Emacs has native support for tables but org mode makes using tables a breeze. This will be a quick primer for org-mode tables.

org-mode must be enabled in your buffer for the remainder of the post. Tables can be accessed without org-mode but have a few more extra steps.

Setting up a Table

A table can be created in any of the following ways

  1. Start typing with | followed by a column name and another |, press TAB. org-mode will auto-detect this to be a table
  2. C-c | will create a templated table with number of columns of your choice

Creating a new row

Just go to the last column, press tab before the last |

Creating a new column

Just go to the last column, press tab after the last |

Create separator between two rows

Type |- and tab, see the magic

Insert a new row or column

  • S-M-<right> Shift + Alt + right arrow within a cell, will create a column to the left of the cell
  • S-M-<up> Shift + Alt + down arrow within a cell, will create a row above the current cell

Play around with S-M-<left> and S-M-<down> as well

Enter data

Type your entry after | and press tab and see the column auto - adjust magically

Sample Table

| column 1 | column 2 | column 3 |
|----------+----------+----------|
| row 1    | row 2    | row 3    |

References