Confluence Column Formatting

[Ann Knackstedt]

Is there a way to set text in Confluence to automatically wrap in 2 or 3 columns.  For example, on a meeting notes page, there is often a list of attendees at the top.  I want to take that list of attendees and make it wrap in 3 columns (in Microsoft Word, I would highlight the list of attendees, then select the column formatting dropdown, select 3 for the number of columns and hit "ok.")

From there, as I sort, add, or remove names from the list, the columns automatically adjust and the overall height of the newly-created section of the document increases or decreases as names are added or deleted.

Sorting the names automatically shifts all names to keep the columns even (note how the last 4 names are sorted and moved):

Adding two new names and sorting; MS Word moved each line item to keep the columns even:

Is there a way to do this in Confluence?

I know about the column macros, but for those, I have to manually move the names for each column into the "column" that it will be displayed in, so, if I add a name and want to sort alphabetically, I have to manually move it to the right spot and move other names over a column to even out the columns.

We currently have Confluence 6.13.10

Thanks in advance!

[Bill Bailey · Accepted solution]

In a word, no. In the Adobe world, this function is referred as flowing text (wrapping has to do with text within a column or around an image). It is an advance function that an HTML editor can't handle.

BUT, you can fake it "easily" with CSS (using the Multiple Columns function). What you need is a simple user macro that wraps a classed div tag around the body content of the macro. Then CSS, either in the macro (gives more programmatically) or in the space CSS, can do the actual styling.

When you edit the page, your list of people would be one long list inside the macro body, but when displayed, the content would flow into three columns.