Being able to easily add tables on your pages can be very useful. Tables help you sort and present data to visitors in a format that can make your information easier to understand.
The WordPress visual editor offers many features, but there are some things that it doesn’t let you do by default, like being able to 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 WordPress users, this is simply not a feasible option.
Fortunately, you can do just about anything you need done on a WordPress site with plugins, and inserting tables into your content with the click of a mouse is no exception.
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to create and insert tables easily into your site’s pages without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Easily Insert Tables Into WordPress Pages And Posts
To create and add tables into your WordPress content with no HTML or CSS knowledge required, we’ll use a FREE plugin called TablePress.
TablePress
TablePress is a great WordPress plugin that makes creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress simple and easy.
TablePress requires no 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 add features like sorting, pagination, filtering, and more for your visitors. You can include the tables into your page content using shortcodes and even display tables using text widgets.
You can also import and export tables from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
This plugin was created by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
How To Use TablePress Plugin For WordPress – Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress with TablePress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
You can download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from within your Dashboard …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you will see a new menu item has been added to your WP admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose 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 specify where the TablePress menu entry appears on your Dashboard menu.
Normally, the menu entry 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 towards the top of the admin menu by choosing “Top-level (middle)” on the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item now displays closer to the top section of the menu …
You can also specify other settings in the “Plugin Options” tab, like formatting styles for your tables, default language, and so on. If you don’t need to change this section, then just leave the default options.
With TablePress, you create and edit tables inside the plugin screen. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your posts. Your table will then display or update after your content is republished.
The advantage of working directly from the plugin is that you can easily change the data in your tables without having to manually edit your posts and pages. TablePress then updates all of your table information everywhere 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, and 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 get added to the “All Tables” list and get assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode lets you easily add tables anywhere inside a post or page by simply typing or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want your table to display …
Once you have created a new table, adding content to the table is very 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. bold or italicize words, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
Once your new table is created, additional options appear that let you configure 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, display alternate background colours on consecutive rows, highlight a row 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” section. You can perform various operations on your table, like inserting links or images, hiding, showing, inserting, deleting and duplicating selected rows and columns, adding new columns and rows, combining 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 showing on your content (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 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 when finished to save your table information …
To view a list of all the tables you have created select TablePress > All Tables …
All the tables you have created are listed here. You can edit, see the shortcode, copy, delete, export and preview your tables …
Using The Shortcode
You can insert a table into posts and pages using the TablePress shortcode.
You can 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 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 appear 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 editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon opens a window containing a list of your tables.
Select the table you want to embed into your post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be inserted into your content …
Your table contents will display as soon as you publish your post or page …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about TablePress is that you can change data after publishing the table without having to edit your post or page. Change the content in the plugin area, then save the new table settings and refresh your content 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 information, 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 a table, click on TablePress > Export a Table in your main menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, choose the table(s) 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 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 (e.g. Excel), an HTML file, or its own format.
To import a table, select and enter the source in the “Import Tables” section. You can also 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.
For more information about the plugin, including accessing 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 useful 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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