Documents
Data tables in a document
A table is the right block whenever the reader will compare values rather than read sentences. Rates, line items, schedules and specifications all belong in one, and prose about them does not.
Three kinds of row
A header row names the columns. Ordinary rows carry the values. A summary row carries the totals and is set apart so the eye finds it without hunting. Where a table is long, a section row can break it into groups, which is what turns forty undifferentiated rows into four readable blocks.
Columns of numbers align right
Money, quantities and percentages line up on their right edge so the digits stack and the eye can compare magnitudes down the column. Text aligns left. This is the single change that makes a rate table look professional, and getting it wrong is the single most common table mistake.
At a page break
A table that fits on one page is kept whole and moved down if it has to be. A table too tall for any page is split across the break rather than shrunk, and the parts stay in reading order. That means a long table does not force a half empty page above it, which is what happens in tools that refuse to split.
When not to use a table
Two values are not a table, they are a sentence or a pair of key values. A table with one column is a list. And a table used to lay out a page rather than to hold data will fight the theme, because it is styled as data. Use the container block for layout and the table for values.
How it works, in three steps
Step 1
Name the columns first
The column set is the design. Four to six columns is comfortable on A4.
Step 2
Right align the numbers
Money, quantities and percentages on the right, text on the left.
Step 3
Add a summary row if there is a total
A total buried as an ordinary row is a total nobody finds.
The full walkthrough with screenshots is in the guide Every document component and when to use it.
Limits worth knowing
- Tables hold values you write. They do not calculate totals for you.
- A table too tall for a page is split across the break rather than scaled down.
- Very wide tables are constrained by the A4 page, so keep the column count sensible.
See it on a finished piece
Questions people ask
Does the table add up my totals?
No. You write the values, including the total. The summary row exists to make the total findable, not to compute it.
What happens if a table runs past the bottom of a page?
If it could fit a page whole it moves down. If it is genuinely too tall it splits across the break in reading order.
How many columns can I use?
As many as fit an A4 page and stay readable, which in practice is about six.
Make your own document
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match yours, generate, then edit anything you like.
Create a document with OneCraftRelated pages
Table slides
A table earns its place on a slide when the audience will compare values rather than read sentences. The component is deliberately plain: a header band, rows, an optional bold first column, and widths you drag. Knowing its constraints is what stops you designing a table it cannot draw.
Document letterhead
A letterhead is the sender-identity band at the top of the first page. It belongs on documents that speak for somebody, and it is deliberately kept off the ones that do not.
QR code on a document
A QR code is the bridge between a printed page and something online. It earns its place only where a reader would genuinely scan: to pay, to book, to verify. Everywhere else it is a square of noise.
More finished work of this kind is on the document examples hub.