How are column widths in tables actually set?

Question

When I create a table in a confluence article, I can set the column widths by dragging them. When I publish my changes, inevitably the columns shrink, causing my text to wrap in a pretty unreadable fashion.

Edit view:

Published view:

What am I doing wrong?

Shannon S · Answer

Hi Max,

Welcome to Atlassian Community. It’s nice to meet you!

I’m so sorry you’re having trouble getting your table columns to display properly. Let me see what I can do to help.

Can you confirm with me that this is 1) on the new editor and 2) doesn’t occur in pages using the Legacy Editor template?

Secondly, what format are you using for the page? Is the page and/or table set to wide or fixed-width, for example? Does the same thing occur no matter the size of the table?

Take care,

Shannon