Help removing leading blank line before paragraph.run text in table cells

I have some code that outputs the below table.

The table contains data that is added using: add_paragraph().add_run('Some text here...')

The issue I am having is that each cell contains a leading blank line before text is inserted.

I have done some research and managed to find a few different approaches none of which have managed to resolve my issue.

_Among the things I have tried is:

1. Setting space_before and space_after to PT(0) Also found this post https://github.com/python-openxml/python-docx/issues/305 by @scanny and was able to print the xml values and they are set to zero both before and after.
2. Using the cell.text method does not include the leading blank line but removes the ability to control formatting such as bolding text. I tried different variations of adding the cell.text = ‘’ and then setting paragraph[0] to a run and then trying to set formatting but this either ended with no text being written to the table at all or none of the formatting such as bolding being recognized.
3. Also made an attempt at parsing the XML and using regex to set xml:space = preserve to default but this failed hard._

I would greatly appreciate any assistance anyone can offer with removing the leading blank lines.

The code that draws the table is below:

`document = report document.add_page_break() table = document.add_table(rows=14, cols=4) style = document.styles[‘Normal’] font = style.font table.width = ‘100%’ table.style = document.styles[‘GridTable4-Accent3’]

def set_column_width(column, width): column.width = width for cell in column.cells: cell.width = width set_column_width(table.columns[0], Inches(1.25)) set_column_width(table.columns[1], Inches(0.5)) set_column_width(table.columns[2], Inches(0.5)) set_column_width(table.columns[3], Inches(4.75))

font.name = ‘Calibri’ font.size = Pt(11) font.bold = False row = table.rows[2] row.height = Inches(0.75)

a = table.cell(0, 0) b = table.cell(0, 3) a.merge(b)

x = 3 while x < 14: a = table.cell(x, 0) b = table.cell(x, 3) a.merge(b) x = x + 1

if fields[2] == ‘WWWWW’: cell0color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“800000”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[0]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell0color) cell1color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“800000”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[1]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell1color) cell2color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“800000”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[2]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell2color) elif fields[2] == ‘XXXXX’: cell0color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“ff0000”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[0]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell0color) cell1color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“ff0000”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[1]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell1color) cell2color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“ff0000”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[2]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell2color) elif fields[2] == ‘YYYYY’: cell0color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“ffc000”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[0]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell0color) cell1color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“ffc000”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[1]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell1color) cell2color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“ffc000”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[2]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell2color) elif fields[2] == ‘ZZZZZ’: cell0color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“00b050”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[0]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell0color) cell1color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“00b050”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[1]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell1color) cell2color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“00b050”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[2]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell2color) else: cell0color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“00bfff”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[0]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell0color) cell1color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“00bfff”/>‘.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[1]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell1color) cell2color = parse_xml(r’<w:shd {} w:fill=“00bfff”/>'.format(nsdecls(‘w’))) table.rows[2].cells[2]._tc.get_or_add_tcPr().append(cell2color)

for table in report.tables: for row in table.rows: for cell in row.cells: for paragraph in cell.paragraphs: paragraph_format = paragraph.paragraph_format paragraph_format.space_before = Pt(0) paragraph_format.space_after = Pt(0)

row = table.rows[1].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Minor Header 1’) font = p.font font.small_caps = True font.size = Pt(10) font.bold = True font.color.rgb = RGBColor(204, 204, 204) p.alignment = WD_PARAGRAPH_ALIGNMENT.CENTER p.space_before = Inches(0) p = row[1].add_paragraph().add_run(‘MH 2’) font = p.font font.small_caps = True font.size = Pt(10) font.bold = True font.color.rgb = RGBColor(204, 204, 204) p.alignment = WD_PARAGRAPH_ALIGNMENT.CENTER p.space_before = Pt(0) p = row[2].add_paragraph().add_run(‘MH 3’) font = p.font font.small_caps = True font.size = Pt(10) font.bold = True font.color.rgb = RGBColor(204, 204, 204) p.alignment = WD_PARAGRAPH_ALIGNMENT.CENTER p.space_before = Pt(0) p = row[3].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Minor Header 4’) font = p.font font.small_caps = True font.size = Pt(10) font.bold = True font.color.rgb = RGBColor(204, 204, 204) p.alignment = WD_PARAGRAPH_ALIGNMENT.CENTER p.space_before = Pt(0)

row = table.rows[2].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Minor Header 1’) font = p.font font.size = Pt(12.5) font.bold = True font.color.rgb = RGBColor(255, 255, 255) p.alignment = WD_PARAGRAPH_ALIGNMENT.CENTER p.space_before = Pt(0) p = row[1].add_paragraph().add_run(‘MH 2’) font = p.font font.size = Pt(12.5) font.bold = True font.color.rgb = RGBColor(255, 255, 255) p.alignment = WD_PARAGRAPH_ALIGNMENT.CENTER p.space_before = Pt(0) p = row[2].add_paragraph().add_run(MH 3) font = p.font font.size = Pt(12.5) font.bold = True font.color.rgb = RGBColor(255, 255, 255) p.alignment = WD_PARAGRAPH_ALIGNMENT.CENTER p.space_before = Pt(0) p = row[3].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Minor Header 4’) p.base_style = ‘Heading2’ font = p.font font.size = Pt(12.5) font.bold = True font.color.rgb = RGBColor(0, 0, 0) p.alignment = WD_PARAGRAPH_ALIGNMENT.CENTER p.space_before = Pt(0)

row = table.rows[3].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Header’) font = p.font font.bold = True p.space_before = Pt(0) row = table.rows[4].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Data’) font = p.font font.bold = False row = table.rows[5].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Header’) font = p.font font.bold = True p.space_before = Pt(0) row = table.rows[6].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Data’) font = p.font font.bold = False row = table.rows[7].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Header’) font = p.font font.bold = True p.space_before = Pt(0) row = table.rows[8].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Data’) font = p.font font.bold = False row = table.rows[9].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Header’) font = p.font font.bold = True p.space_before = Pt(0) row = table.rows[10].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Data’) font = p.font font.bold = False row = table.rows[11].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Header’) font = p.font font.bold = True p.space_before = Pt(0) row = table.rows[12].cells p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Data’) font = p.font font.bold = False p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run() p.add_picture(‘Section Data’) p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Data’) font = p.font font.bold = False p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run() p.add_picture(‘Section Data’) p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Data’) font = p.font font.bold = False p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(‘Section Data’) p.add_picture((‘Section Data’) p = row[0].add_paragraph().add_run(’ ') font = p.font font.bold = False row = table.rows[13] row.cells[0].text = ‘’

for table in report.tables: for row in table.rows: for cell in row.cells: for paragraph in cell.paragraphs: # paragraph_format = document.styles[‘GridTable4-Accent3’].paragraph_format paragraph_format = paragraph.paragraph_format paragraph_format.space_before = Pt(0) paragraph_format.space_after = Pt(0)

document.save(report)`

[drkpasngr]

That worked! Really appreciate the help. Needed a bit of tweaking to still allow controlling formatting but leading blank lines no longer show up.

Code now looks like this:

row = table.rows[1].cells
para_text = 'Section Header'
cell = row[0]
pt = cell.paragraphs[0]
t = pt.text = ''
p = pt.add_run(para_text)
font = p.font
font.bold = True
p.space_before = Pt(0)

[scanny]

Unfortunately adding paragraphs to a table cell is not symmetric. A “new” table cell contains a single paragraph. Per the specification, it can not be completely empty. Consequently, the first paragraph must be populated in a different way then the second and later paragraphs; something like this:

para_text = sequence_of_lines_each_representing_a_paragraph = ('Foo', 'Bar', ...)
cell.paragraphs[0].text = para_text[0]
for text in para_text[1:]:
    cell.add_paragraph(text)