Canvas Tables

CanvasTables is a Confluence macro that turns any table already sitting on your page into a live, interactive tool without touching the original table or duplicating its data. Pick a table, choose a tool (Filter, Pivot, Chart, Table Transformer, or Table Excerpt), configure it in a side-by-side canvas, and the result renders live on your published page, reading the source table fresh every time.

The configuration dialog is built around a canvas: a left-side tool rail, a center configuration panel for the source table and tool-specific settings, and a right-side live preview showing exactly what will appear on the page. A footer handles export, save, and cancel.

On the published page, readers also get ✨ Ask Rovo, an AI assistant (the CanvasTables Analyst Rovo agent) that can explain a table, build a chart from a plain-English request, and help with or fill formulas.

🧰 Five tools in one macro, switchable from a single tool rail:

• 🔎 Table Filter: search, sort, per-column filters, display styling, per-row color tags, and a built-in cell formula engine

• 📊 Pivot Table: group, spread, and aggregate (Sum/Count/Average/Min/Max) with automatic grand totals

• 📈 Chart from Table: 10 chart types with aggregation and light/dark coloring

• 🔗 Table Transformer: combine 2+ tables via Merge, Lookup, or Advanced SQL; its output can feed a Pivot or Chart

• 📌 Table Excerpt / Table Excerpt Include: save any tool's configuration as a reusable, always-live "single source of truth"

🤖 Rovo AI assistant (new): an Ask Rovo menu on the published macro opens the CanvasTables Analyst agent in the Rovo chat panel (details below)

📎 Large data support (new): Custom/imported tables over ~1 MB are stored as a Confluence page attachment instead of inside the macro config

🖱️ Two more ways in: a "CanvasTables" byline item opens the same config dialog, and a Global Page under Apps → Your apps offers a searchable catalog of the tools

📤 Export the current view: CSV, Excel (.xls), or JSON, exactly as shown in the live preview

📄 ADF export support: publishing or exporting the page renders a lightweight text summary (tool type, source, fields involved), not the live interactive output

An ✨ Ask Rovo button appears above the table, chart, pivot, or excerpt on the published page. Its menu offers:

How it works:

• Table Excerpts get the same menu, based on the output type they capture.

• The table is passed to the agent as hidden structured context, not pasted into the chat, so chat stays clean.

• Everything stays inside Atlassian. Rovo features use only the app's own Forge storage and the existing page-read access, with no external service, no write to the page content, and no extra permissions. The source table is still never modified.

1. Edit the page that already contains the table you want to work with.

2. Type /CanvasTables to insert the macro.

3. Pick a table (or a Custom Table / imported CSV/JSON) and a tool from the left rail; the live preview updates as you configure.

4. Click Save. The tool appears on the page exactly as previewed, reading the source table live on every load.

• Table from page: pick from tables already on the page

• Custom Table: build or paste one by hand

• Import CSV/JSON: seed a Custom Table from a file. Data over ~1 MB is automatically saved as a page attachment (canvastables-data-<id>.json) so the page stays responsive; smaller tables stay inline.

• Multi-select (Table Transformer only): two or more sources combined together

• Reader-friendly data view: make a dense table searchable, filterable, and sortable

• Summary dashboard: Pivot Table + Chart from Table on the same page

• Combining tables: merge or join with Table Transformer, then pivot or chart the result

• Single source of truth: save a Table Excerpt and include it on any page or space

• Instant insight (new): readers click Ask Rovo to get a summary, an on-the-fly chart, or a formula, without leaving the page

✔ The source table is never modified; every tool re-reads it live on each render.

✔ No undo/redo in the config dialog. Review the live preview before clicking Save.

✔ Rovo must be enabled on the site. If it isn't, clicking Ask Rovo shows a message asking the Confluence admin to enable Atlassian Rovo.

✔ Rovo sees a trimmed copy of the data: up to the first 200 rows, with each cell cut at 200 characters. Explanations of very large tables reflect that sample (the agent is told when data was truncated).

✔ Fill column has limits. It fills an existing column only (it can't add columns or rows), works on a standalone Table Filter on the published page (not in the page editor preview), and refuses a formula that reads its own column (circular reference). For a new computed column, add it in the Custom Table editor first.

✔ AI charts are an overlay. An AI-built chart is saved per macro and replaces that tool's output on the page until someone chooses Remove AI chart / Revert to saved chart. It doesn't change the macro's saved configuration.

✔ Formula limits still apply: arithmetic plus SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, COUNT, PRODUCT, ROUND, INT, ABS, FLOOR, CEILING, SQRT. There's no IF/SUMIF/lookup. Conditions go in a column's ƒx filter, not a cell formula.

✔ Table Excerpts have no automatic cleanup. A deleted or moved source shows "Source not found — relink" everywhere it's included until fixed.

✔ Page export keeps only a plain-text summary (tool type, source, fields involved). Interactive filtering, pivoting, charting, and Rovo features don't carry over, so open the page in Confluence for the real output.

✔ The Global Page is a catalog and documentation hub, not a live builder.

(Full detail on each tool lives on its own page, linked above.)

Have questions or feedback about CanvasTables?
Email: support@rvsoftwares.in