The ability to easily add tables to your pages can be very useful. Tables are great for sorting and presenting data to people in a way that makes your information easier to understand.
WordPress provides users with a great visual editor, but there are some things that it doesn’t let you do by default, like being able to create tables without having to learn code.
Although you can add tables manually to your content 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 simply not a realistic option.
Fortunately, you can do almost anything you need done on a WordPress site with plugins, and adding tables to your content with the click of a mouse is no exception.
In this tutorial you will learn how to create and insert tables easily into your WordPress posts and pages without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Add Tables In Your Content Without Touching Code
If you want to add tables to your WordPress posts or pages without touching code, then the step-by-step tutorial below will show you how to add tables into your WordPress posts and pages using a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
TablePress
TablePress is a very powerful and time-saving WordPress plugin for creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress.
TablePress doesn’t require you to have any knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. It lets you easily edit table data. Tables can contain any kind of data, even formulas.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to include features like pagination, sorting, filtering, and more for your visitors. You can easily insert tables into your post content using shortcodes and display these using text widgets.
You can also import and export tables from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
TablePress 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 WordPress Plugin – Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress posts or pages, first install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download this plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it directly from within your own Dashboard …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you will see a new menu item displayed in your WordPress admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” section affects the plugin’s styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can modify the position of the TablePress menu entry in your Dashboard menu.
Normally, the menu item displays somewhere in the middle of your menu bar. If you plan to use this plugin a lot, then you can position the menu item close to the top of the Dashboard menu by choosing “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu entry now displays closer towards the top section of the menu …
You can also specify other options in the “Plugin Options” screen, such as formatting styles for your tables, default language, etc. Leave all options as they are if you don’t need to change things in this area.
With TablePress, tables are created and formatted inside the plugin area. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your pages. The table will then display or update when saving your page.
The advantage of working directly from the plugin is that you can easily change the information inside your tables without having to touch your pages. TablePress then updates all of your table data 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 the 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 tables at anytime…
Once your new table has been created, it will be added to the “All Tables” list and be assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode allows you to easily add tables anywhere inside a post or page by simply typing or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want your tables to display …
Once you have created a new table, adding content to it is really easy.
In the “Table Content” section, just click inside the cell and type or paste the content you want to display. You can add text, images and format your content (e.g. bold or italicize words, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
Once your new table is created, the plugin also displays 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 and the last row of the table to be the table footer, display alternate background colours on consecutive rows, highlight rows when a visitor hovers their mouse over the table, show the table name and description above or below the table, and more …
You can also modify your table content after it has been created in the “Table Manipulation” subsection. You can insert images and links, hide, show, insert, delete and clone selected rows and columns, add new rows and columns, combine 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, change the number of table rows showing on your post (and also allow visitors 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 in your browser allowing you to preview the table. Certain features such as the JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display once your post or page is published …
Click the Save Changes button after you are done editing to save your new table data …
To view a list of all the tables you have created choose TablePress > All Tables …
All the tables you have created are listed here. You can edit, see the shortcode, copy, export, delete and preview tables …
How To Use The Shortcode
You can embed tables inside any content with a shortcode.
Get the shortcode for your tables by clicking on the Show Shortcode menu item below 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 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 inside the “Text” area of the WordPress editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon brings up a list of all existing tables.
Select the table you want to embed into your post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added to your content …
Publish the post or page to view your table …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about this plugin is that you can change things 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 content to view the updated information.
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 information, 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, click on TablePress > Export a Table in the main 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 file to your hard drive …
After making changes and resaving your table file, you can then re-import the table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress from your hard drive, go to your sidebar menu and choose TablePress > Import a Table …
TablePress can import tables from existing data, such as CSV file data, from a spreadsheet application, an HTML file resembling a webpage, or its own JSON format.
To import a table, select and enter the import source in the “Import Tables” section. You can import multiple tables from ZIP files and select whether to import a table as a new table or to replace an existing table.
For more information about using the plugin, including accessing the plugin documentation for extra features, get plugin 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 a very powerful and feature-rich plugin that is free and will help you easily create and insert tables into your site content.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)