Tables are a GFM extension, not a universal Markdown primitive
CommonMark does not define pipe tables. Choose strict GFM or GitHub Extended when a table is part of the source contract, and verify that the final destination supports the same extension.
Keep cells short and semantic. A table works best for repeated fields with clear column relationships—not as a general page-layout system.
Escape delimiters and normalize imported data
A literal pipe inside a cell must be escaped, and multiline spreadsheet values need an explicit policy because a source newline can terminate a Markdown row. MDLoom's CSV and TSV converters parse quoted input, escape pipes and backslashes, and represent embedded newlines explicitly.
| Name | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| `a\|b` | A literal pipe |
| First line<br>Second line | An explicit line break |Know when a list or headings are clearer
Pipe syntax cannot express every complex header relationship. Avoid merged cells and paragraph-length content; screen readers and narrow screens are better served by headings, lists, or repeated definition blocks when the grid becomes complicated.
- Introduce the table and explain what readers should compare.
- Use concise, descriptive headers and consistent data types per column.
- Review horizontal overflow in browser, PDF, DOCX, ODT, and EPUB separately.
- Do not encode status using color alone.
Review destination behavior, not just the source preview
A wide table that fits a desktop preview may overflow an A4 page or reflow poorly in an ebook. The canonical PDF worker reports width overflow, while editable document exports remain structural and may need manual layout adjustment.