Table block: Merge/Unmerge cells

[mapk]

The Table block does not provide a way to merge or unmerge cells. It's a popular feature request for the Table block, let's see if we can make this happen. 😉

Something similar to this (Google Docs):

We can expose this action in the dropdown similarly to how we display the other actions.

[mapk]

This request was noted here: #6923 by @helen.

[talldan]

Thanks so much for helping define these tasks @mapk! Would definitely be great to get this in.

Some tangible steps could be taken towards cell merging:

• Support the colspan attribute on the underlying HTML (would at least allow merged cells for pasted tables, or those edited in the HTML editor. This is the basic foundation needed for the cell merging feature to work)
• Cell navigation and selection needs to be improved (keyboard navigation, multiple cell selection). I started working on keyboard nav, so will hopefully have a PR incoming for that, but haven't had that much time lately to work on things.

[charlyox]

Hello here, this feature is really missing indeed, especially in a B2B context ! I can't wait for it. I'm a php / JS dev, I'd be happy to help !
Thanks a lot

[charlyox]

Would it be a good start to allow html editing with colspan & rowspan attributes ?

[gziolo]

The same feature was requested on the Gutenberg plugin forum:
https://wordpress.org/support/topic/table-block-no-cell-merging/

[dmvvilela]

So nothing yet?

[jobthomas]

Confirming that this would be a great addition to the table block.

[adamsilverstein]

Thanks for the reminders, I'll try to pick up work on #17261 or parallel efforts soon.

[alexrhino]

we would definitely need this feature too

[afercia]

Reported also on core Trac, see https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/50071

[ocean90]

@adamsilverstein Is there something we can help you with? Are there any blockers?

[sergeiermilov]

How can I find out the status of this issue?

[tnchuntic]

Is it possible to add list block inside table? like innerblock or something.

[pokhiii]

This is such a common use case that it's frustrating that it's not already there. I tried to add rowspan by converting to HTML but it makes the table block invalid.

Guten Team, please look into this 🙏

[klostrophobik]

Mark me down as another request. I've got a few hundred staff members that are using your tables on our site and would like to be able to do this.

[sergeiermilov]

Gutenberg team, are you listening anybody?!

[jeffpaul]

@sergeiermilov yes, the team is listening and there's a work-in-progress PR for this so if this is something or urgent and/or important need for you then please see how you can help on that PR.

[joelyoder]

• Support the colspan attribute on the underlying HTML (would at least allow merged cells for pasted tables, or those edited in the HTML editor. This is the basic foundation needed for the cell merging feature to work)

Is there any downside to including colspan support like @talldan mentions above? Assuming it doesn't break the editor, it would be a good stopgap for now. I'm ok with having to add in the colspan manually, but not having any support for it becomes frustrating when converting a lot of pages that used that feature.

[sabernhardt]

Trac #52937: another request for simply allowing these attributes in the table block (when using edit as HTML)

[jdaviescoates]

I just wanted to do this and so came here and found this issue. Seems there has been a work-in-progress PR since 2019! Any chance of us getting this anytime soon? Thanks!

[jeffpaul]

@jdaviescoates checking in on #18768 is probably best as that's where folks are confirming approach, which will then either need to be updated in #17261 or crafted via a new PR.

[WhiteX]

While we wait... what's the best workaround you found? I'm looking for bringing some tables from MS Word to WP, and the lack of the merged cells feature makes it impossible to handle with the default options.

[joelyoder]

While we wait... what's the best workaround you found? I'm looking for bringing some tables from MS Word to WP, and the lack of the merged cells feature makes it impossible to handle with the default options.

The simplest solution I've found in the meantime is just using a table inside of a Classic Block. Anything you could do in TinyMCE before will work in that block.

[WhiteX]

Thanks @joelyoder , I tried and it might be a good substitute for a while :)