Templates and table-formatting

[Archer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that, to create a template, one must use the Confluence WikiMarkup only.

HTML doesn't work, and some macros don't seem to work either.

What I'm wondering is if there is any additional formatting that can be used with tables to merge or format them.
The Confluence documentation only lists the most basic markups;

||Header 1||Header 2||
|Cell 1|Cell 2|

In most Wiki engines, you can use additional formatting, such as "|>|" in TiddlyWiki, or basic HTML in MediaWiki.
Does Confluence have something similar?

I'd love to be able to format tables I insert into templates, instead of having to alter them everytime, as it sort of beats the purpose; its faster and easier to copy the template off another, already formatted page.

Thanks for your time and help!

[Archer · Accepted solution]

Turns out https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.adaptavist.confluence.contentFormattingMacros did exactly what I needed.

Using the {table} macro, I was able to create the tables I wanted in my templates.

[Enric Martinez]

So, basically: We are either stuck with horrible formatting and not being able to decide on text alignment or merging cells (something pretty straightforward in any Wiki or Markup dialect) OR we can pay to install a plugin... Good if you have Jira installed on your laptop at home but not specially handy if you are working for a company and have to wait for a budget to be accepted to pay for the plug in and install it. 

Or just forget about using tables. Also a good option, innit  ;)

[Bob Swift]

You can use the csv macro from the table plugin https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/TBL

[softcrts]

Hi, 

You can use the plugin 'Easy Tables For Confluence', import data from csv and add formatting via a simple wizard.

Here the documentation

And the app in the marketplace

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1220484/easy-tables-for-confluence?hosting=server&tab=overview

[Mick Davidson]

Gen,

You're right about that, tables are very limited and you have to use markup to create them. So if you want to create something basic, you can, but that's it.

What Confluence version are you using? We're using 4.2.5 and you can merge cells and do some other things in Edit mode, but it is fairly limited.

I believe that 4.3 has a lot more functionality for tables in Edit mode (from what I've seen I think you'll be able to do what you seem to want) and that you can use WYSIWYG edting on tables in templates. I think 4.3 comes out in September.

Cheers.