The problem is that \starttabulate does not accept a format parameter. Cheap solution (only figured it out now, or I'd have replied before): use
\setuptabulate[alpha][format={....}] before every \startalpha call. It's not very contexty syntax, but on the other hand it requires no new definitions at all. Full example below. Cheers, Sietse \definetabulate[alpha][|l|] % dummy format \setuptabulate[alpha][style=bold] \setuptabulate[alpha][format={|r|r|r|}] \startalpha \NC r \NC r \NC r \NC \NR \NC test \NC test \NC test \NC \NR \stopalpha \setuptabulate[alpha][format={|c|c|}] \startalpha \NC c \NC c \NC \NR \NC test \NC test \NC \NR \stopalpha ___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________