Being able to display tables on your website can be really handy. Tables help you sort and present data to people in a format that can make your information easier to understand.
WordPress provides users with a feature-rich visual editor, but there are some things that the default editor won’t let you do, such as letting you create tables without having to learn code.
Although you can add tables manually to your content in WordPress if you know HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), for many non-technical users, this is not a feasible option.
Fortunately, you can do just about anything you need done on a WordPress site with plugins, and adding tables to your content is no exception.
In this tutorial you will learn how to easily create and insert tables into your WordPress posts and pages with no coding skills required.
How To Add Tables To WordPress Content
Follow the step-by-step tutorial below to learn how to easily add tables into your WordPress posts and pages using a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
WordPress Plugin – TablePress
TablePress is a powerful and time-saving plugin for creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress.
TablePress does not require you to have any knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. The plugin lets you easily edit table data. Your tables can contain any type of data, even formulas.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to include features like sorting, pagination, filtering, and more for your visitors. You can easily insert tables into your post content using shortcodes and display tables using text widgets.
A table can also be imported and exported from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON formats.
The plugin was written and developed by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
How To Use TablePress Plugin For WP – Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it directly from your own Dashboard …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you will see a new menu item on your WP admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” section affects the plugin’s behavior in different areas of your site …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can modify the position of the TablePress menu entry in your WP admin menu.
By default, the menu entry appears somewhere in the middle of your menu bar. If you plan to use this plugin a lot, then you can position the menu item near the top of the Dashboard menu by specifying “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu entry now shows close to the top area of your menu …
You can also specify other plugin options in the “Plugin Options” tab, such as formatting styles for your tables, default language, and so on. If you don’t need to change these settings, just leave the default options.
With TablePress, tables are created and formatted inside the plugin screen. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your text. Your table will then display after republishing or saving your content.
The benefit of doing this is that you can easily update the data in your tables without having to open any of your 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 table name, an optional description, and the number of rows and columns you want 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 edit the name, description and size of your tables at anytime…
Once your new table has been created, it will get added to the “All Tables” list and get assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode allows you to easily add tables anywhere inside a post or page simply by inserting or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want to display a table …
Once a new table has been created, adding content to it is easy.
In the “Table Content” section, click in the cell and type or paste your content. You can add text, images and HTML formatting to your content (e.g. add bold text, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
Once your new table is created, the plugin will display additional options for configuring your table.
For example, in the “Table Options” area you can select 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 colour, highlight a row when a visitor hovers their mouse over the table, print the table name and description above or below the table, and more …
You can also edit your table information after creating it in the “Table Manipulation” section. You can perform various edits on your table, like inserting links and images, hiding, showing, inserting, deleting and duplicating selected rows and columns, adding new rows and columns, combining cells, etc …
You can also enable JavaScript library features in your tables that will allow site visitors to sort, filter and search your table content, set the number of table rows displayed on your pages (and also allow users to specify the number of rows displayed), display table information, etc …
You can preview your table anytime, by clicking the Preview button …
A preview window will open in your screen allowing you to preview your table. Certain features like JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display when your post or page is published …
Remember to click the Save Changes button when finished to save your new table information …
After you have created one or more tables, you can view a list of all your tables by going to TablePress > All Tables …
All the tables you have created are listed here. You can edit, see the shortcode, copy, delete, export and preview tables …
Using The TablePress Shortcode To Insert Tables Into Your Page Content
You can embed a table inside pages and posts using the TablePress shortcode.
Click 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 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 the table to appear 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 editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In Text Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon brings up a list of all your existing tables.
Select the table you want to embed into the content and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added …
Publish the post or page to display your table contents …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about TablePress is that you can change the contents of your table after publishing the table without having to edit your post or page. Just tweak the content in the plugin area, then save the new table settings and refresh your page to view the updated information.
Another great time-saving feature of this plugin, is that if you plan to keep adding more data to an existing table, you can simply export your current table, then add new data, 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, select TablePress > Export a Table in your WP admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, select the table(s) you want to export (tip: 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 your table into WordPress.
To import a table, go to your admin menu and select TablePress > Import a Table …
TablePress can import tables from existing data, such as CSV file data, from a spreadsheet application, an HTML file, or its own format. You can also import existing tables from the WP-Table Reloaded plugin
To import a table, select and enter the import source in the “Import Tables” area. You can also import multiple tables from a compressed (ZIP) file and select whether to import tables as a new table or to replace an existing table.
To learn more about the plugin, including where to access documentation about extra features, get technical support, 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 quite a powerful and feature-rich plugin that is free and will help you easily create and insert tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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