How to Manage a Table as an Anchored Object in Adobe InDesign

In Adobe InDesign, tables are always anchored objects within a text frame, and they can be anchored before or after regular body text. An anchored object is basically any kind of frame within a text frame, which means typography options like text alignment and paragraph spacing can be applied to the object. In many cases, it's easier to format the table first, then anchor it in the text frame where it belongs.

1. Using the Type Tool, select the entire table and copy it. (Hint: With the cursor insert in the table text, hover over the top left corner of the table so that the cursor changes to a diagonal arrow, then click to select the entire table.)
   


2. Insert your text cursor in the text frame where the table is to be anchored and paste the table. If you look closely after pasting, you'll see a tall cursor blinking at the right edge of the anchored table. You could even drag back over the table to highlight it as you would text.
   


3. Type formatting can now be applied. In the example shown, the alignment has been set to center and additional space before has been applied.