30.13.3 Table Recognition

Table mode maintains special text properties in the buffer to allow editing in a convenient fashion. When a buffer with tables is saved to its file, these text properties are lost, so when you visit this file again later, Emacs does not see a table, but just formatted text. To resurrect the table text properties, issue the M-x table-recognize command. It scans the current buffer, recognizes valid table cells, and attaches appropriate text properties to allow for table editing. The converse command, table-unrecognize, is used to remove the special text properties and convert the buffer back to plain text.

Special commands exist to enable or disable tables within a region, enable or disable individual tables, and enable/disable individual cells. These commands are:

M-x table-recognize-region

Recognize tables within the current region and activate them.

M-x table-unrecognize-region

Deactivate tables within the current region.

M-x table-recognize-table

Recognize the table under point and activate it.

M-x table-unrecognize-table

Deactivate the table under point.

M-x table-recognize-cell

Recognize the cell under point and activate it.

M-x table-unrecognize-cell

Deactivate the cell under point.

For another way of converting text into tables, see Table Conversion.