Text overflows in multirow table

Question

I have a table with four columns. The problem is:

The text overflows in the third and fourth column as shown in below image. These columns contains dense text.
The text should be within table.

I tried by searching the existing answers (1,2), but most of them are using p{width} column type. This method is not working with multirow situation.

Desired table:

Here is an example to illustrate the problem:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[H]
\caption{}
\label{tab:my-table}
\resizebox{\textwidth}{!}{%
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|l|}
\hline
\textbf{Research group} & \textbf{Ref} & \textbf{Common attributes} & \textbf{features noted} \\ \hline
(Yasir et al., 2020) &
  [1] &
  \multirow{9}{*}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}l@{}}1) blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\\ ---------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ -------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ ------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ \\ \\ 2). blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\\ ---------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ -------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ ------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ \\ \\ 3)- blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\\ ---------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ -------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ -----------------------------------------------------\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\\ \\ ---------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ -------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ ------------------------------------------------------\end{tabular}} &
  \multirow{9}{*}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}l@{}}1).blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\\ \\ ---------------------------------------------------------\\ -------------------------------------------------------\\ ------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ 2). blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\\ \\ ---------------------------------------------------------\\ -------------------------------------------------------\\ ------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ \\ 3).blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\\ \\ ---------------------------------------------------------\\ -------------------------------------------------------\\ -----------------------------------------------------\\ \\ \\ \\ 4). blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\\ ---------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ ------------------------------------------------------\\ \\ ------------------------------------------------------\end{tabular}} \\ \cline{1-2}
(Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \\ \cline{1-2}
(Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \\ \cline{1-2}
(Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \\ \cline{1-2}
(Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \\ \cline{1-2}
(Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \\ \cline{1-2}
(Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \\ \cline{1-2}
(Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \\ \cline{1-2}
(Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \\ \hline
\end{tabular}%
}
\end{table}
\end{document}

its not working for me. Do you have working solution with p? — Case Msee, Jan 11 '22 at 04:31
Please see the answer I just posted. Incidentally, statements such as "it's not working for me" are not actionable. What exactly isn't working? Do you get error and or warning messages? If so, what do these messages say? — Mico, Jan 11 '22 at 04:41
A \multirow in a p{} column should use {=} as its width, not {*}. — Pieter van Oostrum, Jan 11 '22 at 10:03

Imran · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-11T07:29:21.783

From your desired table, I think you may want something like this.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularray}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\UseTblrLibrary{booktabs}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\caption{}
\label{tab:my-table}
    \begin{tblr}{
        width = \textwidth,
        stretch = 1.5,
        colspec={X[0.5,m] Q[c,m] *{2}{X[m]}},
        row{1} = {font=\bfseries},
        vspan = even
    }
        \toprule
        Research group & Ref & Common attributes & features noted \\midrule
        (Yasir et al., 2020)   & [1]          &
          \SetCell[r=3]{halign=l, valign=h} \lipsum[1][1-2]
          &
          \SetCell[r=3]{halign=l, valign=h} \lipsum[1][1-2]\
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \ \midrule
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &
          \SetCell[r=2]{halign=l, valign=h} \lipsum[1][1-2]
          &
          \SetCell[r=2]{halign=l, valign=h} \lipsum[1][1-2]\
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \ \midrule
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &
          \SetCell[r=2]{halign=l, valign=h} \lipsum[1][1-2]
          &
          \SetCell[r=2]{halign=l, valign=h} \lipsum[1][1-2]\
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \ \midrule
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &
          \SetCell[r=2]{halign=l, valign=h} \lipsum[1][1-2]
          &
          \SetCell[r=2]{halign=l, valign=h} \lipsum[1][1-2]\
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1]          &                            &                         \
        \bottomrule
    \end{tblr}%
\end{table}
\end{document}

Edit (according to OP's comment): A table with lists using Ulrike Fischer's answer here.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularray}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\UseTblrLibrary{booktabs}
%to remove space from top of the list
\makeatletter
\newcommand\novspace{@minipagetrue}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\caption{}
\label{tab:my-table}
    \begin{tblr}{
        width = \textwidth,
        stretch = 1.5,
        % vlines, %uncomment if you want vertical lines
        colspec={X[0.5,m] Q[c,m] {2}{X[c,m]}},
        row{1} = {font=\bfseries},
        vspan = even
    }
        \toprule
        Research group & Ref & Common attributes & features noted \\midrule
        (Yasir et al., 2020)   & [1]          &
          \SetCell[r=9]{halign=l, valign=h} 
          \parbox[t]{\linewidth}{\novspace %to remove space from the bottom of the list
          \begin{itemize}[leftmargin=]
              \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
              \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
              \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
              \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
          \end{itemize}}
          &
          \SetCell[r=9]{halign=l, valign=h} 
          \parbox[t]{\linewidth}{\novspace
          \begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*]
              \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
              \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
              \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
              \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
          \end{itemize}}\\cmidrule{1-2}
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1] & & \\cmidrule{1-2}
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1] & & \\cmidrule{1-2} 
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1] & & \\cmidrule{1-2}
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1] & & \\cmidrule{1-2}
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1] & & \\cmidrule{1-2}
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1] & & \\cmidrule{1-2}
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1] & & \\cmidrule{1-2}
        (Yasir et al., 2020)    & [1] & & \\bottomrule
    \end{tblr}%
\end{table}
\end{document}

The third and fourth colomn should not have horizontal lines, rather merged into single row which contain text in bullets. Howver first two colmns should have the horizontal lines along the row as shown in desired image in question. — Case Msee, Jan 11 '22 at 06:44

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 11 '22 at 08:38

A small variation of the @Imran answer (+1):

for list settings is employed etoolbox
no parbox
used are vertical lines (as you show in question)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=25mm]{geometry}              % new
\usepackage[skip=1ex, 
            font=small, labelfont=bf]{caption}  % new
\usepackage{tabularray}
\UseTblrLibrary{varwidth}                       % new
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage{etoolbox}                           % new
\AtBeginEnvironment{table}%                     % new
{
\setlist[itemize]{label=\textbullet,
                  wide,
                  after=\end{minipage},

                  before=\begin{minipage}[t]{\linewidth} 
                    }
}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
    \begin{table}[ht]
    \caption{}
    \label{tab:my-table}
\begin{tblr}{hlines, vlines,
             colspec={X[0.5,l] c X[h, j] X[h, j]},
             colsep = 4pt,
             row{1} = {font=\small\bfseries},
             measure = vbox,
             vspan =even
             }
Research group

    & Ref.  & Common attributes
                & Features noted        \
(Yasir et al., 2020) 
    & [1]   & \SetCell[r=9] {j}
                \begin{itemize}
            \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
            \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
            \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
            \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
                \end{itemize}
                & \SetCell[r=9] {j}
                    \begin{itemize}
                \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
                \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
                \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
                \item \lipsum[1][1-3]
                    \end{itemize} \
(Yasir et al., 2020)

    & [2]   &   &                   \
(Yasir et al., 2020)

    & [3]   &   &                   \
(Yasir et al., 2020)

    & [4]   &   &                   \
(Yasir et al., 2020)

    & [5]   &   &                   \
(Yasir et al., 2020)

    & [6]   &   &                   \
(Yasir et al., 2020)

    & [7]   &   &                   \
(Yasir et al., 2020)

    & [8]   &   &                   \
(Yasir et al., 2020)

    & [9]   &   &                   \
\end{tblr}%
    \end{table}
\end{document}

Text overflows in multirow table

2 Answers2