nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

How do you get a consolidated view of information stored in separate Confluence tables?

Erik Johansen

Hi everyone,

We're using Confluence to keep track of some of our internal operations, and I've run into something I'm not sure how to handle.

We have one table with our suppliers (Supplier ID, Name, Department, Contact) and another with their contracts (Supplier ID, Contract, Expiration Date, Status).

Both tables are maintained by different teams, which works fine, but occasionally we need a report showing each supplier alongside their contracts and expiration dates.

Right now, we're copying the information into a separate table, which isn't ideal.

Is there a better way to bring this information together in Confluence without having to maintain a third table manually?

Curious how others are handling similar situations.

Thanks!

Accepted answers

Mia Tamm _Simpleasyty_

Hi @Erik Johansen,

I'd actually keep those tables separate, especially since different teams are responsible for maintaining them. The key is having a common field, like your Supplier ID, that allows you to bring the information together without manually duplicating it.

I'm part of the team behind Simple Tables for Confluence, and we've added a Join Tables feature that can help with this.

In your example, you could combine the supplier and contract tables using Supplier ID, then filter or sort the results to see which contracts are approaching their expiration dates.

Here's a short video demonstrating how Join Tables works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLTktgUxga0

Hope this helps!

All comments

Arkadiusz Wroblewski

Hello @Erik Johansen

Are these regular Confluence tables or already Databases? 🙂

Mia Tamm _Simpleasyty_

Hi @Erik Johansen,

I'm part of the team behind Simple Tables for Confluence, and we've added a Join Tables feature that can help with this.

In your example, you could combine the supplier and contract tables using Supplier ID, then filter or sort the results to see which contracts are approaching their expiration dates.

Here's a short video demonstrating how Join Tables works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLTktgUxga0

Hope this helps!

Erik Johansen

Hi @Arkadiusz Wroblewski!

They're regular Confluence tables, not Databases. Each team maintains its own table on a separate page.

We'd ideally like to keep them that way and just have a consolidated view when needed, without copying the data manually.

Thanks for asking! 🙂

Erik Johansen

Hi @Mia Tamm _Simpleasyty_,

Thanks for sharing this! The video makes it much easier to understand how the tables can be combined. This looks pretty close to what we're trying to achieve. I hadn't considered using a Marketplace app for this. I'll take a closer look at Simple Tables and see how it fits our setup.

Really appreciate the example!

Anwesha Pan

Hi @Erik Johansen

You can use marketplace app like Mia mentioned or you can do it using Confluence Database:

Convert the two lists into Confluence Databases:
- Database 1: Suppliers (Fields: Supplier Name, Department, Contact)
- Database 2: Contracts (Fields: Contract Name, Expiration Date, Status)
Link them using a Relation Field:
- In the Contracts database, add a column of type Relation and link it to the Suppliers database.
Generate your consolidated report:
- On your reporting page, type /database and insert a database view of either database.
- In the Suppliers view, you can display the related contracts and their expiration dates automatically.

Note: This way, each team gets to edit their own source database, and the joined view updates dynamically with zero manual copying.

Hope this helps. 🙂

Thanks,
Anwesha

Erik Johansen

Thanks Anwesha, this is really helpful. The Confluence Databases approach is definitely interesting, especially because it would let both teams keep ownership of their own data while still relating suppliers and contracts.

My main requirement is exactly that: I don’t want to move or duplicate the source data just to build the consolidated view.

I’m also speaking with the Simple Tables team about the same use case, so I’m going to explore both approaches and see which one fits better.

Thanks again for laying out the Database option so clearly!

Mia Tamm _Simpleasyty_

Thanks for the clarification, @Erik Johansen and I want to correct something from my earlier reply so the thread is accurate for anyone finding it later.

Simple Tables does support joining tables using a common field such as Supplier ID, but today the source tables need to be available on the same Confluence page. Your use case — where different teams maintain the source tables independently on different pages (and potentially different spaces) — wasn’t covered by the scenario I originally described.

Erik has since reached out to us with the details, and we’re already working through this use case with the team.

So, just to be completely clear: Simple Tables does not currently support this exact cross-page setup.

I wanted to leave that correction here rather than let my original answer be misleading.

This is an area we’re actively looking at, though, so if you’re reading this thread later, it may be worth checking the current Simple Tables documentation to see whether support has changed.

And thanks Erik for flagging the gap. It’s a genuinely useful use case for us.

Shaik Riyaz

Hi @Erik Johansen
You can do this without a third table by using Confluence databases and linking them together:

Create two databases. Make one for Suppliers and one for Contracts, so each team keeps looking after its own data.
Link them. In Contracts, select + at the top right of the table and add an Entry link field that points to the Suppliers database. Then pick the right supplier for each contract.
Pull in supplier details. Still in Contracts, add an Entry details field for each supplier column you want to show, such as Name, Department or Contact. For each one, set Entry link to the field from step 2 and Entry value to the supplier field. These values fill in automatically from Suppliers.
Embed the report. On your report page, type /embed, choose embed database and select the Contracts database. You can also paste the link to a specific view. The embed stays up to date when the data changes

Thanks!!

Erik Johansen

Hi @Shaik Riyaz, Thanks for the detailed explanation! That's a really useful approach.

My only concern is that both teams are already maintaining their own tables on separate Confluence pages, and ideally we'd like to keep that workflow unchanged. If I understand correctly, your solution would require us to move everything into Confluence Databases first, right? I was hoping there might be a way to consolidate the existing tables without changing how each team manages its data.

Thanks again for your help!

Shaik Riyaz

Hi @Erik Johansen,
You're right. Confluence databases would mean moving both tables into databases. I haven't found a built-in way to join two regular page tables on a shared column like Supplier ID. If you want both teams to keep their current tables, you have two options:

1. Native: Excerpt + Insert excerpt (no merge)

On each team's page, wrap the table in an Excerpt macro and give it a unique name.
On the report page, type /insertexcerpt, choose the Source page and pick the Excerpt name. Do this once for each table.
Both tables stay live on one page, but they appear separately, not merged into one table.

2. App: Table Filter, Charts & Spreadsheets

This paid app can "merge or join tables into one and do more with SQL" and "reuse live table excerpts all over your instance."
Teams keep editing their existing tables. The app pulls both tables into the report page and joins them on Supplier ID, so you get one live report.
It's commonly done with the app's Table Excerpt, Table Excerpt Include and Table Transformer macros (for example, a SQL LEFT JOIN). Check the exact setup in the app's documentation. There's a free trial.

So: without changing how teams work, the native option only puts both tables on one page. To actually merge them, you need an app or a move to Confluence databases.

Thanks!!

CelesteCS

Hi, I'm Alexey 'Ce' from CelesteCS.

@Erik Johansen , if you want to keep both tables as ordinary Confluence tables, each team on its own page, you can let the contracts table look the supplier up by its ID, like VLOOKUP in Excel, with our app CelesteCS Math for Confluence. No third table to copy into:

On the suppliers page, put the suppliers table inside an Excerpt macro and name the excerpt, e.g. suppliers. Procurement keeps editing their table as before.
On the contracts page, add an Excerpt Include macro (the suppliers page, excerpt suppliers) above the contracts table. For Math, the included suppliers table is Table1 and the contracts table is Table2.
Add Supplier and Department columns to the contracts table, with a Numerical Expression macro in each cell. For row 2:

IFNA(XLOOKUP(Table2.A2; Table1.A:A; Table1.B:B); "unknown supplier")
IFNA(XLOOKUP(Table2.A2; Table1.A:A; Table1.C:C); "unknown supplier")

Table1.A:A is the whole column, so new suppliers are found without changing formulas. IFNA shows "unknown supplier" for an ID that is not in the suppliers table yet. Everything is recalculated on every page view, so a renamed supplier or a changed department shows up right away.

Step by step with the example: Joining two Confluence tables on different pages by an ID column

The app is on the Atlassian Marketplace: CelesteCS Math for Confluence (free trial, Cloud and Data Center).

Rahul_RVS

Hi Erik,

You can do this without a third table using our CanvasTables app. Its Table Transformer → Lookup (join) mode merges two tables on a shared key.
Canvas Tables for Confluence

Just add the macro, pick your Suppliers and Contracts tables, and join them on Supplier ID. You’ll get one view showing each supplier alongside their contract and expiration date — generated live, so it stays in sync automatically whenever either team updates their table.

Do give it a try.

Welcome!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Quick Links

Find more posts tagged with

confluence-cloud

table