Being able to easily add tables on your website can be very useful. Tables help you sort and present data to visitors in a way that makes your information easier to understand.
WordPress offers a great visual editor, but there are some things that the default editor doesn’t let you do, such as letting you easily create tables.
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 most non-technical users, this is simply not a realistic option.
Fortunately, WordPress plugins let you do almost anything you can imagine, and adding tables to your content with the click of a mouse is no exception.
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to easily create and add tables into your pages and blog posts without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Create And Add Tables To WordPress Content
Follow the tutorial below to learn how to easily create and add tables in WordPress using a FREE plugin called TablePress.
TablePress – WordPress Plugin
TablePress is a very powerful and time-saving WordPress plugin that makes creating, editing and managing tables in your WordPress posts and pages a very simple and easy process.
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 sorting, pagination, filtering, and more for your visitors. You can insert tables into your post 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).
How To Use TablePress WP Plugin – Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
You can download this plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it directly from within your own WP Dashboard …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you will see a new menu item displayed in your admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and select Plugin Options from the submenu list …
The “Plugin Options” screen affects the plugin’s behavior in different areas of your site …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can specify the position of the TablePress menu entry in your 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 easily position the menu option closer to the top of the menu by specifying “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item now displays towards the top section of your menu …
You can also play with other settings in the “Plugin Options” area, such as formatting styles for your tables, default language, etc. Leave all default options as they are if you don’t need to change things in this section.
With TablePress, tables are created and formatted inside the plugin area. Tables are then placed via a shortcode into your text. The table will then display when saving your pages or posts.
The advantage of working directly from the plugin is that you can easily change the data in your tables without having to touch your posts and pages. TablePress then updates all of your table data in all instances where the table has been added to your content.
To create a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Type in a table name, an optional description, 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 edit the name, description and size of any tables you create at anytime…
Once the new table is created, it will display in the “All Tables” list and be assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode lets you easily add tables anywhere in your content by simply 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, just click in the cell and type or paste your content. You can add text, images and format your content (e.g. bold or italicize words, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
After your new table has been created, additional options appear that let you configure your table.
For example, in the “Table Options” section 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 colour, highlight rows when visitors hover their mouse over the table, display 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” area. You can perform various operations on your table, such as adding links and images, hiding, showing, inserting, deleting and cloning selected rows and columns, adding new rows and columns, 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, set the number of table rows showing on your post (and let users change the number of rows displayed), display table information, etc …
You can see how your table looks anytime, by clicking on the Preview button …
A preview window will open displaying the table. Certain features like JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display once your table is published …
Remember to click the Save Changes button after you are done editing to update your table data …
To view a list of all the tables you have created select TablePress > All Tables …
A list of all the tables you have created will be displayed in this section. You can edit, see the shortcode, copy, delete, export and preview your tables …
How To Use The TablePress Shortcode
You embed tables inside pages and posts using the TablePress shortcode.
Click on the Show Shortcode menu item below your table title to get the shortcode …
The plugin also adds a menu item to your WordPress editor. This allows you to easily insert tables into your posts and pages while working on your content.
Place your cursor where you want your 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 WordPress HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon brings up a list of all the available tables you have created.
Select the table you want to insert into your post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added …
Publish the post or page to view the table and table contents …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about TablePress is that you can change information after publishing the table without having to open your post or page. Tweak the content in the plugin area, then save the 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 new 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, select TablePress > Export a Table in your 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 changing and resaving your file, you can then easily re-import your 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, an HTML file resembling a webpage, or its own JSON format. You can also import existing tables from the WP-Table Reloaded plugin
To import a table, select and enter the source in the “Import Tables” area. You can also import multiple tables from a ZIP file and choose whether to import a table as a new table or replace an existing table.
For more information about TablePress, including accessing documentation about extra features, or 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 quite a powerful and feature-rich plugin that is free and will help you easily create and add tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum