Research / Constructs / Tables
Markdown tables in five publishing editors
One Markdown fixture, five real publishing editors, tested 2026-08-24. For tables the observed result was a manual step in Substack, X, and LinkedIn; kept in WordPress and Beehiiv. Every row below is a rule with its own page and its own dated record.
Matches table_small, table_wide. Fixture markdown-portability-test-v1. Tested 2026-08-24. How these tests are run.
What happens, per destination
| Destination | What happens | Result | Severity | Rule | Confidence | Last tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Substack | A wide table needs a media plan, not flattened cells. | Manual step | Action | SUB-TABLE-02 | Verified | 2026-08-24 |
| X | A wide table needs a summary and a media plan. | Manual step | Action | X-TABLE-02 | Verified | 2026-08-24 |
| A wide table needs a summary and an attachment. | Manual step | Action | LI-TABLE-02 | Verified | 2026-08-24 | |
| Substack | Tables become accessible labeled rows. | Degraded | Review | SUB-TABLE-01 | Verified | 2026-08-24 |
| X | Small tables become labeled rows, keeping every cell value. | Degraded | Review | X-TABLE-01 | Verified | 2026-08-24 |
| Small tables become compact labeled rows. | Degraded | Review | LI-TABLE-01 | Verified | 2026-08-24 | |
| WordPress | Small tables become native tables. | Kept | Info | WP-TABLE-01 | Verified | 2026-08-24 |
| WordPress | A wide table needs a narrow-screen check. | Kept | Review | WP-TABLE-02 | Verified | 2026-08-24 |
| Beehiiv | Small tables become native tables. | Kept | Info | BEE-TABLE-01 | Verified | 2026-08-24 |
| Beehiiv | A wide table wraps tightly in email. | Kept | Review | BEE-TABLE-02 | Verified | 2026-08-24 |
Manual steps this creates
- Substack: Add the table as an image with a text summary. (Flattening a complex table silently would lose the relationships between cells.)
- X: Attach the table as an image and write a one-line summary. (Raw pipes are not readable output, and flattening a wide table loses cell relationships.)
- LinkedIn: Attach the table as a document or image with a text summary. (Flattening a wide table silently would lose the relationships between cells.)
- Substack: Check the labeled rows read correctly, or add the table as an image. (Rich paste removed all table structure and no native table control was visible.)
- LinkedIn: Check the labeled rows read correctly. (All pipes and separator characters stayed visible in the tested composer.)
- WordPress: Preview the post on a phone-width screen. (Table behavior depends on the theme and viewport, which this tool cannot see.)
- Beehiiv: Check both email previews, or split the table. (Cells wrapped hard in the tested desktop and mobile email previews.)
Limits of what was tested
- Each result describes the surface named beside it, on the date named beside it, and nothing wider.
- A result marked unknown means no dated test covers it. It is not a prediction.
- Rendering is not the same across platform versions, themes, plugins, or email clients.
Prepare a draft
- Check your own draft against all five destinations
- Markdown to WordPress, handoff mode: gutenberg paste
- Markdown to Substack, handoff mode: rich html clipboard
- Markdown to Beehiiv, handoff mode: clean markdown paste
- Markdown to X, handoff mode: plain text
- Markdown to LinkedIn, handoff mode: plain text
Related
- The 10 rules behind this page:
BEE-TABLE-01,BEE-TABLE-02,LI-TABLE-01,LI-TABLE-02,SUB-TABLE-01,SUB-TABLE-02,WP-TABLE-01,WP-TABLE-02,X-TABLE-01,X-TABLE-02 - Every construct, side by side
- The full five-destination matrix