L.1.5.9 Vertically Merged Cells

Although the previous examples might have implied that tables have strict definition of rows, table cells can also be merged vertically. The tcPr element can contain the vMerge element that defines the extent of vertically merged grid columns within a table. A vMerge element with its val attribute set to restart marks the start of a vertically merged cell range. A vMerge element with the val attribute set to continue (the default value) marks the continuation of a vertically merged grid column. Cells between the first and last merged cell that are part of the vertical merge each must have a vMerge element to continue the vertical merge.

For example, consider a table with two rows and two columns:

First cell, first row

Last cell, first row

First cell, second row

Last cell, second row

Merging the two rows in the second column results in the following table:

First cell, first row

First cell, second row

Last cell, first row Last cell, second row

it, resulting in the

The last cell in the first row starts a merge that is completed in the cell below following WordprocessingML:

<w:tr>
  <w:tc>
    <w:p>
      <w:r>
        <w:t>First cell, first row</w:t>
      </w:r>
    </w:p>
  </w:tc>
  <w:tc>
    <w:tcPr>
      <w:vMerge w:val="restart"/>
    </w:tcPr>
    <w:p>
      <w:r>
        <w:t>Last cell, first row</w:t>
      </w:r>
    </w:p>
    <w:p>
      <w:r>
        <w:t>Last cell, second row</w:t>
      </w:r>
    </w:p>
  </w:tc>
</w:tr>
<w:tr>
  <w:tc>
    <w:p>
      <w:r>
        <w:t>First cell, second row</w:t>
      </w:r>
    </w:p>
  </w:tc>
  <w:tc>
    <w:tcPr>
      <w:vMerge/>
    </w:tcPr>
    <w:p/>
  </w:tc>
</w:tr>

As shown, the vMerge with a value of restart begins (or restarts) a merged region, and the cell with no value is merged with the one above.