View Excerpt Include (Table) Side by Side
Asked by Abhisek Dey:

Hi,  
I have a very straightforward requirement - putting 2 excerpt-includes side by side. I am surprised to find that whenever the excerpted data are from tables, it goes to the left of the page, instead of side by side.

Something like this -  
(Edit Mode)  
![Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 2.34.24 AM.png](/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167727i78FE22AEC93254E5/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 2.34.24 AM.png")

(View Mode)

![Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 2.49.49 AM.png](/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167728i3563721EFE94973E/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 2.49.49 AM.png")

Few key points:

1. This happens only if there is a table in the excerpted element. As evident from the figure, "Source Page 1/2" are text within the same excerpts that contain Tables in the source pages. Text are displayed correctly.

2. I have tried using Page Layout, Section/Column for side-by-side view, but no success.

3. From Macro-side, I have tried almost ALL relevant ones i.e. excerpt-include, Table excerpt include, multi-excerpt include. And, put them in 2 separate sections/columns, page layout sections etc.

No matter what I do, I am not being able to view the excerpted table data side-by-side. Plz help!

P.S. Another weird thing is if I use Table Transformer Macro even in 2 different sections, it seems to combine both the tables based on the Column Name. Isn't the functionality of a Macro supposed to be contained within the section it is called in? How come 2 Macros (both Table Transformer in this case) from 2 different sections are getting merged into one output?


Answers:
author: Katerina Kovriga {Stiltsoft}
body: Hi [@Abhisek Dey](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4621561) ,

As [@Fabienne Gerhard](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/971720) has mentioned, you should use Columns inside of your Section macros. As [official documentation](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/section-macro-51872531.html) says, "You should always have at least one column macro within a section macro".

We often use 2 or 3 Columns within the Section macro ourselves when we create different dashboards (we reuse one table and create different charts based on it using our Table Filter, Table Transformer and Chart from Table macros). The data inside one Column doesn't affect other Columns.

Here is a brief example with the Table Transformer macro (the third table is not merged to the first two tables):

![Wed 7-1.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167748i90C8E52915BAB148/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Wed 7-1.png")

![Wed 7-2.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167749iF804074E6D8276D8/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Wed 7-2.png")

So please try to use Columns inside of the Section macro and if the issue with the Table Transformer persists, attach your screenshots here.


author: Fabienne Gerhard
body: Hi [@Abhisek Dey](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4621561)

welcome to this wonderful community

Tables can be a strange thing - I feel you!

What I would offer you as solution:

* Don't use pagelayout -\> instead use: columns for each of your tables and set them to 50%
* Put a section around both of them Which will give you the Section back

This gives it back to you like this  
![Bildschirmfoto 2021-11-03 um 11.37.36.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167741i5A4650DED1C1EAC5/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Bildschirmfoto 2021-11-03 um 11.37.36.png")![Bildschirmfoto 2021-11-03 um 11.37.50.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167740iE61D61FE8731F5F5/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Bildschirmfoto 2021-11-03 um 11.37.50.png")

Hope this could help you and feel free to ask for more help!

comments: author: Abhisek Dey
body: Hi [@Fabienne Gerhard](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/971720)

Thanks for the prompt response. However, when I mentioned "No matter what I do", I literally meant it! :P

Anyway, I actually tried with your solution before (didn't send screenshot) and now again. Unfortunately, I see this -

(Edit Mode)  
![Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 4.05.20 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167746i6D6009BB9FACD509/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 4.05.20 AM.png")

(View Mode)

![Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 4.05.37 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167747i07113B4A1AD67A62/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 4.05.37 AM.png")

This is really weird! I can't think of any logical explanation behind this!  
Need more help, I suppose! ?


author: Katerina Kovriga {Stiltsoft}
body: Hi [@Abhisek Dey](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4621561) ,

Here is an example of our complex live dashboard:

Edit mode

![Wed 7-4.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167755iB3384CE4E89BC5AF/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Wed 7-4.png")

View mode

![Wed 7-3.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/167753iEA5CCC1A231F6735/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Wed 7-3.png")

As you can see, we have plenty of macros inside the Column macro and everything looks correctly.

Your screenshot shows that even standard Confluence macros (Excerpt Include) don't work properly - maybe something is wrong with the page format? I mean maybe any special apps for custom styles, scripts, etc. can mess up the original layout?


author: Abhisek Dey
body: Hi [@Fabienne Gerhard](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/971720)

I think I somehow got what is causing this! I was using a CSV table in the excerpt at the source page and that CSV table Macro is actually a custom one (kinda in-house developed Add-on Macro). I tried with the Confluence built-in CSV table and it works fine!

So, I think I need to take care of this internally with the flow administrator. Nevertheless, thanks for your time and help.


author: Abhisek Dey
body: Hi [@Katerina Kovriga {Stiltsoft}](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1464746)

I think our responses crossed. Anyway, you are right! Something is fundamentally wrong from my end! ?

I explained the situation in the last comment. I hope I'll be able to get it fixed internally. If I still feel something needs to be discussed here, I'm going to bug you guys further! ?

Until then, thanks for all the valuable info and your help!


Tags: excerpt