Cannot insert images to `flextable` in docx; image syntaxes parsed by `ftExtra::colformat_md()` cannot render in pdf

[ErwinTATP]

I have:

• searched the issue tracker for similar issues
• installed the latest version of Quarto CLI
• formatted my issue following the Bug Reports guide

Bug description

I tried to insert images into flextable cells. I've tried two approaches:

1. Insert into dataframe with markdown syntax(![](path/to/image.png)), which was parsed by ftExtra::colformat_md()
2. Insert as a flextable object via flextable::as_image()

For docx, neither of the approaches worked, only producing a strange text placeholder at where the images were supposed to be. Other markdown features like bold and subscripts had been parsed and rendered correctly.

For pdf, adding the image syntax would cause fatal error and stop pdf rendering. If I remove the markdown image syntax from the table, the pdf would render as expected.

Steps to reproduce

sandbox.qmd:

---
format:
  docx:
    toc: false
  pdf:
    toc: false

execute:
  echo: false
  error: false
  warning: false
---
```{r}
#| tbl-cap: "flextable with **Markdown**"
#| label: tbl-tables

library(tidyverse)
library(flextable)
library(ftExtra)

data.frame(
  R = "![](/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/doc/html/logo.jpg)",
  img = "",
  markdown = "^This^ ~is~ **markdown**",
  stringsAsFactors = FALSE
) |>
  flextable() |>
  colformat_md() |>
  compose(
    j = "img",
    value = as_paragraph(as_image(src = file.path(R.home("doc"), "html", "logo.jpg"), width = 1, height = 1))
  )
```

Actual behavior

quarto render sandbox.qmd

processing file: sandbox.qmd
1/3             
2/3 [tbl-tables]
3/3             
output file: sandbox.knit.md

pandoc 
  to: docx
  output-file: sandbox.docx
  default-image-extension: png
  toc: false
  variables: {}
  
processing file: sandbox.qmd
1/3             
2/3 [tbl-tables]
3/3             
output file: sandbox.knit.md

pandoc 
  to: latex
  output-file: sandbox.tex
  standalone: true
  pdf-engine: lualatex
  variables:
    graphics: true
    tables: true
  default-image-extension: pdf
  toc: false
  
metadata
  documentclass: scrartcl
  classoption:
    - DIV=11
    - numbers=noendperiod
  papersize: letter
  header-includes:
    - \KOMAoption{captions}{tableheading}
  block-headings: true
  
Rendering PDF
running lualatex - 1
  This is LuaHBTeX, Version 1.24.0 (TeX Live 2026) 
   restricted system commands enabled.
  
updating tlmgr

updating existing packages
ERROR: 
compilation failed- error
Missing number, treated as zero.
<to be read again> 
N
l.216 ...sandbox_files/figure-pdf/tbl-tables-1.png}}
                                                   & \multicolumn{1}{>{\ragg...

see sandbox.log for more information.
WARN: Error encountered when rendering files

docx output:

pdf output:

pdf failed to render. sandbox.aux, sandbox.log, sandbox.tex files and the sandbox_files folders are all there.

The sandbox.tex had the following lines that caused error:

\multicolumn{1}{>{\raggedright}m{\dimexpr 0.75in+0\tabcolsep}}{\includegraphics[width=NAin, height=NAin]{sandbox_files/figure-pdf/tbl-tables-1.png}} & \multicolumn{1}{>{\raggedright}m{\dimexpr 0.75in+0\tabcolsep}}{\includegraphics[width=1in, height=1in]{sandbox_files/figure-pdf/tbl-tables-2.png}} & \multicolumn{1}{>{\raggedright}m{\dimexpr 0.75in+0\tabcolsep}}{\textcolor[HTML]{000000}{\fontsize{11}{11}\selectfont{\global\setmainfont{Helvetica}{\textsuperscript{This}}}}\textcolor[HTML]{000000}{\fontsize{11}{11}\selectfont{\global\setmainfont{Helvetica}{\ }}}\textcolor[HTML]{000000}{\fontsize{11}{11}\selectfont{\global\setmainfont{Helvetica}{\textsubscript{is}}}}\textcolor[HTML]{000000}{\fontsize{11}{11}\selectfont{\global\setmainfont{Helvetica}{\ }}}\textcolor[HTML]{000000}{\fontsize{11}{11}\selectfont{\global\setmainfont{Helvetica}{\textbf{markdown}}}}} \\

Expected behavior

The image should be rendered within the cell:

The example above is provided in documents of ftExtra package.

I've checked that the image file /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/doc/html/logo.jpg does exist on my computer.

Your environment

• OS: Mac OS X Tahoe (26.3.1) ARM64
• IDE: NVIM 0.11.6
• Office: LibreOffice 26.2.1.2

Quarto check output

quarto check

Quarto 1.8.27
[✓] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: /Users/[username]/Library/Caches/quarto
[✓] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.6.3: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.87.0: OK
      Deno version 2.3.1: OK
      Typst version 0.13.0: OK
[✓] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[✓] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.8.27
      Path: /Applications/quarto/bin

[✓] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: v2026.03.02
      Chromium: (not installed)

[✓] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Using: TinyTex
      Path: /Users/[username]/Library/TinyTeX/bin/universal-darwin
      Version: 2026

[✓] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
      Chrome:  (not detected)

[✓] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[✓] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.13.12
      Path: /Users/[username]/global_venv/.venv/bin/python3
      Jupyter: 5.9.1
      Kernels: ir, rkernel, ark, python3

[✓] Checking Jupyter engine render....OK

[✓] Checking R installation...........OK
      Version: 4.5.2
      Path: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources
      LibPaths:
        - /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.5-arm64/Resources/library
      knitr: 1.51
      rmarkdown: 2.30

[✓] Checking Knitr engine render......OK

[mcanouil]

Did you check what flextable is emitting? You can loo, at the intermediate markdown you are producing with keep-md: true.

Is the whole tidyverse really required (library(tidyverse))? Asking to install/load 100+ R packages is not small thing to ask.

Quarto (in most cases) consider a leading / to mean root of the project while you are clearly trying to include something from outside your project which does not fit into Quarto's philosiphy of what a project should be.

@ErwinTATP

Important

Accessibility: To improve accessibility, please add alternative text to your screenshots. This helps all users, including those using screen readers, to understand the context of the images. A brief description can make a big difference! See Good Alt Text, Bad Alt Text — Making Your Content Perceivable.

[mcanouil]

It seems flextable comes with as_qmd and filters to handle markdown inside flextable.
I believe this is the current way of making this work: https://davidgohel.github.io/flextable/reference/as_qmd.html

[mcanouil]

Following the documentation from flextable and dropping ftExtra, it works as long as the files are within the project.

The docx ends up corrupted though. I don't know which Quarto version was tested by the maintainer for this feature, but figure/image are not listed under the "Supported markdown" section of the documentation of flextable.

---
format:
  html: default
  pdf: default
  docx: default
execute:
  echo: false
  error: false
  warning: false
filters:
  - flextable-qmd
---

```{r}
#| tbl-cap: "flextable with **Markdown**"
#| label: tbl-tables
library(flextable)

data.frame(
  R = "![](logo.jpg)",
  img = "",
  markdown = "^This^ ~is~ **markdown**",
  stringsAsFactors = FALSE
) |>
  flextable() |>
  compose(
    j = "img",
    value = as_paragraph(as_image(src = file.path(R.home("doc"), "html", "logo.jpg"), width = 1, height = 1))
  ) |>
  mk_par(
    j = "markdown",
    value = as_paragraph(as_qmd(markdown))
  ) |>
  mk_par(
    j = "R",
    value = as_paragraph(as_qmd(R))
  )
```

[ErwinTATP]

@mcanouil Thanks for the detailed reply! The Mac is locked at my workplace, so I briefly tried with a different set-up at hand (CachyOS).

I have moved logo.jpg to the project folder, and ran flextable::use_flextable_qmd() in an R console before rendering.

---
format:
  html: default
  docx: default
  pdf: default
filters:
  - flextable-qmd
execute:
  echo: false
  error: false
  warning: false
---
```{r}
#| tbl-cap: "flextable with **Markdown**"
#| label: tbl-tables
library(flextable)

data.frame(
  R = "![](logo.jpg)",
  img = "",
  markdown = "^This^ ~is~ **markdown**",
  stringsAsFactors = FALSE
) |>
  flextable() |>
  compose(
    j = "img",
    value = as_paragraph(as_image(src = "logo.jpg"))
  ) |>
  mk_par(
    j = "markdown",
    value = as_paragraph(as_qmd(markdown))
  ) |>
  mk_par(
    j = "R",
    value = as_paragraph(as_qmd(R))
  )
```

In my case I can get docx to partially work, but the pdf still refused to render.

Here's the docx result:

So far it looks like inserting image with qmd markdown is doable, though I need to tweaks the dimensions (which I haven't tried yet). flextable::as_image() still didn't render properly and left that Shape1... placeholder.

I ran flextable::use_flextable_qmd() in an R console before quarto render. I did it this way to make sure the filter files would be generated properly.

Again, this is done on a different machine, I'll replicate the solution on the Mac tomorrow.

[mcanouil]

This seems to be more an issue with the library than with Quarto CLI itself.
You might have better luck by trying to make flextable emits HTML table.

[ErwinTATP]

Back on the Mac where I made my original test, I can confirm that pdf and html can render correctly with the amended .qmd and the flextable-qmd filters enabled:

Still, in docx the image with markdown syntax rendered with wrong dimensions, and flextable::as_image() failed to render (like the one I've shown in my previous reply). It's not too much an issue for me at this point, I'm not planning to use as_image anytime soon.

I'm not quite sure why pdf rendering failed on my Linux, it mentioned something about tlmgr failed to compile packages. Would look into it when I'm back at that machine.