The ftExtra package provides helper functions for the flextable package:
colformat_md parses markdown texts in columnsspan_header makes multi-level headersinstall.packages("ftExtra")options(repos = c(atusy = 'https://atusy.r-universe.dev', getOption("repos")))
install.packages("ftExtra")library(ftExtra)data.frame(
  x = c("**bold**", "*italic*"),
  y = c("^superscript^", "~subscript~"),
  z = c("***~ft~^Extra^** is*", "*Cool*"),
  stringsAsFactors = FALSE
) %>%
  flextable() %>%
  colformat_md()
iris %>%
  head %>%
  flextable() %>%
  span_header()
library(dplyr, warn.conflicts = FALSE)
iris %>%
  group_by(Species) %>%
  slice(1:2) %>%
  flextable()