Table and cell styles

A cell style formats one cell; a table style sits above it, choosing a cell style for each region of the table and drawing the table's borders, dividers and alternating fills.

In short <CellStyle> carries a cell's fill, its four edge strokes, its insets, vertical justification, rotation, diagonal lines and the paragraph style its text starts in. <TableStyle> names the cell style for each region (header rows, body rows, footer rows, the left and right columns) and carries the table's outer border, its row and column dividers and its alternating fills. A <Table> applies a table style with AppliedTableStyle, a <Cell> applies a cell style with AppliedCellStyle, and both style kinds inherit through BasedOn. For the table structure itself, see the tables chapter.

Where they live

Table styles sit under <RootTableStyleGroup> and cell styles under <RootCellStyleGroup>, both in Resources/Styles.xml. The built-ins are TableStyle/$ID/[No table style], TableStyle/$ID/[Basic Table] and CellStyle/$ID/[None]. As on every cascading style, InDesign writes BasedOn as a typed <Properties> child.

TableStyle

Attribute · TableStyle	Values	Paged	paged.set
BodyRegionCellStyle	CellStyle reference	read	tableStyleBodyRegionCellStyle
HeaderRegionCellStyle	CellStyle reference	read	tableStyleHeaderRegionCellStyle
FooterRegionCellStyle	ref	read	tableStyleFooterRegionCellStyle
LeftColumnRegionCellStyle	ref	read	tableStyleLeftColumnRegionCellStyle
RightColumnRegionCellStyle	ref	read	tableStyleRightColumnRegionCellStyle
TopBorderStrokeColor	Color / Swatch reference	read	tableStyleTopBorderStrokeColor
TopBorderStrokeWeight	length (pt)	read	tableStyleTopBorderStrokeWeight
TopBorderStrokeType	StrokeStyle reference	not read
StartRowFillColor	Color reference	read	tableStyleStartRowFillColor
StartRowFillCount	number (count)	read	tableStyleStartRowFillCount
EndRowFillColor	Swatch reference	read	tableStyleEndRowFillColor
StrokeOrder	BestJoins	not read

The region attributes are references to cell styles. A cell that does not apply a cell style of its own takes the one for its region. The border family has one set per edge (Top…, Bottom…, Left…, Right…), each with colour, weight, type, tint and gap colour. The alternating fills come in a start and an end phase, for rows (StartRowFill…, EndRowFill…) and for columns (StartColumnFill…, EndColumnFill…), with SkipFirstAlternatingFillRows and its siblings to leave the first or last rows out. The divider family (StartRowStroke…, EndRowStroke…, StartColumnStroke…, EndColumnStroke…) works the same way for the lines between rows and columns. StrokeOrder decides which line is on top where a row divider crosses a column divider.

In Paged: the region cell styles, the outer border's colours and weights, the alternating row and column fills and their skip counts resolve from a table style. The divider family and StrokeOrder are not read from the table style; the table's own divider attributes are, and row dividers paint over column dividers at a crossing. Supported · verified

CellStyle

Attribute · CellStyle	Values	Paged	paged.set
FillColor	Swatch reference	read	cellFillColor
FillTint	integer	not read
TopEdgeStrokeColor	Color / Swatch reference	read	cellTopEdgeStrokeColor
TopEdgeStrokeWeight	length (pt)	read	cellTopEdgeStrokeWeight
TopEdgeStrokeType	reference	read
TextTopInset	integer / real	not read
VerticalJustification	TopAlign | CenterAlign | BottomAlign | JustifyAlign	read	cellVerticalJustification
AppliedParagraphStyle	ParagraphStyle reference	not read

The edge family has one set per edge, as on the table style. The text insets (TextTopInset, TextLeftInset, TextBottomInset, TextRightInset) pad the cell's text from its edges. AppliedParagraphStyle gives the paragraph style for text typed into a cell that applies the style.

In Paged: a cell style's fill colour, edge colours, weights and stroke types, vertical justification and rotation resolve as the fallback for a cell that does not set them. Its fill tint, insets, AppliedParagraphStyle, diagonal lines and gap colours are not read; a cell's padding comes from the cell's own inset attributes. A cell's fill tint is not modelled at all, on the cell or on its style, so a tinted cell fill shows at 100 %.

Supported · verified

How a cell's formatting is built

For each attribute, a cell's value comes from the first of these that sets it:

1. the attribute on the <Cell> itself;
2. the cell style the cell applies, through its BasedOn chain;
3. the cell style the table style assigns to the cell's region.

The table's border and dividers are drawn from the <Table> element's own attributes first, then from its table style.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a table style and a cell style? A cell style formats a single cell: fill, edges, insets, alignment. A table style chooses a cell style for each region of the table and draws the table's own border, dividers and alternating fills.

How does a table style format different parts of a table? Through its region attributes: HeaderRegionCellStyle, BodyRegionCellStyle, FooterRegionCellStyle, LeftColumnRegionCellStyle and RightColumnRegionCellStyle each name the cell style for that part.

How do a table and a cell reference their styles? A <Table> uses AppliedTableStyle and a <Cell> uses AppliedCellStyle, each set to the style's Self id.

What does StrokeOrder do? It decides which line is drawn on top where a row divider and a column divider cross.