✅ Manual Creation

Type a table using pipe characters (|) as column separators:

When you press Tab after entering content, the table auto-aligns.

✅ Table Creation Command

Press C-c | or use scimax.table.create to insert a table template.

You'll be prompted for the number of columns. If the clipboard holds table data (see Converting Text to Table), C-c | first offers to insert it as a table instead.

✅ Converting Text to Table

Select table data, then use C-c | to convert it to a table. With nothing selected, C-c | offers the clipboard when it holds table data (two or more lines with the same number of fields).

name,value a,1

leads to

Recognised formats, tried in this order:

When there are two or more rows, a rule is added under the first one (the header). Short rows are padded with empty cells, and a literal | in a cell is written as \vert{} (\| in Markdown) so it does not start a new column.

Moving Between Cells

Tab remembers which cell you were in before aligning, so it always moves to the next cell even when aligning shifts the cells along the line.

✅ Quick Navigation

✅ Adding/Removing Rows

✅ Adding/Removing Columns

Moving Rows/Columns

Moving a Single Cell

Move just the cell at the cursor, swapping it with the cell it displaces. The cursor follows the cell, so you can repeat the key to walk a value across the table.

Starting with the cursor on 15.00, C-M-up gives:

| Item     | Price |          | Item     | Price |
|----------+-------|          |----------+-------|
| Widget A | 10.00 |    →     | Widget A | 15.00 |
| Widget B | 15.00 |          | Widget B | 10.00 |

Notes:

• Vertical moves step over separator lines, so a cell can move into or out of a header row.

• The move stops at the table edges - it never wraps around.

• The table is realigned after each move, so column widths follow the content.

• Rows with fewer cells than the rest of the table are padded with empty cells so the swap lands in the right column.

✅ Separator Lines

Insert horizontal separator lines to divide table sections:

You can also type the shorthand |- on a line of its own. Aligning the table (Tab or C-c C-c) expands it to a full separator.

Example with separators:

| Item     | Price |
|----------+-------|
| Widget A | 10.00 |
| Widget B | 15.00 |
|----------+-------|
| Total    | 25.00 |

✅ Automatic Alignment

Tables auto-align when you press Tab. Press C-c C-c anywhere in a table to re-align it without moving (scimax.table.align). On a #+TBLFM: line, C-c C-c recalculates the formulas instead. Column widths adjust to fit content.

With descriptive links on (scimax.org.descriptiveLinks, the default), a cell is measured as it is displayed: [[target][desc]] counts as desc and [[target]] as target. The collapsed table then lines up on screen, as org-table-align does in Emacs, while the raw text has extra padding where links are.

As in org-mode, a line only has to start with | to be a table row. A row you are still typing (for example | new) belongs to the table, and aligning adds its missing cells and closing |.

✅ Column Width Specification

Specify fixed column widths using in a cell:

Text exceeding the width is truncated in display only, with a > marking cut cells; the file keeps the full text, as in Emacs. The line with the cursor is shown in full so you can edit it, and hovering a cut cell shows its content. Click the ⊞ Expand col N CodeLens above the cookie row to change <N> to <l> and realign the table at full width.

✅ Horizontal Alignment

Specify alignment using , , or :

Combine with width: for left-aligned, 10 characters wide.

Formula Line

Formulas are defined in a #+TBLFM: line below the table:

Cell References

Formula Syntax

Formulas use the syntax: targetexpression=

#+TBLFM: $4=$2*$3

This sets column 4 to the product of columns 2 and 3.

Multiple formulas separated by :::

#+TBLFM: $4=$2*$3::@>$4=vsum(@2$4..@-1$4)

Built-in Functions

Example:

Recalculating Formulas

Place your cursor on the #+TBLFM: line and press C-c C-c to apply all formulas.

Formula Examples

✅ Named Parameters and Constants

Named parameters let you use meaningful names instead of cell references.

#+CONSTANTS: pi=3.14159 e=2.71828 tax_rate=0.075

✅ Duration and Time Calculations

Tables can calculate with time/duration values in HH:MM or HH:MM:SS format.

✅ Remote Table References

Reference cells from other named tables in the document:

The remote(tablename, reference) function retrieves a value from another table named with #+NAME:.

✅ Formula Highlighting

Toggle formula highlighting to visualize which cells are affected by formulas:

When enabled:

• Green highlight: Cells that are targets of formulas (will be calculated)

• Blue highlight: Cells that are referenced in formulas (source values)

• Yellow highlight: The #+TBLFM line itself

✅ Format Specifiers

Control how formula results are displayed:

✅ Importing Tables

Import data from the clipboard or a file. Both understand the formats in Converting Text to Table.

The file command prompts for a .csv, .tsv or .txt file.

Exporting Tables

Export formats:

• CSV (comma-separated values)

• TSV (tab-separated values)

• Other delimited formats

✅ Sorting

Sorting options:

• Alphabetic (A-Z or Z-A)

• Numeric (ascending or descending)

✅ HTML Export

Tables export as HTML <table> elements with proper styling.

✅ LaTeX Export

Tables export as LaTeX tabular environments:

\begin{tabular}{llr}
Name & Age & City \\
\hline
Alice & 30 & New York \\
Bob & 25 & Boston \\
\end{tabular}

✅ Markdown Export

Tables export in GitHub-flavored Markdown format:

| Name  | Age | City     |
|-------|-----|----------|
| Alice | 30  | New York |
| Bob   | 25  | Boston   |

✅ Table Design

1. Use headers - Always include a header row with column names

2. Add separators - Use |---| lines to separate headers from data

3. Align numbers right - Numeric columns are easier to read right-aligned

4. Keep columns focused - One type of data per column

✅ Formula Organization

1. Comment complex formulas - Add explanations for non-obvious calculations

2. Build incrementally - Test formulas one at a time

3. Use named tables - For tables referenced elsewhere

✅ Large Tables

For large datasets:

1. Consider using source blocks with pandas/R for complex analysis

2. Import data rather than typing manually

3. Export results to tables for presentation

Keybindings

Commands