Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/davidgohel/flextable/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
flextable integrates with knitr through knit_print.flextable(), which is called automatically when a flextable object appears in a code chunk. You do not need to call it directly.
How rendering works
When knitr processes a chunk containing a flextable, it detects the output format and generates the appropriate output:
| Output format | Rendering method |
|---|
| HTML | Native HTML table with scoped CSS |
| Word (docx) | Office Open XML (wml) |
| PDF | LaTeX table code |
| PowerPoint (pptx) | Presentation ML (pml) |
| Other (GitHub, Beamer, etc.) | PNG image via save_as_image() |
library(flextable)
ft <- flextable(head(iris))
ft <- autofit(ft)
ft
Adding captions
The recommended way to add a caption is with set_caption():
ft <- flextable(head(airquality))
ft <- set_caption(ft, caption = "Daily air quality measurements")
ft
set_caption() is used, chunk options related to captions are ignored.
In Quarto, use tbl-cap and label chunk options instead of set_caption():
```{r}
#| label: tbl-airquality
#| tbl-cap: "Daily air quality measurements"
ft
```
@tbl-airquality. In bookdown documents, cross-references use \@ref(tab:chunk_label).
Chunk options reference
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|
ft.align | Table alignment: 'left', 'center', 'right' | 'center' |
R Markdown captions
These options are only used when set_caption() has not been called on the table:
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|
tab.cap | Caption text | NULL |
tab.id | Caption id / bookmark | NULL |
tab.topcaption | Place caption above the table | TRUE |
tab.lp | Caption sequence identifier | "tab:" |
tab.cap.style | Word paragraph style for the caption | NULL |
HTML
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|
ft.htmlscroll | Enable horizontal scrolling | FALSE |
Word
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|
ft.split | Allow rows to break across pages | TRUE |
PDF
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|
ft.tabcolsep | Space between text and cell borders (pt) | 0 |
ft.arraystretch | Row height multiplier | 1.5 |
ft.latex.float | Float placement: 'none', 'float', 'wrap-r', 'wrap-l', 'wrap-i', 'wrap-o' | 'none' |
PowerPoint
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|
ft.left | Left position of table placeholder (inches) | 1 |
ft.top | Top position of table placeholder (inches) | 2 |
knitr::opts_chunk$set():
knitr::opts_chunk$set(
ft.align = "left",
ft.tabcolsep = 4
)
officedown caption options
When using officedown::rdocx_document(), additional caption chunk options become available:
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|
tab.cap.pre | Numbering prefix | "Table " |
tab.cap.sep | Numbering suffix | ": " |
tab.cap.tnd | Title number depth | 0 |
tab.cap.fp_text | Caption prefix formatting | fp_text_lite(bold=TRUE) |
tab.cap.tns | Title / table number separator | "-" |
Tables inside loops
To print flextable objects inside for loops or if statements, use flextable_to_rmd(). Set the chunk option results = 'asis':
```{r results='asis'}
for (species in unique(iris$Species)) {
sub <- subset(iris, Species == species)
ft <- flextable(head(sub))
ft <- set_caption(ft, caption = as.character(species))
flextable_to_rmd(ft)
}
```
Automatic data frame conversion
use_df_printer() replaces the default data frame print method so that any data frame printed in a document is automatically converted to a flextable:
use_df_printer()
# now data frames render as flextable
head(iris)
use_model_printer() to do the same for model objects. These functions are best placed in a setup chunk.
Quarto setup with use_flextable_qmd()
The flextable-qmd Lua filter extension allows Quarto markdown syntax inside flextable cells: cross-references, bold, italic, links, math, inline code, and shortcodes. Install it with:
After installing, use as_qmd() to mark cell content as Quarto markdown:
ft <- flextable(data.frame(
label = c("See @tbl-summary for details"),
value = c(42)
))
ft <- compose(
ft, j = "label",
value = as_paragraph(as_qmd("See @tbl-summary for details"))
)
Post-processing hooks
set_flextable_defaults() accepts post-processing functions that are applied to every table before rendering. This is useful for applying consistent styling across a document:
set_flextable_defaults(
post_process_html = function(ft) {
theme_vanilla(ft)
},
post_process_docx = function(ft) {
theme_booktabs(ft)
}
)
post_process_all, post_process_html, post_process_docx, post_process_pdf, post_process_pptx.