Being able to provide visitors with tables on your content can be really handy. Tables are great for sorting and presenting data to people in a way that makes your information easier to understand.
The WordPress visual editor is great, but there are some things that it doesn’t let you do by default, such as giving you the option to easily create tables.
Although you can create tables manually in WordPress if you have knowledge of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), for many non-technical WordPress users, this is not a realistic option.
Fortunately, you can do almost anything you can imagine on a WordPress site with plugins, and adding tables is no exception.
In this tutorial you will learn how to easily create and insert tables into your posts and pages without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Create And Insert Tables Into WordPress Posts And Pages
To create and add tables into your WordPress content with no coding skills required, we’ll use a FREE plugin called TablePress.
TablePress – WP Plugin
A very powerful and time-saving plugin that makes creating, editing and managing tables in your WordPress posts and pages a very simple and easy process is TablePress.
TablePress doesn’t require you to have any knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. The plugin lets you easily edit your table data. You can add any kind of data to your tables.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to include features like sorting, pagination, filtering, and more for your site visitors. You can easily insert tables into your content using shortcodes and even display tables inside text widgets.
A table can also be imported and exported from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON formats.
TablePress was created by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
How To Use TablePress – Step-By-Step Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress with TablePress, first install and activate the TablePress plugin.
You can download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from within your own Dashboard …
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see a new menu item in your WordPress admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and select Plugin Options from the submenu list …
The “Plugin Options” area affects the plugin’s behavior in different areas of your site …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can change where the TablePress menu entry appears on your Dashboard menu.
By default, the menu item displays around the middle of your menu. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can position the menu option closer to the top of the Dashboard menu by choosing “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item now appears towards the top of your menu …
You can also specify other options in the “Plugin Options” section, such as table formatting styles, default language, etc. If you don’t need to modify these settings, just leave the default options.
With TablePress, you create and edit your tables inside the plugin section. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your posts. Your table will then display or update after saving and publishing your post.
The advantage of doing this is that you can easily change the data inside your tables without having to open any of your pages and posts. The plugin then updates all of your table information in all instances where the table has been added to your content.
To add a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Enter a name, a description (optional), and the number of rows and columns you would like for your new table into the “Add New Table” form in the Add New tab, then click on the Add Table button to create your new table. You can change the name, description and size of your table at anytime…
Once your new table has been created, it will display in the “All Tables” list and be assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode allows you to easily insert tables anywhere in your content by simply typing or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want to display your table …
Once you have created a new table, adding content to your table is easy.
In the “Table Content” section, just click in the cell and either type or paste the content you want to display. You can add text, images and format your content (e.g. add bold text, insert links, etc …)
After your new table has been created, the plugin also displays additional options for configuring your table.
For example, in the “Table Options” area you can specify the first row of your table to be the table header or the last row of the table to be the table footer, make the background of consecutive rows alternate in color, highlight rows when a visitor hovers their mouse over the table, display the table name and description above or below the table, and more …
You can also edit your table content after it has been created in the “Table Manipulation” subsection. You can add images and links, hide, show, insert, delete and clone selected columns and rows, add new rows and columns, combine cells, etc …
You can also enable JavaScript library features in your tables, such as allowing visitors to sort, filter and search your table content, set the number of table rows displayed on your site (and also allow users to specify the number of rows displayed), display table information, etc …
You can see how your table looks anytime, by clicking the Preview button …
A preview window will open displaying your table. Certain features such as the JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display when your post or page is published …
Remember to click the Save Changes button after you are done editing to save your new table information …
To view a list of all your tables TablePress > All Tables …
A list of all the tables you have created will be displayed in this area. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, delete, export and preview tables …
Using The Shortcode To Embed Tables Into Your Content
You insert tables into your pages and posts using a shortcode.
Get the shortcode for your tables by clicking on the Show Shortcode menu item under your table title to get the shortcode …
The plugin also adds a shortcode menu icon to your WordPress editor. This allows you to easily insert tables into your posts and pages while working on your content.
Place your mouse cursor where you want the table to appear then click the TablePress menu icon …
TablePress Menu Icon In Visual Editor Screen
Note: You can also insert a table when working inside the “Text” area of the WordPress editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress Text Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon displays a list of all the available tables you have created.
Select the table you want to embed in your content and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be inserted into your content …
Publish your post or page to view the table and table contents …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about this plugin is that you can change the contents of your table after publishing the table without having to open your post or page. Tweak the content in the plugin area, then save your new table settings and refresh your page to view the updated content.
Another great time-saving feature of the TablePress plugin, is that if you plan to keep adding data to an existing table, just export your current table, then add new items, make changes, etc. You can then re-import your exported file with the news changes and your table content will be automatically updated throughout your site.
To export an existing table, click on TablePress > Export a Table in the WP admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, choose the table(s) you want to export (you can select multiple tables by holding down the “Ctrl” key), then select the Export Format you want(e.g. CSV) and any other export options you’d like to make and click on the Export Table button to download the file to your hard drive …
After editing and resaving your file, you can then re-import the table into WordPress.
To import a table, go to the Dashboard menu and select TablePress > Import a Table …
TablePress can import tables from existing data, such as CSV file data, from a spreadsheet application (e.g. Excel), an HTML file resembling a webpage, or its own format.
To import a table, select and enter the source in the “Import Tables” area. You can import multiple tables from compressed (ZIP) files and choose whether to import a table as a new table or write over an existing table.
To learn more about using TablePress, including where to access documentation about additional features, or get technical support, contact the plugin author, etc., click on the “About Tab” in the plugin admin section, or select TablePress > About TablePress …
As you can see, TablePress is an extremely powerful time saving plugin that is free and will help you easily create and embed tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
***
"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com