tabtools

Reporting & Visualization

Publication-ready Excel tables (table1_tc, regtab, effecttab, stratetab, tablex)

 . net install tabtools, from(...)  

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Version 1.0.13 | 2026-04-27

tabtools is a suite of Stata commands for exporting manuscript-ready tables to Excel across descriptive summaries, regression models, treatment effects, survival analysis, diagnostic accuracy workflows, incidence rates, and composite tables. The package is organized around a shared formatting layer, so commands that come from very different analysis pipelines still produce tables that look like they belong in the same workbook.

Requirements

Stata 16 or later for tabtools and table1_tc
Stata 17 or later for regtab, effecttab, comptab, hrcomptab, survtab, crosstab, corrtab, diagtab, and stratetab
regtab and effecttab require Stata's collect framework
survtab requires stset data, and stratetab expects saved strate, output() datasets

Installation

capture ado uninstall tabtools
net install tabtools, from("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tpcopeland/Stata-Tools/main/tabtools") replace

After installation, start with help tabtools for the suite overview, help tabtools_cheatsheet for common option patterns, and help tabtools_cookbook for longer worked workflows.

Commands

Direct table builders

Command	Description	Stata
`table1_tc`	Table 1 generator with automatic tests, SMDs, weighting support, and Excel export	16+
`crosstab`	Cross-tabulation with association measures such as OR, RR, and risk difference	17+
`corrtab`	Correlation matrix with significance stars, p-values, and lower, upper, or full layouts	17+
`survtab`	Kaplan-Meier survival summary table with medians, RMST, and number at risk	17+
`diagtab`	Diagnostic-accuracy table with sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, likelihood ratios, and optional AUC	17+

Post-estimation formatters

Command	Description	Stata
`regtab`	Format the current `collect` from regression models into a polished Excel table or console preview	17+
`effecttab`	Format `teffects` or `margins` results from the current `collect` into an effects table	17+

File and frame workflow builders

Command	Description	Stata
`stratetab`	Format saved `strate, output()` files into incidence-rate tables	17+
`comptab`	Combine selected rows from one or more `regtab` or `effecttab` frames into one composite sheet	17+
`hrcomptab`	Build a final Table 2-style sheet by combining a `stratetab` frame with selected `regtab` rows	17+

Suite utility

Command	Description	Stata
`tabtools`	Browse commands and manage persistent formatting defaults for the current Stata session	16+

Choosing a Workflow

Workflow	Start here	Notes
Descriptive table from the dataset in memory	`table1_tc`, `crosstab`, `corrtab`, `diagtab`	These commands work directly on the active dataset and do not require `collect`
Regression or effect estimates after modeling	`collect:` then `regtab` or `effecttab`	These commands format the active collection rather than refitting models
Survival summaries from `stset` data	`survtab`	Use when you want Kaplan-Meier estimates, medians, RMST, or risk sets
Incidence-rate tables from saved `strate` files	`stratetab`	File-based workflow; no dataset needs to remain in memory
Final manuscript table assembled from earlier outputs	`comptab` or `hrcomptab`	These second-stage builders consume frames produced earlier in the pipeline
Session-wide formatting defaults	`tabtools`	Use `tabtools set`, `tabtools get`, and `tabtools set clear` to control fonts, borders, themes, and digits

Demo

The demo script (tabtools/demo/demo_tabtools.do) produces console output for key commands and 10 Excel workbooks (46 sheets total) covering every tabtools command. Run it from the repo root with stata-mp -b do tabtools/demo/demo_tabtools.do.

Suite overview

. tabtools

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
tabtools - Publication-Ready Table Export Suite
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

**Descriptive Statistics**
  table1_tc    - Table 1 with automatic statistical tests
  crosstab     - Cross-tabulation with association measures
  corrtab      - Correlation matrix with significance

**Model Results**
  regtab       - Regression results from any estimation command
  effecttab    - Treatment-effect style tables from supported results

**Incidence Rates**
  stratetab    - Incidence rates from strate output

**Survival Analysis**
  survtab      - Kaplan-Meier estimates, medians, and RMST

**Diagnostic Accuracy**
  diagtab      - Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, ROC

**Composite**
  comptab      - Combine regtab/effecttab frames into one table
  hrcomptab    - Attach regtab frames to a stratetab scaffold

**General Purpose**
  tabtools     - Suite controller and persistent defaults

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total commands: 11

table1_tc — Baseline characteristics

. table1_tc, by(treated) ///
>     vars(index_age contn %5.1f \ female bin \ ///
>          education cat \ income_quintile cat \ ///
>          born_abroad bin \ civil_status cat \ ///
>          diabetes bin \ hypertension bin \ anxiety bin \ prior_cvd bin)

Console output (click to expand)

  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │                                SSRI            SNRI            p-value │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ No. (Column %) or Mean (SD)    N=8,934         N=6,066                 │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Age at cohort entry (years)    58.3 (13.4)     58.5 (13.3)      0.24   │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Female sex                     5,351 (59.9%)   3,621 (59.7%)    0.80   │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Education level                                                 0.11   │
  │    Primary                     2,333 (26.1%)   1,527 (25.2%)           │
  │    Secondary                   3,530 (39.5%)   2,354 (38.8%)           │
  │    Tertiary                    3,071 (34.4%)   2,185 (36.0%)           │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Disposable income quintile                                      0.73   │
  │    1                           1,778 (19.9%)   1,175 (19.4%)           │
  │    2                           1,783 (20.0%)   1,249 (20.6%)           │
  │    3                           1,769 (19.8%)   1,228 (20.2%)           │
  │    4                           1,786 (20.0%)   1,209 (19.9%)           │
  │    5                           1,818 (20.3%)   1,205 (19.9%)           │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Born outside Sweden            1,362 (15.2%)   897 (14.8%)      0.44   │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Marital status                                                  0.34   │
  │    Single                      2,764 (30.9%)   1,804 (29.7%)           │
  │    Married                     3,074 (34.4%)   2,162 (35.6%)           │
  │    Divorced                    1,763 (19.7%)   1,188 (19.6%)           │
  │    Widowed                     1,333 (14.9%)   912 (15.0%)             │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Diabetes                       4,107 (46.0%)   2,818 (46.5%)    0.56   │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Hypertension                   4,112 (46.0%)   2,935 (48.4%)    0.005  │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Anxiety disorder               6,079 (68.0%)   4,148 (68.4%)    0.66   │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Prior cardiovascular disease   5,002 (56.0%)   3,390 (55.9%)    0.90   │
  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

survtab — Kaplan-Meier survival summary

. survtab, times(365 730 1095 1460) by(treated) ///
>     rmst(1460) difference median timeunit(days)

Console output (click to expand)

                                          SSRI (N=8934)               SNRI (N=6066)               Difference
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 Median survival, d                       5699.0                      5660.0                      39.0
   (95% CI)                               (5617.0, 5760.0)            (5574.0, 5729.0)
 Survival probability
   365 days                               99.9%                       99.8%                       0.1 (-0.1, 0.2)
   730 days                               99.5%                       99.5%                       -0.1 (-0.3, 0.2)
   1095 days                              99.0%                       99.1%                       -0.1 (-0.4, 0.2)
   1460 days                              97.3%                       97.5%                       -0.2 (-0.8, 0.3)
 RMST (1460-d), d (95% CI)                1448.87 (1447.02, 1450.72)  1449.75 (1447.55, 1451.96)  -0.88
 Log-rank test: chi2(1) = 2.80, p = 0.094

regtab — Regression table

. collect clear
. collect: logistic treated index_age female i.education ///
>     diabetes hypertension anxiety prior_cvd
. regtab, coef("OR") noint display

                              Model
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                              OR         95% CI        p-value
 Age at cohort entry (years)  1.00       (1.00, 1.00)  0.27
 Female sex                   0.99       (0.93, 1.06)  0.84
 Education level
   Primary                    Reference
   Secondary                  1.02       (0.94, 1.11)  0.66
   Tertiary                   1.09       (1.00, 1.18)  0.053
 Diabetes                     1.01       (0.94, 1.08)  0.78
 Hypertension                 1.10       (1.03, 1.17)  0.005
 Anxiety disorder             1.00       (0.93, 1.08)  0.96
 Prior cardiovascular disease 0.98       (0.92, 1.05)  0.63

corrtab — Correlation matrix

. corrtab index_age crp prior_hosp, ///
>     star(0.05 0.01 0.001) display

                             Age at cohort entry (years)  C-reactive protein (mg/L)  Prior hospitalizations
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 Age at cohort entry (years) 1.00
 C-reactive protein (mg/L)   -0.01                        1.00
 Prior hospitalizations      -0.00                        0.01                       1.00

* p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001

crosstab — Cross-tabulation

. crosstab treated female, or label display

 Treatment group                          Male           Female         Total
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 SSRI                                     3,583 (59.4%)  5,351 (59.6%)  8,934
 SNRI                                     2,445 (40.6%)  3,621 (40.4%)  6,066
 Total                                    6,028          8,972          15,000
 Pearson's chi-squared test: chi2 = 0.06, p = 0.805
 OR = 1.0 (95% CI: 0.9, 1.1)

diagtab — Diagnostic accuracy

. diagtab phat cv_event, cutoff(0.35) auc wilson display

                Gold +    Gold -
──────────────────────────────────────────
 Test +         2,622     4,497
 Test -         2,627     5,254

 Measure        Estimate  (95% CI)
 Sensitivity    50.0%     (48.6, 51.3)
 Specificity    53.9%     (52.9, 54.9)
 PPV            36.8%     (35.7, 38.0)
 NPV            66.7%     (65.6, 67.7)
 Accuracy       52.5%     (51.7, 53.3)
 LR+            1.1       (1.0, 1.1)
 LR-            0.93      (0.90, 0.96)
 DOR            1.2       (1.1, 1.2)
 AUC            0.520     (0.510, 0.530)
 Youden's index 0.038

Persistent defaults

. tabtools set font Calibri
tabtools: default font set to Calibri

. tabtools set fontsize 11
tabtools: default font size set to 11

. tabtools set borderstyle thin
tabtools: default border style set to thin

. tabtools get
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
tabtools - Persistent Formatting Defaults
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

  Font:        Calibri
  Font size:   11
  Border:      thin

. tabtools set clear
tabtools: all persistent defaults cleared

Excel workbooks

The demo generates 10 workbooks (46 sheets) covering every command and option combination:

Workbook	Sheets	Contents
`demo_table1.xlsx`	11	table1_tc variants: basic, total, weighted, wtcompare, SMD, formats, missing, custom symbols, NEJM/BMJ/APA themes
`demo_regtab.xlsx`	10	regtab: logistic, multi-model, Cox, mixed, CDISC, Poisson, advanced formatting, keep/drop, addrow
`demo_effecttab.xlsx`	4	effecttab: ATE (IPW), IPW vs AIPW comparison, margins, average marginal effects
`demo_comptab.xlsx`	5	comptab: source frames, composite, compact with sections, name-based row selection
`demo_survtab.xlsx`	3	survtab: KM + median, RMST + difference, cumulative incidence
`demo_stratetab.xlsx`	1	stratetab: incidence rates with rate ratios by sex
`demo_corrtab.xlsx`	3	corrtab: Pearson with stars, Spearman with p-values, full matrix
`demo_crosstab.xlsx`	5	crosstab: OR, RR/RD, styled, trend, row percentages
`demo_diagtab.xlsx`	3	diagtab: accuracy + AUC, prevalence-adjusted, multiple cutoffs
`demo_hrcomptab.xlsx`	1	hrcomptab: Table 2-style composite (rates + hazard ratios)

Resources

help tabtools for the suite overview and persistent defaults
help tabtools_cheatsheet for compact option patterns across commands
help tabtools_cookbook for longer end-to-end recipes
help table1_tc, help regtab, help effecttab, help comptab, help hrcomptab, help survtab, help stratetab, help crosstab, help corrtab, and help diagtab for command-specific syntax

Version History

1.0.13 (2026-04-27): Documentation improvements across all .sthlp files and README. Enhanced corrtab, survtab, and diagtab help files with richer descriptions, additional examples, and "Also see" sections. Standardized author blocks with mailto links. Added {vieweralsosee} links to the cheatsheet.
1.0.12 (2026-04-27): Fix crosstab, or rr rd for 2x2 variables coded with nonzero category values by internally recoding observed levels to 0/1 before calling Stata's cc/cs; reject undefined requested association measures instead of silently omitting them; and validate table1_tc wt() and numeric by() values within the analysis sample so excluded rows do not trigger false hard failures.
1.0.11 (2026-04-26): Fix table1_tc, wt() smd weighted SMD calculations for continuous, categorical, and binary variables; fix headerperc with total(before|after); and document active collect side effects for regtab and effecttab.
1.0.10 (2026-04-26): Fix weighted crosstab, trend, enforce unique truncated stratetab matrix row names, hard-fail missing final effecttab workbooks, reject binary diagtab, optimal, add corrtab shape conflict checks, clarify cookbook runnable versus illustrative recipes, and strengthen QA/install isolation.
1.0.9 (2026-04-23): Fix regtab exporting a spurious blank trailing column. The _re_group_label internal variable was not being dropped before export because it was bundled in a capture drop with _ci_seen, which only exists under dimnonsig.
1.0.8 (2026-04-22): Clarity audit release with hardened export-return behavior, synchronized package metadata, and expanded QA around release gates and export failures.
1.0.7 (2026-04-18): Stata-Tools suite release covering direct descriptive tables, collect-based model formatters, file-based rate workflows, and frame-based composite builders.
1.0.6 (2026-04-17): Incremental refinement release during the Stata-Tools packaging cycle.
1.0.5 (2026-04-17): Incremental refinement release during the Stata-Tools packaging cycle.
1.0.4 (2026-04-16): Early public packaging milestone for the tabtools suite.

Author

Timothy P Copeland, Karolinska Institutet