R Markdown: How to format tables and figures in .docx files

小鱼儿 2022-07-17 01:52 7阅读 0赞

In research, we usually publish the most important findings in tables and figures. When writing research papers using Rmarkdown (\*.Rmd), we have several options to format the output of the final MS Word document (.docx).

Tables can be formated using either the ***knitr*** package’s `kable()`function or several functions of the ***pander*** package.

Figure sizes can be determined in the [chunk options][], e.g. `{r name_of_chunk, fig.height=8, fig.width=12}`.

However, options for customizing tables and figures are rather limited in Rmarkdown. Thus, I usually customize tables and figures in the final MS Word document.

In this blog post, I show how to quickly format tables and figures in the final MS Word document using a *[macro][]*). MS Word macros are written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) and can be accessed from a menu list or from the tool bar and run by simply clicking. There are loads of tutorials explaining how to write a macro for MS Word, e.g Usman Javaid’s [Create Macros In Word 2010][].

The following two macros are very helpful to format drafts. Since I want drafts to be as compact as possible, tables and figures should not to be too space consuming.

The first macro called *FormatTables* customizes the format of **all**tables of the active MS Word document. With`wdTableFormatGrid2`, we use a table style predefined in MS Word. A list of other table styles can be found under the following [link][]. Furthermore, we define font name (*Arial*) and font size (*8 pt*), space before (*6 pt*) and after (*10 pt*) the table. Finally, the row height is set to *18 pt* exactly.

Sub FormatTables()
    
     Dim tbl As Table
        For Each tbl In ActiveDocument.Tables
             tbl.AutoFormat wdTableFormatGrid2
             tbl.Range.Font.Name = "Arial"
             tbl.Range.Font.Size = 8
             tbl.Range.ParagraphFormat.SpaceBefore = 6
             tbl.Range.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter = 10
             tbl.Range.Cells.SetHeight RowHeight:=18, HeightRule:=wdRowHeightExactly
    
        Next
    
    End Sub

The second macro called *FormatFigures* merely reduces the size of**all** figures in the active MS Word document to *45%* of its original size.

Sub FormatFigures()
    
    Dim shp As InlineShape
    
    
    For Each shp In ActiveDocument.InlineShapes
        shp.ScaleHeight = 45
        shp.ScaleWidth = 45
    Next
    
    End Sub

I hope you find this post useful and If you have any question please post a comment below. You are welcome to visit my personal blog[Scripts and Statistics][] for more R tutorials.

**Related Post**

1.  [R Markdown: How to insert page breaks in a MS Word document][R Markdown_ How to insert page breaks in a MS Word document]
2.  [Working on Data-Warehouse (SQL) with R][Working on Data-Warehouse _SQL_ with R]
3.  [Implementing Apriori Algorithm in R][]
4.  [Handling missing data with MICE package; a simple approach][Handling missing data with MICE package_ a simple approach]
5.  [Best packages for data manipulation in R][]

[chunk options]: http://yihui.name/knitr/options/#chunk_options
[macro]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro_%28computer_science
[Create Macros In Word 2010]: http://www.addictivetips.com/microsoft-office/create-macros-in-word-2010/
[link]: http://is.gd/Jk2FH9
[Scripts and Statistics]: https://scriptsandstatistics.wordpress.com/
[R Markdown_ How to insert page breaks in a MS Word document]: http://datascienceplus.com/r-markdown-how-to-insert-page-breaks-in-a-ms-word-document/
[Working on Data-Warehouse _SQL_ with R]: http://datascienceplus.com/working-on-data-warehouse-sql-with-r/
[Implementing Apriori Algorithm in R]: http://datascienceplus.com/implementing-apriori-algorithm-in-r/
[Handling missing data with MICE package_ a simple approach]: http://datascienceplus.com/handling-missing-data-with-mice-package-a-simple-approach/
[Best packages for data manipulation in R]: http://datascienceplus.com/best-packages-for-data-manipulation-in-r/