in MS Word, and then copy the table and paste into Evernote.  I find this works very well, and gives me the most flexibility.

My preference is to create the Word table with "Size to fit content" for all columns.  This works for me 99% of the time.  Of course, after having set the table that way, you could set individual columns to a fixed size.

To facilitate this, you can create a "template" Note in Evernote, and attach one or more Word files that have table layouts you want to use.

Copying from Word doesn't do the trick either. Whether I do fixed or autofit to contents, once the table is copied into EN, adding columns splits the column from which a column is added. Then I have to resize those half-width columns, which just shrinks the adjacent column such that the entire table width remains the same and fits in the screen.

I want a table that grows larger in width as I add columns, and for columns that are added to be the same width as the column from which the add function as carried out. Must be a way...

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

15 minutes ago, tavor said:

Copying from Word doesn't do the trick either. Whether I do fixed or autofit to contents, once the table is copied into EN, adding columns splits the column from which a column is added. Then I have to resize those half-width columns, which just shrinks the adjacent column such that the entire table width remains the same and fits in the screen.

Maybe it's changed since I last used Word tables, or maybe EN Win is different from EN Mac.  Before you resize any columns after adding columns, just try typing into each column and see if it sizes correctly.  As soon as you resize the table and/or columns in Evernote, it overwrites the layout that came from Word.

[CalS 5,280]

30 minutes ago, tavor said:

Copy and populate failed me The copied note's table behaves like the new note's table.

The (desired) first table was created in July 2015, which may have been before EN's table update release. The (undesired) second table was created after EN's table update release, so perhaps that's the difference. And I just tried inserting new columns into the (desired) first table (first time since EN's table update), and it is now behaving in the undesired fashion - it subdivides the column, so that the overall table doesn't get larger.

Did you Copy to Notebook.... or copy/paste the table into a new note.  Not sure, but creating a duplicate note and then editing might work.  Obviously not if that's the way you did it the first time.  .

[tavor 668]

1 minute ago, csihilling said:

Did you Copy to Notebook.... or copy/paste the table into a new note.  Not sure, but creating a duplicate note and then editing might work.  Obviously not if that's the way you did it the first time.  .

Copy to notebook in order to duplicate the note.

[CalS 5,280]

Ah well, that's all I got, sorry.

[tavor 668]

20 minutes ago, JMichaelTX said:

Maybe it's changed since I last used Word tables, or maybe EN Win is different from EN Mac.  Before you resize any columns after adding columns, just try typing into each column and see if it sizes correctly.  As soon as you resize the table and/or columns in Evernote, it overwrites the layout that came from Word.

That worked!

When I first tried using tables from Word, as you presumed, I was adding columns and then immediately resizing. But I just now did as you suggested and added a column, then typed into the column, and EN is happily letting that column grow while NOT compressing adjacent columns, such that the table is extending beyond the screen. Perfect, thanks! 

Edit: So this is quite delicate. As you note, as soon as you resize a column, the entire table layout changes to EN's auto-resizing layout. Got to be careful with the mouse so I don't accidentally click when the resizing icon is displayed. And immediately undo if I slip.

Off to create a note in EN documenting this for future reference.