§4.3

Cross-Page Tables

A table continues on the next page—merge it or keep each fragment?

✅ NormativeSettled. The requirement holds as written.📚 Document ruleNeeds other pages of the same document; decided once and applied on every page.Read §4.3 in the RFC ↗

The requirement

A table that runs across a page break MUST be rendered as one fragment per page, each on its own page, complete and exactly as that page prints it. Fragments MUST NOT be joined. In the sidecar, each fragment MUST carry two continuation flags — continues from the previous page and continues onto the next page — decided at document level, from the pages on both sides of the break.

When it applies

A table runs off the bottom of one page and picks up on the next, sometimes with the headers repeated, sometimes not, sometimes with "(continued)" in the title.

Sketch of the printed page — layout, not output

── page 12 ──                    ── page 13 ──
| State | Rate |                 | State | Rate |   ← header repeated
| AL    | 1.10 |                 | MT    | 0.95 |     (sometimes it isn't)
| …     | …    |                 | …     | …    |

Reading the examples. Each one pairs a source page with the output the rule expects. ✅ Sample: the rule applies. ❌ Counter-sample: it looks like it applies and does not, or a rendering got it wrong. A non-conforming output, in red, is shown only for contrast. … marks content left out of an excerpt.

Fragments stay on their pages

Rows from two pages MUST NOT be merged into one table, unless a join is requested under Output Options (§3.5).
A header from one page MUST NOT be copied onto another page's fragment. What is printed on a page is what that page's fragment holds (never invent).
A cell cut by the page break MUST end at the page boundary; the next page's fragment holds only the text visible there. Missing labels or values MUST NOT be repeated to complete either half.
A printed continuation marker such as (continued) is text and MUST be transcribed — see Continued in the Title (§9.2.3).

Reading a table's true extent needs a page that is not in view, so a join made from one page is a guess. A fragment with its continuation flags loses nothing and claims nothing false; a wrong join loses both fragments, and a fused table cannot be split again.

Continuation flags — a document-level decision

Each table fragment in the sidecar carries two boolean flags, continuesFromPreviousPage and continuesOnNextPage (see The Sidecar (§3.4)). They are decided with both sides of the break in view, not from one page alone:

A fragment that ends a page and the fragment that opens the next page are one table when the second has the same columns and either prints no header, repeats the first one's header, or is marked as continued. Then the first MUST have continuesOnNextPage: true and the second continuesFromPreviousPage: true.
The two flags MUST agree across the break: a fragment flagged as continuing onto the next page requires the first table of the next page to be flagged as continuing from the previous one, and the reverse.
A fragment that does not continue across a break MUST have both flags false.

Sketch of the printed page — layout, not output

page 12  last table     continuesFromPreviousPage: false   continuesOnNextPage: true
page 13  first table    continuesFromPreviousPage: true    continuesOnNextPage: false

Signals worth reading

A repeated header at the top of the second fragment does not mean it is a new table — a continued table routinely re-declares its columns after a page break. This is the one place where header repetition is not a boundary; see Repeated Headers and Title Bands (§9.2.7).
A second fragment that starts straight into data rows, with no header, is the strongest ordinary continuation signal.
An explicit "(continued)" in the title or at the foot of the page is stronger still.
A first fragment whose rows run to the foot of the page with no total row supports the reading; a closing total row argues against it.

✅ SampleThe rule applies

Page one`dt1`

the company-relocation table under Relocations to Pier District by Industry prints its TAMI band and header row once, and runs to the foot of the page with no closing total. The italic industry sub-rows of the summary table above are not indented.