I’ve been dealing with this issue for a while and finally found a working solution. My automated script creates data and displays it in table format. Some columns need to maintain minimum width requirements, but JIRA’s markup adjusts column widths automatically based on screen size and the content across all table columns. Using noformat tags didn’t work for data cells since those columns contained characters that needed JIRA markup processing. Since I don’t have admin access, I can’t use advanced plugins or custom JIRA scripts.
Been wrestling with this for months until I found a workaround that actually works. Skip trying to force column widths directly - instead, pad your data with invisible Unicode characters. I use zero-width space (U+200B) plus regular spaces at strategic spots in the cell content. Put these characters after your actual data but before any line breaks. JIRA’s renderer counts these for width calculations but doesn’t display the zero-width spaces. Works consistently across different screen sizes and doesn’t mess with JIRA’s markup processing like noformat tags do. Takes some trial and error to nail the spacing, but once you find the sweet spot, it’s rock solid.
Had the same issue with JIRA table formatting. Here’s what worked for me: throw some non-breaking spaces ( ) into your cell content to force the columns wider. You can stick these right in your data cells and JIRA won’t mess with them. Another trick - add dummy rows with longer text to set the width, then strike through the text so it’s barely visible. Just make sure the content is long enough to hit your minimum width but still makes sense. Also try mixing regular spaces and tabs in your script output - JIRA handles these differently depending on what markup is around them.
same headaches here! try usin the pipe character with extra spaces to force wider columns - somethin like | column header with lots of spaces |. not perfect but beats the default auto-sizin. also check for hidden characters that might be messin with the width calculations.