Nested tables in Confluence

[Jinyoung Park]

Hi all,

I used to be able to create a table within a table using the button on top in edit mode. Now, it's grayed out when I'm within a table, and when I hover over the icon, I'm told that nested tables are unsupported.

Is this an issue with the new version of Confluence? Is there a way to get around this? The document already contains nested tables and I would like to keep the format uniform, and copying and pasting does not work.

Thanks,
Jinyoung

[SAVDEEP SINGH · Accepted solution]

Is there any workaround?

[Shannon Spaniol]

Savdeep,

If you check the bug ticket I posted in my answer, you'll see that some user has come up with a workaround last month. I recommend you reach out to him on that case for more details regarding the workaround. He's attached some images but they appear to not be showing.

• Nesting tables workaround

Regards,

Shannon

[Denise Kramer]

Hi Savdeep,

Place your cursor in the table and select {} Markup from the Insert More Content menu. Ensure Confluence Wiki is selected from the Insert drop-down. Then, type  ||col into the Insert text box. You'll a table column in the Preview pane. Click the Insert button. A one column, one row table will be placed within the table. You can then add columns and rows as you normally would.

I saw this work around in another post and it has worked consistently for me.

Good Luck,

Denise

[Jignesh Jaiswal]

Thanks, this works. 

[Charisma Riley]

Denise, your solution saved the day for me! Thanks!

[Alexander Poole]

Thanks for this solution Denise. Simple and effective.

[Camie Thistleton]

Brilliant solution Denise. You saved my day and saved me many hours of work re-constructing Confluence pages.

[Jaine Steer]

What if I do not want a header on the nested table?

[Camie Thistleton]

Jaine,

Create the table via Markup as instructed above.  Ensure the cursor is in the header row of your nested table and then toggle the header on/off using the button on the toolbar. See attached screen shot. 

Creating the table via Markup is simply a way to "start" a nested table. Once the nested table exists, you can manage it via the toolbar buttons just as you would a non-nested table.

[Shannon Spaniol · Accepted solution]

Hi Jinyoung,

I believe you may be using the new Confluence Cloud version, correct? If so, Nested Tables are no longer supported here.

I've created a ticket in our reporting system so that the team can let us know whether or not it will be brought back, but it may be unlikely.

• CONFCLOUD-58656

Regards,

Shannon

[Mary Johnson]

I can't believe this functionality has been removed without warning! My company is highly dependent on this functionality for documenting requirements.  I tried copy and pasting a previously created row and the paste functionality did not work as expected.  This is a major issue from our point of view.

[Barbara T]

Added my comment as well. We rely heavily on our program status pages and inside the tables are more important pieces of data that have to be displayed in a table format. Please provide a work around of some kind.

[丘麗娟]

This is a very useful feature for me too, so I would like this feature to be reinstated. 

Thank you.

[Davin Studer]

Atlassian recently announced that they are removing that ability. Personally, I think it is a terrible decision as they are assuming that they know best how you should write your documentation. The reason they gave was so that your documentation could be more readable.

[Shannon Spaniol]

Hi Davin,

I created a ticket linked in my answer to gather feedback on this issue, so please feel free to vote on it as well and comment with your feedback.

Regards,

Shannon

[Denise Kramer]

Hi Shannon,

Thanks for submitting the ticket. I have added my comments to it. This change will make creating my API documentation on Confluence very difficult.

Everyone,

The only thing I have found as a work around is to copy an existing nested table and just change the text. It is a lot of work, but in a pinch it can work.

Thanks,

Denise

[Daniel (home) Harvey]

<deleted as I missed this answer as nested reply above - sorry> 

[Paul Steckler]

Unfortunately it looks like View More... no longer has markup available in the Cloud version. Any other thoughts?

[Denise Kramer]

Hi Paul, It is still available in my version. Here is a screenshot to be sure you are looking in the correct place.

[Paul Steckler]

Sadly I cannot find it anywhere... and wonder if this is one more feature that is being removed to simplify Confluence.

Are you running on the Cloud version? This is the new editing surface.

[Denise Kramer]

Yes, I am using the cloud version. I hope mine does not change anytime soon. :(

[Paul Steckler]

Are you using the new editing experience? That might be the big difference. I am now trying to find a way to go back to the old editor.

Good luck and thanks for the input Denise.