NOTE: NEW FIX AVAILABLE HERE: http://www.funkytower.com/2008/09/22/dreamweaver-mx-and-vista-fix-insert-tables-best-fix/

If you’ve upgraded to Windows Vista and have installed your old Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, you are bound to  run into some compatibility issues.  For many web designers, using tables is a huge asset for designing a web page.  Though you can do many of the same things using <div>, tables is fairly easy to use.  The only problem is, Dreamweaver MX and Vista = no inserting tables.  Is there a fix to this problem?  Why, yes there is.

Though, not the fix one would hope for, if you want to use the Insert>Table function in Dreamweaver MX on Vista, this tutorial will help you to use the function.  The only minor setback is this: you won’t be able to customize your table until after it is inserted into your document.  Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.  So if you’re ready to get SOME functionality into your software, here’s what you do:

1.  Locate the Tables.htm file located in the configuration folder of the program root.  This can be one of two places in Vista.

Try first THIS location:
C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX\Configuration\Objects\Common

If there is no Table.htm document in this folder, try this location:
C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX\Configuration\Objects\Common

In some cases, there will be a Table.htm file in BOTH folders.  If that is the case, do the following steps 2-5 to bothfiles to be sure – OR – you can delete the Table.htm in the first folder location mentioned above – I deleted mine and this method still worked fine.

2.  Make a backup copy of the Table.htm file and save it somewhere like your desktop.  You can do this simply by right-clicking the document, then click copy, right click on your desktop, and click paste.

3.  Return to the original Table.htm file and open it in notepad

4.  This file is probably empty, but if not, delete all code within it.  Now, type a basic table code inside the document like this

<table width=”100″ height=”50″ border=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″><tr>
<td align=”center” valign=”top”>
<div align=”center”></div></td></tr></table>

You may change the dimensions and text alignment in this table to a size more suitable.  Choosing low width/height dimensions usually work best for me.

5.  Click File>Save, and then close the document.

6.  Open up Dreamweaver MX and test it.  When clicking Insert>Table, a table matching the table you coded in the Table.htm file should appear.  You can customize the dimensions of this table as you would normally after inserting it into your document.

There you have it!  Though not a perfect fix, it certainly is an alternative so that you may continue using Dreamweaver MX until you upgrade to Dreamweaver CS3.  This definately worked for me, and it should definately work for you.

What Do You Think?
Did this help you?  Did this method, for some reason, not work for you?  Have any other tips or tricks regarding Dreamweaver MX+?  Let me know!  I would love to hear about it!  Leave a comment or kindly send your thoughts to david@funkytower.com – I would love to share your ideas with the world!  I hope to hear from you all soon

Take it easy,
David Crandall

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 6:25 pm and is filed under Software, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.