Using Mellel's Tables with Hebrew Text

Though I know many who have tried and found it wanting, I love Mellel. I declare it THE word processor for mac––and almost necessary if you're doing language work that is RTL (right-to-left), like biblical Hebrew.

Some friends don't like Mellel because it's quite a bit simpler than what they might be used to with Microsoft Word. But the simplicity is the thing that I like most about THE word processor: You're in control.

But there is one area where the simplicity is somewhat limiting: tables. Mellel doesn't offer as many controls with tables as does Microsoft Word, but the ease of use with RTL and the fact that I need to use tables from time to time when using Mellel for my academic work means that I've learned a thing or three about how to make it work.

And, because @ps_byrd recently asked if I had any tips on how I use Mellel to work with Hebrew text, I thought I'd provide a brief step-by-step.


How I use Mellel for doing Hebrew work:

1.) Grab my passage from Logos. ("Copy"or "Export" functions.)

2.) Copy that passage into a spreadsheet program. (I use Excel, but I think that OpenOffice and maybe even Google Docs will do the necessary tasks with right-to-left Hebrew text.) I do this because this copy/paste puts all of the verses of biblical text into their own cell. A simple copy/paste into Mellel puts all of the verses into one cell. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1

3.) Manipulate the cells so that I have a column for chapter and a column for verse. This manipulation is much easier in the spreadsheet program with the drag/autofill feature. I also like for my chapter and verse to be on the RIGHT side of the text, so I move them there. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2

4.) Copy and paste the cells from the spreadsheet into Mellel. Don't paste them into a table, just directly into the document. Also, you'll probably want to change the page properties to landscape, lose any header/footer/page #s. (Use the "Page" palette for this.)

5.) I add two columns to the right and change their sizes. I use these columns to keep track of parsing, vocabulary, or translations and notes. I change the font of the whole table in Mellel to a custom made style set where Times New Roman is the main font and SBLBibLit is the secondary font for the secondary language input, Hebrew. Then I'm ready to roll. You could use footnotes (or endnotes) to make these sorts of notes, too. (See Figure 3.)

Figure 3

Questions? I'd love to hear them.