Design Mode Inserting Rows in Table

Question

Can someone tell me why I need to go into Design mode to add rows to a table in Word 2013? I didn't think it required that in the past.

Thanks

Gordon

Answer 1

I can confirm that this behavior occurs, although what I see is a little different -- if the cursor is in a row that contains a locked content control, neither the Insert Row Above nor the Insert Row Below command does anything. It doesn't have to be content controls in two adjacent rows; the one selected row is enough.

Further, if I try to add the row in a macro, the Add command fails if the BeforeRow parameter is set to a row containing a locked content control (error 4198, "command failed").

The behavior is the same in Word 2007, 2010, and 2013, so I suspect it's "by design". The only workaround I can see involves temporarily turning off the "cannot be deleted" option in all content controls in the selected row, adding the new row, and turning the option on again. That would be easy to do in a macro, but definitely a PITA if you need to do it manually.

Thanks Jay. Rather than turning off Cannot be deleted, I'll enable Design mode when editing. I don't need to insert rows in VBA so it's not a big deal, it just threw me a bit when it happened.

Regards

Gordon

Answer 2

I can confirm that this behavior occurs, although what I see is a little different -- if the cursor is in a row that contains a locked content control, neither the Insert Row Above nor the Insert Row Below command does anything. It doesn't have to be content controls in two adjacent rows; the one selected row is enough.

Further, if I try to add the row in a macro, the Add command fails if the BeforeRow parameter is set to a row containing a locked content control (error 4198, "command failed").

The behavior is the same in Word 2007, 2010, and 2013, so I suspect it's "by design". The only workaround I can see involves temporarily turning off the "cannot be deleted" option in all content controls in the selected row, adding the new row, and turning the option on again. That would be easy to do in a macro, but definitely a PITA if you need to do it manually.

Answer 3

That should not be the case -- and it certainly isn't the case on any of my computers.

Do you see this in all documents, including new blank ones? If so, try closing Word and restarting it in Safe Mode by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking its icon. Does the problem still occur? If so, that points to either a bad add-in or a damaged Normal.dotm template. Follow the instructions at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541 (but try the Normal.dotm and add-in steps before any of the registry steps).

It happens on one document only as far as I can tell. The document has content controls in tables. I just tried to replicate the issue and found that if there is a content control on the row you have selected and the row below and those content controls have "Content control cannot be deleted" set, it won't allow insertion of rows. If either the row below or the selected row do not have content controls, you can insert rows.

It kind of make sense, but not really. We're not deleting the control and re-creating it.

Regards

Gordon

Answer 4

How are you trying to add the rows?

It can be done either via the Table Tools>Layout tab of the ribbon or by right clicking in a table cell and selecting Insert and then selecting either Insert Rows Above or Insert Rows Below, or if you are in the last cell of the last row of the table, pressing the Tab key will add another row.

None of this has changed from Office 2007, 2010

Answer 5

That should not be the case -- and it certainly isn't the case on any of my computers.

Do you see this in all documents, including new blank ones? If so, try closing Word and restarting it in Safe Mode by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking its icon. Does the problem still occur? If so, that points to either a bad add-in or a damaged Normal.dotm template. Follow the instructions at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541 (but try the Normal.dotm and add-in steps before any of the registry steps).