Vertically align multirow in tabularx environment

Question

I'am trying to align the first multirow column vertically centered. Unfortunately multirow does not determine the actual height. Instead it aligns the multirow it based on the height of three single lined rows. Here is a small example which demonstrates the problem. Any ideas how to solve this issue?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx, multirow, blindtext}

\begin{document}
  \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{cX}
    \multirow{3}{*}{C} & \blindtext \\
                       & \blindtext \\
                       & \blindtext \\
   \end{tabularx}
\end{document}

Answer 1

Perhaps you over-simplified the setup. However, here's an easy way to obtain the vertical alignment:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx, blindtext}

\begin{document}

\noindent
\makebox[3em]{C}%
\begin{tabularx}{\dimexpr\linewidth-3em}{X}
  \blindtext \\
  \blindtext \\
  \blindtext
\end{tabularx}
\end{document}

The above uses the fact that a tabular-like construction is always centred vertically with respect to the surrounding content, but also assumes the following:

• you don't want to break the table across the page boundary (this assumption holds since you're using tabularx);

• you specify some manual width for the first "column" (although this could also be overcome using some box calculation, if needed);

• you don't use multi-line stuff in the first "column" (again, this can also be overcome by using a \parbox, say).

Answer 2

See

http://chat.stackexchange.com/search?q=multirow&user=11727&room=41

for thoughts on multirow alignment, but if you really want to centre the C you can use \raisebox to lower it by half the distance between the first and last baselines:

(This takes two passes of latex)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx,blindtext}

\makeatletter
\def\z#1{%
\pdfsavepos\write\@auxout{\global\noexpand\@namedef{pos@#1}{\the\pdflastypos}}}

\def\pos@start{0}
\def\pos@end{0}
\begin{document}


\noindent
  \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{cX}
    C & \blindtext \\
                       & \blindtext \\
                       & \blindtext \\
   \end{tabularx}


\noindent
  \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{cX}
    \smash{\raisebox{0.5\dimexpr
\pos@end sp - \pos@start sp
\relax}{C}} & \z{start}\blindtext \\
                       & \blindtext \\
                       & \blindtext\z{end} \\
   \end{tabularx}




\end{document}

Answer 3

You have to count the exact number of lines of the adjacent cells. By default, multirow seems to suppose adjacent cells are one-lined.

Anoher solution (if you use the Xspecifier in true life) can be to not use multirow, and redefine the X specifier as an m column type:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx, multirow, blindtext}


\begin{document}

  \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{cX}
    \multirow{33}{*}{C} & \blindtext \\
                       & \blindtext \\
                       & \blindtext \\
   \end{tabularx}

{\renewcommand{\tabularxcolumn}[1]{m{#1}}
 \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{cX}
    & \blindtext \\
     Q & \blindtext \\
    & \blindtext \\
   \end{tabularx}}
\end{document}