The fancy tricks one can to with Natural Tables seem to work within the body of the table where I don't need them but fail in the header area where I do need them. This example, takein from the wiki, works (of course.) \setupTABLE[row][odd][background=color,backgroundcolor=red, width=.2\textwidth] \bTABLE[split=yes] \bTR \bTD[nr=3] 1 \eTD \bTD[nc=2] 2/3 \eTD \bTD[nr=3] 4 \eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD 2 \eTD \bTD 3 \eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD 2 \eTD \bTD 3 \eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD[nc=3] 1/2/3 \eTD \bTD 4 \eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD 1 \eTD \bTD 2 \eTD \bTD 3 \eTD \bTD 4 \eTD \eTR \eTABLE But if I convert the above data items to header items the run fails. Specifically the following fails: \setupTABLE[row][odd][background=color,backgroundcolor=red, width=.2\textwidth] \bTABLE[split=yes] \bTABLEhead \bTR \bTH[nr=3] 1 \eTH \bTH[nc=2] 2/3 \eTH \bTH[nr=3] 4 \eTH \eTR \bTR \bTH 2 \eTH \bTH 3 \eTH \eTR \bTR \bTH 2 \eTH \bTH 3 \eTH \eTR \bTR \bTH[nc=3] 1/2/3 \eTH \bTH 4 \eTH \eTR \bTR \bTH 1 \eTH \bTH 2 \eTH \bTH 3 \eTH \bTH 4 \eTH \eTR \eTABlehead \eTABLE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What did I miss? Here is the error message: bTR \bTH [nr=3] 1 \eTH \bTH [nc=2] 2/3 \eTH \bTH [nr=3] 4 \eTH \eTR \ETC. ! File ended while scanning use of \doTABLEhead. <inserted text> \par <*> tabletest.tex emergencyend ? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- John Culleton Able Indexing and Typesetting Precision typesetting (tm) at reasonable cost. Satisfaction guaranteed. http://wexfordpress.com