How to add more columns to one row relative to other rows in a table?

Question

I just simply add a row with more columns compared to other rows. I learned that there is \multicolumn command to span the columns but in my case if I use this command I need to repeat it so much time for the other rows. Is there any short cut for this. Another question, to take all this burden, do you know any table editor that works visually and end up a latex code?

Answer 1

You kind of seeing it upside down. Try to think of it this way: if some rows of your table contain more columns than other rows, than your other rows' columns are spanning multiple columns. That means that those columns will still have to have separators and blank contents.

As to editing, after writing several books, frankly I am convinced that editing tables by hand helps achieve the best results and distracts the least from writing the rest of the work. Perhaps that's due to the fact that I used longtables more often than not and there is no WYSIWIG tool that supports them to my knowledge.