I find the table feature very restrictive and lacking in feature and options. In word you could easily add columns or rows without interfering with your previous work in building your table.All I want to do is add a small column after the last column. But even though there is plenty room on the page it adds the column in the tables matrix and the same size as the previous column. In word you could draw a line from the top to the bottom of your table and create an extra column that way. This is 2020 and I could do this in word 10 years ago.
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The main goal of the table feature is to present data or arguments in tabular format. Adding columns is not supposed to be a routine operation.
In your question, you did not mention the properties of your table and you did not qualify what “there is plenty room on the page” means (wide margins? table narrower than distance between margins?).
Tables in Writer primarily contain text paragraphs, not numbers like in spreadsheets. Consequently space is at a premium. By default, a table extends from margin to margin (reminder: in Writer, margins are no-print areas). This total space is distributed among the columns. This seems sensible. When you add another column, you are compelled to borrow space from the existing columns. How does Word prevent that?
I agree that, when you forced the table to a narrower width then the margin-margin distance, the extra column could borrow from the available space instead of distributing on the existing table width. But you set the width in the table properties. Then what is the important attribute? The table width or the spacing around?
To complicate matters, table width can be specified in relative units: you can request a 50% table. When you change the margins, the table automatically adapts to the new 50% width. This seems to indicate that the table width is the critical parameter. Consequently, adding a new column with Table>Insert must cope with this constraint.
What you want to do is possible if the table does not extend to the margins but you must not use Table>Insert. You must use the keyboard. Press first Alt+Insert, then the left or right arrow. The added column will not mess the existing ones.
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editing/ adding/ deleting is all about what word processors are for; and for me, the same goes for editing tables; “not supposed to be” sounds like personal opinion
Same goes for the above statement; personal opinion; Writer is sometimes very convenient & more flexible than Calc where numbers are incorporated into tables with other text.
I fully commiserate with PeterH3. I also find it very frustrating there is only a hidden Alt+Insert > Cursor+Left or Cursor+Right to add columns without modifying existing ones.