Introduction

A powerful Visual Studio Code extension for working with Markdown tables. Features unique capabilities like compact mode, smart max-width formatting, row numbers, table transposition, smart mode detection, and multiple sort options that you won't find in other extensions.

Supported languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and Simplified Chinese.

Don't forget to rate the extension!

✨ Unique Features

🗜️ Compact Tables

Unlike other extensions that only "prettify" tables, Table Buddy offers true compact mode - minimizing whitespace for cleaner diffs and smaller file sizes.

Before (formatted):

| Name       | Age | City        |
|------------|-----|-------------|
| John Doe   | 30  | New York    |
| Jane Smith | 25  | Los Angeles |

After (compact):

|Name|Age|City|
|---|---|---|
|John Doe|30|New York|
|Jane Smith|25|Los Angeles|

Compact with padding (configurable):

| Name | Age | City |
| --- | --- | --- |
| John Doe | 30 | New York |
| Jane Smith | 25 | Los Angeles |

📏 Smart Max-Width Formatting

Keep your tables readable within a configurable maximum width without truncating long content. Table Buddy intelligently formats tables so that:

• Columns are aligned and padded to fit within maxWidth
• Rows with long content gracefully exceed the limit rather than being truncated
• Short rows remain beautifully aligned

With maxWidth: 80:

| ID | Name            | Description                               |
| -- | --------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| 1  | Widget          | A small component                         |
| 2  | Super Long Item | This description is very long and will exceed the max width limit naturally |
| 3  | Gadget          | Another component                         |

The separator and short rows stay within 80 characters, while row 2's long content is preserved without breaking the table structure.

📐 Pandoc Column Width Hints

Pro Tip for Pandoc Users: Control your PDF column widths directly from Markdown!

When exporting Markdown to PDF or other formats using Pandoc, the relative lengths of dashes in separator cells determine column width proportions. Table Buddy can preserve these ratios with keepSeparatorRatios: true.

Original table with custom separator widths:

| Name | Description                                               |
|------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| API  | The main application programming interface for the system |

Now set custom separator ratios (1:12 ratio = ~8% : ~92% width):

| Name | Description                                              |
|-----|--------------------------------------------------------------|
| API  | The main application programming interface for the system |

With keepSeparatorRatios: true, formatting and compacting preserve these proportions, ensuring Pandoc renders "Description" much wider than "Name" in the PDF output.

🔢 Row Numbers

Automatically add, update, or remove row numbers - a feature unique to Table Buddy.

Add Row Numbers:

| # | Name       | Age | City        |
|--:|------------|-----|-------------|
| 1 | John Doe   | 30  | New York    |
| 2 | Jane Smith | 25  | Los Angeles |
| 3 | Bob Wilson | 35  | Chicago     |

• Configurable starting number (default: 1)
• Configurable header text (default: "#")
• Configurable alignment (default: right)
• Numbers auto-update when rows are added/removed

🔄 Transpose Table

Swap rows and columns instantly - perfect for reorganizing data.

Before:

| Metric  | Q1  | Q2  | Q3  |
|---------|-----|-----|-----|
| Sales   | 100 | 150 | 200 |
| Costs   | 80  | 90  | 110 |

After transpose:

| Metric | Sales | Costs |
|--------|-------|-------|
| Q1     | 100   | 80    |
| Q2     | 150   | 90    |
| Q3     | 200   | 110   |

🎯 Smart Mode Detection

Table Buddy automatically detects whether your table is in compact or formatted mode and preserves that style after operations. No more tables unexpectedly switching formats!

• Operations like sort, add row numbers, transpose, etc. respect the original table style
• Tolerant detection handles minor inconsistencies
• Configure format-on-save to auto-format while preserving each table's mode

📋 Duplicate Rows

Quickly duplicate any data row with a single command - great for creating similar entries.

📊 Multiple Sort Options

Four different sort modes for complete control:

Sort Type	Description	Example
Text Ascending	A → Z	apple, banana, cherry
Text Descending	Z → A	cherry, banana, apple
Numeric Ascending	0 → 9	1, 2, 10, 20, 100
Numeric Descending	9 → 0	100, 20, 10, 2, 1

Note: Numeric sort correctly handles numbers (10 comes after 2), unlike pure text sorting.

---

📋 All Features

Table Formatting

• Compact Table - Minimize whitespace (single table or all tables)
• Format Table - Beautify with alignment (single table or all tables)
• Format on Save - Auto-format tables when saving (respects mode)

Row Operations

• Insert Row Above/Below - Add new rows at cursor position
• Remove Row - Delete current row
• Move Row Up/Down - Reorder rows
• Duplicate Row - Copy current row
• Add/Remove Row Numbers - Automatic numbering
• Auto-insert on Enter - New row when pressing Enter in last row

Column Operations

• Insert Column Left/Right - Add new columns
• Remove Column - Delete current column
• Move Column Left/Right - Reorder columns
• Align Column - Set left, center, or right alignment
• Auto-insert on Tab - New column when pressing Tab at end of row

Sorting

• Sort Ascending - Text sort A-Z
• Sort Descending - Text sort Z-A
• Sort Numeric Ascending - Number sort 0-9
• Sort Numeric Descending - Number sort 9-0

Data Conversion

• Transpose Table - Swap rows and columns
• CSV to Table - Import CSV/TSV data
• Table to CSV - Export to CSV format (copy or replace)
• Paste from Excel - Paste clipboard data as table
• Convert to HTML - Export as HTML table (copy or replace)

Selection & Copy

• Select Row - Select entire current row
• Select Column - Multi-cursor select entire column
• Copy Row - Copy row values to clipboard (multi-line, comma, or semicolon separated)
• Copy Column - Copy column values to clipboard (multi-line, comma, or semicolon separated)

Navigation

Key	Action
Tab	Navigate to next cell (auto-insert column at end of row)
Shift+Tab	Navigate to previous cell
Enter	Navigate to cell below (auto-insert row in last row)

Smart Features

• Ignore Code Blocks - Tables in ``` blocks are untouched
• Mode Detection - Preserves compact vs formatted style
• Create New Table - Quick-start with configurable dimensions

---

🚀 Usage

Context Menu

1. Right-click in a Markdown table
2. Select Markdown Table Buddy submenu
3. Choose your command

Command Palette

1. Press Cmd+Shift+P (macOS) / Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux)
2. Type "Table Buddy" to see all commands

Keyboard Navigation

Just use Tab, Shift+Tab, and Enter to navigate cells naturally.

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

All Table Buddy commands can be assigned custom keyboard shortcuts. Open Keyboard Shortcuts (Cmd+K Cmd+S on macOS / Ctrl+K Ctrl+S on Windows/Linux), search for "Table Buddy", and assign your preferred shortcuts.

---

⚙️ Settings

Copy this to your settings.json and customize as needed:

"md-table-buddy": {
    "fileExtensions": [".md"],
    "formatOnSave": false,
    "ignoreCodeBlocks": true,
    "autoInsertColumnOnTab": true,
    "autoInsertRowOnEnter": true,
    "compactTable": {
        "cellPadding": true,
        "separatorPadding": true,
        "alignSeparatorWithHeader": true,
        "keepSeparatorRatios": false
    },
    "formatTable": {
        "maxWidth": 0,
        "cellPadding": true,
        "separatorPadding": true,
        "preserveAlignment": true,
        "keepSeparatorRatios": false
    },
    "rowNumbers": {
        "startNumber": 1,
        "headerText": "#",
        "alignment": "right"
    },
    "sort": {
        "keepHeaderRow": true
    },
    "csv": {
        "delimiter": ",",
        "hasHeader": true,
        "trimCells": true,
        "quoteStrings": "auto",
        "includeHeader": true
    }
}

General

Setting	Default	Description
fileExtensions	[".md"]	File extensions to treat as Markdown
formatOnSave	false	Auto-format tables on save
ignoreCodeBlocks	true	Skip tables inside code blocks
autoInsertColumnOnTab	true	Insert column when Tab at last cell
autoInsertRowOnEnter	true	Insert row when Enter in last row

Compact Table

Setting	Default	Description
compactTable.cellPadding	true	Add space around cell content
compactTable.separatorPadding	true	Add space in separator cells
compactTable.alignSeparatorWithHeader	true	Match separator width to headers
compactTable.keepSeparatorRatios	false	Preserve original separator length ratios (for Pandoc)

Format Table

Setting	Default	Description
formatTable.maxWidth	0	Max table width (0 = unlimited)
formatTable.cellPadding	true	Add space around cell content
formatTable.separatorPadding	true	Add space in separator cells
formatTable.preserveAlignment	true	Keep existing alignment markers
formatTable.keepSeparatorRatios	false	Preserve original separator length ratios (for Pandoc)

Row Numbers

Setting	Default	Description
rowNumbers.startNumber	1	Starting number
rowNumbers.headerText	"#"	Header text for number column
rowNumbers.alignment	"right"	Column alignment

Sort

Setting	Default	Description
sort.keepHeaderRow	true	Don't sort the header row

CSV

Setting	Default	Description
csv.delimiter	","	Delimiter character
csv.hasHeader	true	First row is header
csv.trimCells	true	Trim cell whitespace
csv.quoteStrings	"auto"	When to quote: always/auto/never
csv.includeHeader	true	Include header in export

---

📝 Commands Reference

Command	Description
Compact Table	Compact table at cursor
Compact All Tables	Compact all tables in document
Format Table	Format table at cursor
Format All Tables	Format all tables in document
Add/Update Row Numbers	Add or update row numbers
Remove Row Numbers	Remove the row number column
Sort Table Ascending	Sort by current column (A-Z)
Sort Table Descending	Sort by current column (Z-A)
Sort Table Numeric Ascending	Sort by current column (0-9)
Sort Table Numeric Descending	Sort by current column (9-0)
Insert Column Left/Right	Add a new column
Remove Column	Delete current column
Move Column Left/Right	Reorder columns
Align Column Left/Center/Right	Set column alignment
Insert Row Above/Below	Add a new row
Remove Row	Delete current row
Move Row Up/Down	Reorder rows
Duplicate Row	Copy current row
Transpose Table	Swap rows and columns
Create New Table	Insert a blank table
Paste Clipboard as Table	Paste Excel/CSV data
Select Row/Column	Select for editing
Copy Row/Column	Copy values to clipboard
Convert CSV/TSV to Table	Import from CSV/TSV
Convert Table to CSV	Export to CSV (copy or replace)
Convert to HTML	Export as HTML (copy or replace)

---

🔧 Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.85.0 or higher
• Works with Markdown files (.md by default, configurable)

📋 Known Issues

• Tables must use the pipe (|) syntax
• Tables must have a header separator row (e.g., |---|---|)

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Donate

If you are using the tool but are unable to contribute technically, please consider promoting it and donating an amount that reflects its value to you. You can do so either via PayPal

or via GitHub Sponsors.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.txt file for details.

---

Enjoy working with Markdown tables! 🎉