Tables in Obsidian and Notion: Formatting, Plugins and Formulas

How do I make a table in Obsidian?

Obsidian uses the GitHub-style pipe syntax described in the Markdown table syntax guide: a header row, a delimiter row of hyphens, then one line per row. You can also run Insert table from the command palette, or right-click in the editor and choose Insert → Table, to get an empty table to fill in.

| Project            | Owner   | Due        | Status      |
| :----------------- | :------ | :--------- | :---------- |
| Website redesign   | Priya   | 2026-11-03 | In progress |
| Q4 planning        | Marcus  | 2026-10-24 | Done        |
| Customer interviews| Lena    | 2026-12-01 | Not started |

Editing tables in Live Preview

In Live Preview, the table renders as a grid you can type into. Right-click a cell to add or delete rows and columns, move them, sort by a column, and set a column's alignment. Obsidian rewrites the Markdown source for you, so the file stays a plain pipe table. Switch to Source mode when you need to see or fix the raw pipes.

For keyboard-driven editing in Source mode, the community plugin Advanced Tables pads the columns as you type, moves between cells with Tab / Shift+Tab, adds a row with Enter, and adds commands for sorting, moving columns, alignment, CSV export and formulas.

Wikilinks, aliases and images in cells

Internal links, embeds, tags and inline formatting all work in cells. The catch is the pipe that Obsidian uses for link aliases and image sizes: inside a table it ends the cell. Escape it with a backslash.

| Note                              | Topic   |
| --------------------------------- | ------- |
| [[Meeting 2026-10-02|Kickoff]]    | Roadmap |

| Note                               | Topic   |
| ---------------------------------- | ------- |
| [[Meeting 2026-10-02\|Kickoff]]    | Roadmap |

Line breaks need <br>; a Markdown list or a second paragraph can't go in a cell. More options are in line breaks in tables and escaping pipes.

| Meeting   | Action items                          |
| --------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Kickoff   | • Draft scope<br>• Book design review |
| Retro     | None                                  |

Obsidian table options compared

“Table” in Obsidian can mean four different things. Choose by whether you type the data or it comes from your notes' properties:

Obsidian table formulas (Advanced Tables)

Obsidian has no spreadsheet formulas in Markdown tables. The Advanced Tables plugin adds them: write the formula in an HTML comment on the line directly under the table, then run the formula command (or the formulas button in its toolbar). The result is written into the cells as plain text, so the note stays readable anywhere.

| Item              | Grams |
| ----------------- | ----: |
| Bread flour       |   500 |
| Water             |   350 |
| Salt              |    10 |
| Starter           |   100 |
| **Total**         |   960 |
<!-- TBLFM: @>$2=sum(@I..@-1) -->

| Item    | Qty | Price | Line total |
| ------- | --: | ----: | ---------: |
| Cables  |   3 |  4.50 |      13.50 |
| Adapter |   2 | 12.00 |      24.00 |
<!-- TBLFM: $4=($2*$3);%.2f -->

Merging cells in Obsidian

Native Obsidian tables can't merge cells. You have two workable options:

• HTML. Obsidian renders raw <table> markup with colspan and rowspan. It is reliable but you lose Live Preview table editing for that table.
• Table Extended plugin. Put -tx- on the line before a table to use MultiMarkdown syntax: an empty cell marked with || joins the cell to its left, and ^^ joins a cell to the one above. It also supports captions and headerless tables. Its README notes a conflict with Advanced Tables auto-formatting, and it is a community plugin, so check it still loads in your Obsidian version.

-tx-
|             | Q3 results               ||
| Region      | Revenue     | Growth     |
| ----------- | ----------: | ---------: |
| EMEA        | 1.2M        | 8%         |
| APAC        | Not reported            ||

<table>
  <tr><th>Region</th><th colspan="2">Q3 results</th></tr>
  <tr><td>EMEA</td><td>1.2M</td><td>8%</td></tr>
  <tr><td>APAC</td><td colspan="2">Not reported</td></tr>
</table>

More approaches, including Pandoc grid tables, are in the merged cells guide.

Tables from note properties: Bases and Dataview

If each row is really a note (a book, a project, a person), don't maintain a pipe table by hand. Put the values in each note's properties and let Obsidian build the table.

Bases is a core plugin (Obsidian 1.9 and later). A base is a .base file or a base code block that filters notes and shows them in a table view where each row is a note and each column a property. You can edit properties directly in cells, sort, group, add per-column summaries (sum, average, min, max, earliest date and more by right-clicking a header), and define formulas. Create one with Bases: Create new base in the command palette, or embed an existing base with ![[Projects.base]].

```base
filters:
  and:
    - file.hasTag("project")
formulas:
  budget_left: '(budget - spent).toFixed(2)'
views:
  - type: table
    name: Active projects
    order:
      - file.name
      - note.status
      - note.due
      - formula.budget_left
```

Dataview is the older community-plugin approach. It reads frontmatter and inline fields and renders a read-only table from a query. Use it when you need its query language or already rely on it; prefer Bases when you want to edit values in the table.

```dataview
TABLE status, due, owner
FROM "Projects"
WHERE status != "done"
SORT due ASC
```

Neither Bases nor Dataview output is stored as a Markdown table, so it won't show up if you open the note on GitHub or in VS Code. To publish a snapshot, copy the rendered table and run it through HTML table to Markdown.

How do I import a Markdown table into Notion?

Notion is a block editor, not a Markdown editor, so it never keeps your pipes. There are two ways in:

1. Paste. Copy the Markdown table (from Obsidian's Source mode, VS Code or this site) and paste it into a Notion page. Notion converts it to a simple table. If the first row isn't styled as a header, turn on Header row in the table's Options.
2. Import. Go to Settings → Import → Text & Markdown and upload the .md file. Tables in the file become simple tables on the new page.

If a paste lands as plain text with pipes, the table usually isn't valid: check that the delimiter row has the same number of cells as the header with the table validator. If your data is in a spreadsheet, import it as CSV instead; Notion creates a database from a CSV.

Notion simple table vs. database

To upgrade, open the simple table's menu and choose Turn into database. Converting a database back to a simple table may be refused when it uses things a simple table can't hold, such as formula or relation properties.

Notion table formulas

Formulas exist only in databases. Add a property of type Formula and reference other columns with prop("Name"):

if(prop("Qty") > 0, prop("Qty") * prop("Price"), 0)

For a column total, use the calculation menu at the bottom of a table view column (Sum, Average, Min, Max and more) rather than a formula. Simple tables have neither, which is the most common reason to convert one.

Getting tables out of Notion as Markdown

Use Export → Markdown & CSV on the page. Notion's docs say full-page databases export as a CSV file with a Markdown file for each row page; turn the CSV into a pipe table with the CSV to Markdown converter. Merged cells, colors and header toggles have no Markdown equivalent, so check exported tables before committing them anywhere. For a quick one-off, copy the table in Notion and paste it into the HTML to Markdown converter.

Obsidian vs. Notion table features

If notes move between the two apps, keep tables simple: no merged cells, no colors, one line per cell. Those survive in both directions and also render on GitHub and in VS Code.

Common mistakes and fixes

• Unescaped alias pipes. [[Note|Alias]] in a cell adds a column. Write [[Note\|Alias]].
• No blank line before the table. A table directly under a paragraph or list may not render. Leave an empty line above it.
• Formulas that don't update. Advanced Tables formulas run only when you evaluate them; they are not live like a spreadsheet. Re-run the formula command after editing values.
• Table Extended plus Advanced Tables. Auto-formatting can rewrite -tx- tables. Turn formatting off for those notes or use HTML.
• Expecting formulas in a Notion simple table. Convert it to a database first.
• Pasting Notion tables into Obsidian. The clipboard may hold HTML or tab-separated text rather than Markdown. Convert it with the table to Markdown converter, then tidy the source with the table formatter.

Build a table for Obsidian or Notion

Frequently asked questions

Related guides: GitHub README tables, tables in VS Code and fixing a table that won't render.