excerpt in table
Asked by tpherr:

A few weeks back I built a template that had a table and I was able to put an excerpt macro in one of the cells. I am trying to remake this template in another space and can no longer do it. It seems the editing features have changed. Is putting an Excerpt macro in a table as part of template still possible?


Answers:
author: Shannon S
body: Hello there,

Happy to help. Can you let me know what happens when you try to add an excerpt macro into your table? I just tested it myself now in the new editor and I was able to.

If you have any screenshots of the problem, it will also help.

Regards,

Shannon

comments: author: tpherr
body: Here is a screenshot of what I was doing. I was using the new editing features in the CLOUD version.

![templatescreenshot.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/73682i0E72021D0AAE09CB/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "templatescreenshot.png")


author: Shannon S
body: Thank you for sharing that!

I apologize! I tested with the Excerpt Include macro but I should have tested with just the Excerpt macro. I can confirm that behavior.

The issue is related to the fact that you cannot embed a macro within another macro in the New Editor. A table is considered a Table Macro which is causing the issue.

There is a feature request for this below:

* [CONFCLOUD-68323](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-68323) *Nest Expand or other Bodied Macros in another Macro*

Please vote on the request in order to help us keep track of the number of users that this affects. You will automatically be added to the list of watchers and receive updates on this in the future.

Thank you for your understanding!

Regards,

Shannon


author: tpherr
body: I am a bit perplexed by your last response. You state that we *"* *cannot embed a macro within another macro in the New Editor."* Yet you also state that you were able to insert an Excerpt Include macro inside a Table Macro. *"I just tested it myself now in the new editor and I was able to."*

Did you misstate something or were you truly able to add the Excerpt Include Macro in a Table macro. If so, why won't a Except macro work when an Excerpt Include does?

What other macros work/don't work in tables?

What other functionality has been removed within the new editor?


author: Shannon S
body: Hello,

My apologies for confusing you. I can see how that's misleading. Allow me to clarify. A few specific macros will still work within the table macro because they aren't meant to display anything when you're viewing a page. In this case, the Excerpt macro is only wrapped around text that you want to reference in another macro, the Excerpt Include macro. The Excerpt macro itself won't display anything when you view it on a page, so it works inside the Table macro. Whereas, the Excerpt Include macro is supposed to display a block of text. The new editor is not allowing for this to appear within a table.

Please let me know if that makes sense, or if you require any further clarification.

Any other missing functionality you can review on our [Confluence Cloud Editor Roadmap](https://confluence.atlassian.com/confcloud/confluence-cloud-editor-roadmap-967314556.html). There is a table there that will outline basic functionality in the editor, confirm which features still exist, the ones that are not coming back, and ones that we are working on a solution for.

I would also recommend reviewing [Confluence Editing Improvements](https://confluence.atlassian.com/confcloud/confluence-editing-improvements-945107733.html) for a few examples of things that have changed in the new editor.

I hope that helps, but let me know if you run into any additional issues.

Regards,

Shannon


author: tpherr
body: This response did not help I think your comments about the Excerpt macro are not accurate. You state a few macros still work in the new tables as they are not meant to show anything. You go on and state "The Excerpt macro itself won't display anything when you view it on a page, so it works inside the Table macro."

My testing show that the EXCERPT MACRO does not work in a table and that is does show the text in the EXCERPT MACRO on the page it is on, not just other other pages using the EXCERPT INCLUDE or EXCERPT OPTION in the CHILDREN DISPLAY macro. (I am using it in the CHILDREN DISPLAY MACRO)

1) This picture shows my Excerpt wile I am editing the page with the old Editor

![Excerpt in Editing Mode.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/74318i1DFD01C572E39E25/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Excerpt in Editing Mode.png")

2) This one shows the text when viewing the page in a normal fashion

![Excerpt in Normal Mode.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/74319i4B1AF869306F5820/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Excerpt in Normal Mode.png")

3) This exemple used the new editor in EDITOR mode

![Excerpt in NEW Editing Mode.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/74321i9BB604E0505BC835/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Excerpt in NEW Editing Mode.png")4) Here is the above picture when viewed after being published.

![Excerpt in NEW Normal Mode.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/74323i97E93C92339A203E/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Excerpt in NEW Normal Mode.png")

Where is the misunderstanding on how the Excerpt works?


author: Shannon S
body: Hello Tim,

Let me rephrase the point I was wanted to make. Again, I said Excerpt macro when I meant to say Excerpt *Include*.

With the new editor, you are unable to place certain macros inside of tables, as a nested macro, or as an inline macro. I do not know the exact pattern for this, but it does seem to be more with full-width macro panels (such as the Excerpt macro).

With the Excerpt Macro, I was saying that the macro panel *itself* is a full-width macro, although this is not visible when viewing the page. The only thing you see is the text that's been entered inside of it. You can see this in your examples.

You can see below that the Excerpt *Include* macro works, whereas the Excerpt macro does not, because it is full-width in the new editor:

![CleanShot 2019-12-02 at 12.50.37.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/74661i2FEF27235E7B9EAA/image-dimensions/435x294?v=v2 "CleanShot 2019-12-02 at 12.50.37.png")

I cannot say for sure if this is what is causing the Excerpt Macro to be added outside of the desired table, but it is my suspicion that this is causing the macro to not function as expected in the new editor.

If you run into any macros that do not work inline, nested, or inside of a table, you can report them here:

* [CONFCLOUD-68323](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-68323) *Nest Expand or other Bodied Macros in another Macro*

Regards,

Shannon


Tags: confluence-cloud