Ignore particular tabular cell height and simple overflow its content (like \multirow)

Question

I want latex to ignore the height of a tabular cell and to overflow its content to the above and below tabular cell (see image - red arrows). First I tried \multirow but this doesn't align the text on the left side in the right way.

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{adjustbox}
\usepackage{multirow}

\begin{document}

%%- Cropped Image
\newcommand{\croppedimg}[1]%
{%
\adjustbox{valign=c}{\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth,clip=true,trim=90pt 60pt 50pt 140pt]{#1}}%
}%


\begin{minipage}[t]{13cm}

\begin{tabular}{p{0.008\linewidth}p{0.008\linewidth}p{0.008\linewidth}p{0.4\linewidth}p{0.4\linewidth}}
    %-- multirow solution does not work right... dont know why.
    %& \multirow{3}{*}{\rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Property Text 1 large}} &  & %
    %
    %-- solution without multirow but now the table row hight grows with it's inner elements
    & & &
    Caption A:\newline Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text & %
    Caption B:\newline Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text \\
    %%
    & \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Property Text 1 large} %
    & \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Unit 1 Text} & \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
    %%
      \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Property Text 2} & %
    & \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Unit 2 Text} & \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
    %%
    & \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Property Text 3} %    
    & \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Unit 3 Text} & \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
    %%    
      \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Property Text 4 large} & %
    & \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Unit 4 Text} & \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
 & & & \vspace{1cm} & \vspace{1cm}
\end{tabular}
\end{minipage} 

\end{document}

I think I need something like the HTML-CSS command "position:absolute" for the "property-text-1-large" cell so that the outer tabular element does not grow with this inner content size. I know this is not a good solution but I think it will be the simplest?

so the result should look like this

Thanks very much

Answer 1

If you really don't care about how the output looks, you can use \clap, which is a variant of \llap and \rlap defined in this TUGboat article to be:

\def\clap#1{\hbox to 0pt{\hss#1\hss}}

Put that definition in the preamble (or load the mathtools package which also defines it) and then enclose any text to be overlapped like so:

\clap{Property Text 1 large}

Warning: This performs absolutely no checks to make sure other nearby text is not overprinted. Use with care!

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage[demo]{graphicx} % added demo because I don't have your images
\usepackage{adjustbox}
\usepackage{multirow}

\def\clap#1{\hbox to 0pt{\hss#1\hss}}

\begin{document}
%%- Cropped Image
\newcommand{\croppedimg}[1]%
{%                                                      v-- also added `height' option to force spacing gaps
\adjustbox{valign=c}{\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth,height=0.5\linewidth,clip=true,trim=90pt 60pt 50pt 140pt]{#1}}%
}%

\begin{minipage}[t]{13cm}
\begin{tabular}{p{0.008\linewidth}p{0.008\linewidth}p{0.008\linewidth}p{0.4\linewidth}p{0.4\linewidth}}
    %-- multirow solution does not work right... dont know why.
    %& \multirow{3}{*}{\rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Property Text 1 large}} &  & %
    %
    %-- solution without multirow but now the table row hight grows with it's inner elements
    & & &
    Caption A:\newline Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text & %
    Caption B:\newline Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text \\
    %%
    & \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{\clap{Property Text 1 large}} %
    & \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Unit 1 Text} & \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
    %%
      \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Property Text 2} & %
    & \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{Unit 2 Text} & \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
 & & & \vspace{1cm} & \vspace{1cm}
\end{tabular}
\end{minipage} 
\end{document}

Answer 2

If you don't mind adding automatically (when necessary) some vertical space between the rows of images, here is a solution that uses a simpler code (just 3 columns): I define a \verticaltext command, within a right-aligned column:

\documentclass[draft]{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{adjustbox}

\newcommand\verticaltext[1]{ \rotatebox[origin=c]{90}{\begin{tabular}{c}#1 \end{tabular}}}


\begin{document}

%%- Cropped Image
\newcommand{\croppedimg}[1]%
{%
\adjustbox{valign=c}{\includegraphics[width=1\linewidth,clip=true,trim=90pt 60pt 50pt 140pt, height =2.5cm]{#1}}%
}%
\begin{minipage}[t]{13cm}

\begin{tabular}{rp{0.4\linewidth}p{0.4\linewidth}}
 &
Caption A:\newline Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text & %
Caption B:\newline Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text \\[-3ex]
%%
\verticaltext{Property Text 1 large \\Unit 1 Text}& \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
%%
\verticaltext{Property Text 2 \\Unit 2 Text} & \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
%%
\verticaltext{Property Text 3\\ Unit 3 Text}& \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
%%
\verticaltext{Property Text 4 large \\Unit 4 Text} & \croppedimg{black.png} & \croppedimg{black.png} \\
  & \vspace{1cm} & \vspace{1cm}
\end{tabular}
\end{minipage}

\end{document}