How to create a drop down menu in a table | Confluence

Confluence Cloud tables have no native drop-down. A table cell cannot hold a select list, and Atlassian's own tracker still lists a drop-down list macro as a suggestion rather than a feature. What Confluence does offer covers most of what a drop-down in a table is wanted for: the Expand macro for a collapsible section, the Status macro for a fixed set of labels, and a Marketplace app when a true select is required.

Expand: a collapsible section in a cell

When the goal is to keep a table readable by tucking detail away until someone needs it, use Expand. While editing, click into the cell and type /expand, or choose Expand from the + menu. Give it a title, which is what readers see while it is closed, and put the detail inside. An expand in a table cell can hold lists, code blocks, panels, quotes and dividers as well as text.

An expand is not a selector. Everyone who opens it sees the same content and nobody picks a value from it, so it suits reference detail such as acceptance criteria, rollback steps or notes, not a field like status or owner. When the page is exported to PDF, the expand prints open.

Atlassian's guide: Insert the expand macro.

Status: a fixed set of labels

When the goal is to show one value from a short list, such as Not started, In progress and Done, use Status. Click into the cell, type /status, type the label and choose a color. In the cloud editor this is the Status element, the current version of the Status macro, and it sits in a table cell like any other text.

Confluence does not enforce the list. Each status is typed where it is used, so the fixed set is a convention your team keeps. Write the allowed labels and their colors above the table, and give each meaning the same color on every page, so a reader can trust that green means the same thing everywhere.

Atlassian's guide: Insert elements into a page.

A Marketplace app: a true select

When people need to choose from a controlled list, so that a cell can only hold one of the allowed values, Confluence Cloud needs an app. Several Marketplace apps add drop-down macros to Cloud pages; Handy Macros for Confluence, for example, lists drop-downs in tables among its features. Before installing one, check that the listing supports Confluence Cloud, who can change the list of values, and whether a reader can pick a value without editing the page.

Choosing between them

• Detail that would clutter the table: Expand.
• One value from a short, agreed list, set by whoever edits the page: Status.
• A value that must come from a controlled list: a Marketplace app.

If the column tracks a state, Status covers it without adding an app to the site. Reach for an app when the list has to be enforced rather than agreed.