How do I indent a table?
Asked by K Kelly:

Background: I am an ondemand user and we don't have access to the wiki source editor.

I would like to indent a table to provide some offset for readability purposes as we use the pdf output for client-facing documentation. However, the only options I see are keeping them left-justified (Default) or using the {center} macro to center justify. But, I don't want all my tables to center. I just want to indent or offset them some.

In wikimarkup, I would have added \&nbsp several times before the table headers to do this.

How can I do this in the current editor?


Answers:
author: JohnA
body: Hi Scott,

I have also been able to reproduce your issue and it does indeed seem that this is a bug, because Tim's suggestion should work but isn't. Therefore I have reported this problem to our developers and you can keep updated with progress by following this ticket: <https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONF-26178>

I have also added a workaround in the bug report, so hopefully this will work for you in the short-term until our developers are able to address this issue.

All the best,  
John

comments: author: K Kelly
body: I had created a support ticket, JST-40521, 6 weeks ago and got a response a week ago stating that this was working as designed and considered an improvement. At the time, I mentioned per the responses here, that I did not believe it an improvement but a bug..but, still no agreement from support. Consequently, I am happy to hear that it is being acknowledged as a bug.

My concern is that the workarounds mentioned by Atlassian are often user macros. But, as OnDemand users, we cannot use any of them and thus, we have no workarounds. I requested from supported if they could add the user macro to our OnDemand instance if, in fact, they are indicating that they are viable -- not giving us the ability to add our own user macro...but, asking if they could add it.

The request in JST-40109 was denied.

I honestly do not understand if so many workarounds deal with user macros, why Atlassian cannot help their OnDemand customers by making these suggestions available vs adamantly stating, no we cannot help. In these cases, these issues should be raised higher in priority because no workaround is available for all. You're only providing those options to standalone customers. If Atlassian would help their OnDemand customers be more successful with their products, maybe those issues wouldn't have to be such a higher priority, allowing them to focus on other items that help everyone. It is just very frustrating as a on OnDemand user to constantly be denied help with these types of requests.


author: Adam Turner
body: I think I may have found a way to perform this:

1. create your table
2. create a line break one line above the table
3. starting on the line-break hold the shift key and forward the cursor so it is on the first line of the table
4. click on the Indent button in the menu bar.

I was able to do this on Confluence 5.8 with Chrome

HTH Adam

comments: author: Sadir Mansour
body: Thanks! your tip worked for me


author: Dave
body: This works when in edit mode, but when I save the page, it shifts to the left margin. When I re-edit the page, it looks correct...


author: Scott Welker
body: Unbelievable! All the years later and from v4.x - 6.x and this remains an issue. Shame on Atlassian.


author: ap
body: I concur, _shame_ on Atlassian for a swag of _common_ formatting and wiki functions that aren't ready to hand. We have the visual editor installed but it uses HTML and it looks like Confluence and JIRA especially ignore the less common setting most times.

I was not successful with this method when I attempted it. I took several runs at it before I found a solution. I put two markers on lines before and after the table. And selected them to Indent.

```
normal text
A
[Table]
Z
normal line of typing
```

1. Make the table
2. Put something on the line above the table, **A** above
3. Put something below the table, **Z** in the example
4. Click Indent on the edit bar
5. Save / Update the page
6. Go back and remove the lines with markers

That worked. I imagine it won't be necessary to have extra lines to select, but you'll have to unintend them after. I just deleted the '*extra*' lines seemed easy enough.


author: vlad_olt
body: [@Adam Turner2](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/680728) 's reply worked like a charm. Thanks!


author: Lawrence
body: The suggestion by ap works for me. I can't get Adam's solution to work.

However, somehow it doesn't work all the time. Besides, when it works, the table of content will has the entire table as the index.


author: TimT
body: There are indent and "outdent" buttons in the editor toolbar:

![](https://img.skitch.com/20120616-mmc1nnr6ce3xfksn9uikk5gbd2.png)

You can position your cursor in front of the table by clicking in the right spot, but it's sometimes easier to put the cursor in the first header cell and use the left arrow key to move it in front of the table. Then you can click the indent button to move the whole table.

comments: author: K Kelly
body: I wasn't able to succeed with that approach. I use firefox, chrome, safari.

I had to select all rows and use the indent. It looks fine in editing, appearing to be indented. But, when I saved it didn't display as indented. Nor, when I exported. In both cases, the table consistently appears left justified.

See attachments - the firs screenshot is when viewing; the second is when editing.

![](../../upfiles/Screen_Shot_2012-06-16_at_10.29.21_AM.png)![](../../upfiles/Screen_Shot_2012-06-16_at_10.29.09_AM.png)

I've input several support tickets on similar issues I am having with formatting and exporting, but getting no assistance.


author: Victor Chu
body: It works for me if I apply "Shift Left-Arrorw" on the top-left cell and then click the indent button. This will move the previous line as well.


author: Russell Honnor
body: Thanks for this tip. The Shift Left Arrow did it for me.   

But... its a bit sad that you have to google it and find this obscure tip, in order to do basic stuff...  

Also would have been nice if I could have just pasted my table from the one I already had from my email... (instead of having to rebuild it)


author: rswelker
body: In Confluence v4.2.x (ondemand) I too am unable to cause a table to indent in the saved page. However it shows indented while in the editor - wysi-N-wyg :\`(

Using FireFox, v13.0.1. However I was unable to correct the page in IE9.

FYI: Sure miss pure wiki markup. WYSIWYG a la MSWord results in great pain and lost productivity fighting the tools \<stepping off the soap box\>.

See also: <https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/46712/table-indent-works-in-editor-but-not-in-displayed-page>

comments: author: Dave
body: Here we are 5 years later and I still miss the pure wiki markup.


author: rswelker
body: I no longer miss it. I dumped Confluence.


author: admin
body: @Adam Turner: Your solution works! thanks a lot.


author: Bimmel
body: I'm seeing the same problem in Confluence 5.1. I see the style="margin-left: 30.0px" in the Source Code that I added to whatever tag I indent but in the case of tables, the renderer seems to ignore this inline style. Even more interesting is if I wrap this table with a div macro and then indent the div macro, neither one get receives the effect of the style added to the parent element.


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