format of word tables from quarto

[KipBalkcom-USDA]

Discussed in #9650

^{Originally posted by KipBalkcom-USDA May 13, 2024}

Description

There appears to be a format change from the previous version of Quarto I was using (1.3.???) compared with the latest version (1.4.554). As suggested in the discussion, I removed the reference document and the cross reference label. The rendered table format is what I expected, but I obviously want to be able to use cross referencing the automatically number tables and I don't want to manually format the table captions. Hopefully, this issue can eventually be resolved.

Current software:
Windows 10
Quarto 1.4.554
Word Microsoft 365

current_behavior.docx

---
title: "Reproducible Table in Quarto"
engine: jupyter
format: docx 
---

```{python}
#| tbl-cap: Years and locations.
#| echo: FALSE

import pandas as pd
from tabulate import tabulate
from IPython.display import Markdown

# define values
field_ops = (pd.DataFrame({
    "Year": ['2020', '2021'],
    "Location": ["Loc1", "Loc2"]}))

Markdown(tabulate(
    field_ops, headers="keys", showindex=False, tablefmt="pipe"))

``` 

[cderv]

The new cross reference introduced in 1.4 is changing the way tables are structured in DOCX

Previously, it was a Table with a Paragraph Text of style Table Caption

The new rendering is I think a like the previous one but inserted in a on Row Table. So the Table will be inside another, and the Text above the table for the caption is of style Image Caption.

I believe this is done like this because all the cross referencable elements are built the same, and they now can be arbitrary in Quarto. See for example Custom Floats : https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/cross-references-custom.html

So I believe change is expected, though I don't know if we can adjust at least the styling to be Table Caption when #tbl- type is used. 🤔

[KipBalkcom-USDA]

I changed my reference document to indicate the table caption was an Image Caption. I did not have a problem with that, but the behavior is different from what I had been experiencing.

A table caption behaves as a figure caption now. Previously, no line numbers were available for a figure caption.

I understand now all the cross referenceable elements will behave similarly. This is not a deal breaker for me, but I was accustomed to one way and I was not expecting this change with the update.

Regardless, thank you for at least seeing if styling with Table Caption is possible with this new version.