Everyone’s tables suck. Like seriously, why is it so hard to add a cell. Why is it so hard to move cells. Man I just want to swap my cell. It’s all so bad. Let’s take a tour.

Notion

There’s like actually no way to add a column in between columns. And inserting a new column makes the width of the new column like, random? Fixed? And why are the grabbers all like 2 pixels wide?

Google Docs

Seriously, how can deleting a column be this awful? Mobile Google Docs tables suck.

Linear

Okay. I cannot figure out how to add another column. What the heck?

Obsidian

Try to follow my cursor challenge! Seriously wtf.

Slack

Yes Slack supports tables. You have to paste from a spreadsheet. So basically they don’t have tables.

Summary

I tend not to use tables. I use nested lists.

At Macro, I’m bringing tables back.

Enter: the Macro table.

Bring your nested lists to Macro tables.

Macro tables are good. They have all the batteries 🔋:

1. Create one inline, mid-sentence, with /.
2. Can easily add rows or columns anywhere without spending 5 minutes fumbling through menus.
3. Easy to move around cells. Easy to find and use the handle to move around cells. Handle is not 4 pixels tall.
4. Easy to copy and delete and cut and paste. Pasting when there isn’t enough space in the table crops what you are pasting. I feel like poofing in new cells is not intuitive, it’s jarring.
5. Can delete a column. Can delete a row. Do not need to use nav menus to do so.
6. Support for lists, headings, and other nodes inside table cells.
7. Can delete the table without having to select the whole thing via obvious button.
8. Tables work in messages. In emails. In documents. Are consistent. (soon!)
9. Works on mobile. Can easily scroll and see the whole thing on mobile.