Being able to easily add tables on your content can be really handy. Tables help you sort and present data to people in a format that can make your information easier to understand.
The WordPress visual editor offers many great features, but there are some things that the default editor doesn’t let you do, 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 most non-technical WordPress users, this is not a practical option.
Fortunately, WordPress plugins give users almost unlimited expansion capabilities, and inserting tables into your content with the click of a mouse 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.
Adding Tables In Posts And Pages In WordPress
To create and add tables into your WordPress content without touching code, we’ll use a FREE plugin called TablePress.
TablePress – WP Plugin
A 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 requires no knowledge or skills coding HTML, CSS, etc. The plugin lets you easily edit table data. You can add any kind of data to your tables.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to include features like pagination, sorting, filtering, and more for visitors. You can easily insert tables into your content using shortcodes and even display tables inside text widgets.
Tables can also be imported and exported from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
TablePress was developed by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
Using TablePress – Tutorial
To create and manage tables in WordPress, first install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download this plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it directly from your own Dashboard …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see a new menu item on your admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and select Plugin Options from the submenu list …
The “Plugin Options” page controls your plugin styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can modify where the TablePress menu entry appears on your WP admin menu.
Normally, the menu item appears somewhere around the middle of your menu column. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can position the menu option close to the top of the menu by specifying “Top-level (middle)” on the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item will now display closer to the top of your menu …
You can also specify other options in the “Plugin Options” tab, such as formatting styles for your tables, default language, etc. If you don’t need to modify these settings, just leave the default options.
With TablePress, you create edit and format tables inside the plugin section. Tables are then placed via a shortcode into your posts. The table will then display or update after publishing your post.
The advantage of doing this is that you can easily modify the information inside your tables without having to manually edit your posts and pages. The plugin then updates all of your table information inside all posts and pages where the table has been added to your content.
To create a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Enter a name, a description (optional), and the number of rows and columns you want for your new table into the “Add New Table” form in the Add New tab, and click on the Add Table button to create your new table. You can change the name, description and size of your tables at anytime…
Once your new table has been created, it will appear in the “All Tables” list and get assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode allows you to easily insert tables anywhere inside a post or page simply by typing or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want your tables to be displayed …
Once you have created a new table, adding content to it is really easy.
In the “Table Content” section, click inside the cell and either type or paste your content. You can add text, images and format your content (e.g. add bold text, insert links, etc …)
Once your new table is created, additional options appear that let you configure your table.
For example, in the “Table Options” section you can select the first row of your table to be the table header and the last row of the table to be the table footer, make the background of consecutive rows alternate in colour, highlight a row when visitors hover their mouse over the table, display the table name and description above or below the table, and more …
You can also modify your table information after creating it in the “Table Manipulation” area. You can perform a range of edits on your table, like adding images and links, hiding, showing, inserting, deleting and cloning selected columns and rows, adding new columns and rows, combining cells, etc …
You can also enable JavaScript library features in your tables, such as allowing site visitors to sort, filter and search your table content, change the number of table rows showing on your site (and let visitors 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 in your web browser displaying the table. Certain features like JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display when your table is published …
Remember to click the Save Changes button when finished to update your new table information …
Once you have created one or more tables, you can view a list of all your tables by going to TablePress > All Tables …
A list of all your tables will be displayed in this area. You can edit, see the shortcode, copy, export, delete and preview tables …
Using The TablePress Shortcode
You embed a table into any pages and posts using the TablePress shortcode.
Get the shortcode for your tables by clicking on the Show Shortcode menu item under the table title to get the shortcode …
The plugin also adds a menu item to your WordPress content 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 your table to show then click the TablePress menu icon …
TablePress Menu Icon In Visual Editor Screen
Note: You can also add a table when working in the “Text” area of the WordPress editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon displays a list of all the available tables you have created.
Select the table you want to add to the content and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added to your content …
Publish your post or page to display your table …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about this plugin is that you can edit the contents of your table after publishing the table without having to open your post or page. Edit the content in the plugin area, then save your new table settings and refresh your post to view the updated content.
Another great time-saving feature of this plugin, is that if you plan to keep adding more data to an existing table, just export your current table, then add new items, make changes, etc. You can then re-import your table file with the news changes and your table content will be automatically updated throughout your site.
To export an existing table, select TablePress > Export a Table in your WP admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, select the table(s) you would like 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 table file to your hard drive …
After making changes and resaving your table file, you can then easily reimport the table into WordPress.
To import a table, 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 import source in the “Import Tables” area. You can import multiple tables from a compressed (ZIP) file and choose whether to import a table as a new table or to replace an existing table.
To learn more about using TablePress, including where to access the plugin documentation for additional features, get technical support for the plugin, contact the plugin developer, etc., click on the “About Tab” in the plugin admin section, or select TablePress > About TablePress …
As you can see, TablePress is a very powerful time saving plugin that is free and will help you easily create and embed tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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