Source: Working with Tables

[briburt]

New to Confluence, and this seems like a very simple thing, but I can't figure out how to add a background color to table rows in the Confluence editor. Am I missing something obvious somewhere? It's easy to do for panel and other areas, so surely there must be some option I'm missing somewhere as adding color to tables seems like a base editing feature that should just be there.

[Alejandro Conde Carrillo · Accepted solution]

This feature is actually available since Confluence 4.3 (CONF-6482)

[Andrew Beak]

This is not supported in new Confluence.  Apparently Atlassian product owners decided that feature regression is not an issue.  

[Bill Rudy]

I guess that depends on what "new Confluence" means...they are greatly expanding the options in upcoming versions FWIW https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/confluence-7-5-release-notes-1001823832.html#Confluence7.5ReleaseNotes-Bringsomecolourtoyourtables

[S Irvine]

It really is a pathetic interface. I can click in table cells and change their color, one at a time.  I can select multiple cells, and click on color, but nothing happens.  How hard can it be to color all the cells in the selection?

[CharlesH]

Slide 11 of this presentation offers a simple way to color table rows with the aid of a user macro : http://www.slideshare.net/GoAtlassian/a8-no-coding-necessary

[Kevin Mote]

My corporate firewall blocks that site. Can you summarize the slide?

[Jim Bethancourt]

<script type=text/javascript" defer="defer">

  jQuery(document).ready(function()

  {

    jQuery("tr:even").css("background-color", "#318db6");

    jQuery("tr:odd").css("background-color", "#f86a46");

  });

</script>

[Betsy Dugas]

Thanks Jim, that was just what we needed!

There is a quote missing before the word "type

The piece of info missing from this post is how to add the script.
We did that in a on prem version in Edit 
Clicking on the "+" Icon 
Choosing "Other Macros"

Then scolling down and selecting "HTML"

This created a box where we inserted the script.

[Kuncheff]

Highlight the cell in default color.

You will get default line of confluence code:

<td class="highlight-grey" data-highlight-colour="grey" title="Background colour : Grey">

Then replace it with:

<td style="background: rgb(xxx,xxx,xxx);">

========

Works very well.

If you have multiple cells to color then just use search and replace

[Marinda]

This works initially after you save the page, but if you go to edit the page again later, the custom colors all disappear.

[Jonas Andersson]

I offer a 3rd alternative in lack of a feature capable of adding colors to tables annu 2018:

Make tables in mspaint and insert them as pictures.

[Joerg Bencke]

For standardtables, I would choose the "panel" approach. It is build in out-of-the-box and easily readable and reproduceable for infrequent users.

HTML Macro has the security issues and the more macros/plugins you have, the more difficult the system is to maintain and teach.

[Jim Bethancourt]

There is a simpler approach than Nikhil's solution that only needs the {html} macro but allows for the use of wiki tables if you have text in your cell. Put this in the cell contents of your wiki table (assuming you have the {html} macro enabled):

{html}<span style="background-color:lime"/>pass{html}

e.g.

|| Test Name|| Pass/Fail||

|Test 1 | {html}<span style="background-color:lime"/>pass{html}|

|Test 2 | {html}<span style="background-color:red"/>fail{html}|

|Test 3 | {html}<span style="background-color:yellow"/>error{html}|

[Deleted user]

There is a table macro that you can use like as follows -

{table:style=border:1px dotted #ccc;}

{tr:style=text-align:center;background-color:silver;color:Indigo}

{th}Heading{th}

{tr:style=text-align:center;background-color:green;}

{td:align=left}data{td}{tr}

{table}

[Sherif Mansour]

We also have an open feature request for this that you might want to follow / vote on: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONF-6482

[Deleted user]

Can you check the link. It says, "project does not Exist"

[Joe Clark]

I've fixed the link.

[Anna McDonald]

Atlassian claims the ticket is resolved as of v4.3. I am using v5.3 (upgrading soon) and there is no color picker available. There are 5 pastels - not enough! We should be able to customize our tables without the panel hack, which leaves whitespace where it is not needed. What can be done to thoroughly resolve this issue? Why will Atlassian not add a color picker for background tables.

And while we are on this topic, why can we not add our own hex values to the text colors?

[Chris McKay]

Here we are almost 2 years later and no update. Still only 5 pastel colours to choose from. What is stopping Atlassian from using hex values or a colour picker as Anna suggested. Having used other collaborative and content solutions, Confluence is extremely backwards in a large number of areas. Given the underhanded approach to add-on pricing, I'd at least expect the basics (content formatting, table column widths etc.) to be handled well. I don't want a bunch of hacks, add-ons or embedded code to make simple colour changes.

[Bernd Nurnberger]

Colour and Other Formatting

To add colour and other formatting to your tables, you can use the Panel Macro within columns.
More table-formatting options may be available if your Confluence administrator has installed additional macros.

Source: Working with Tables

[Lumumba Juma]

Hello I just tried to use the panel macro inside a tabel but the result I get doesn t look good. I am convinced I am doing something wrong just by adding the panel macro to a table cell... (seems the image upload is not working ...)