How do you create automatic numbering on a confluence table for specific rows only?

Si Scott

I'm trying to replicate a word document deployment plan in confluence which has been created by using a table.  The plan has multiple sections, each section has a header row and directly below the header row is a sub header row which identifies each column.  The first column on the left is for the step numbers in the plan.

In confluence I can create separate tables for each "section" with a header row defined and directly below this my columns start.  The first row identifies what each column is used for.  Is there a way to add auto numbering to just the rows that are the steps?  Also, is there a way to select the row/column in each table to start the numbering sequentially so no numbers are repeated on the plan as a whole.  At the moment I have to add the step numbering manually.  So if a step is added, I have to manually change each number after the step which can be quite time consuming if the plan has 100 odd steps... Example below.

Any help MUCH APPRECIATED.  I'm a "pleb" so I don't have special admin rights or ability to import plugins.

Arkadiusz Wroblewski

Hello @Si Scott 

One other native approach I’d look at is not using a normal table, but using a Confluence database for the steps instead.

Databases in Confluence are row/field based, can be shown in a Table view, and that view supports automatic row numbering. They also support sorting, so you could keep one master list of steps, sort by section/order, and let the numbering stay sequential automatically. Then you can embed that database view back into a page.

So for example:

• field for Section
• field for Action
• field for Comments
• field for Responsible
• optional field for Step order

Then use one Table view with Number entries turned on.

It will not look exactly like the Word layout with section header rows inside the table, but it is probably the closest native alternative if the real problem is avoiding manual renumbering every time a step is inserted.