The ability to easily add tables to 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 is great, but there are some things that the default editor won’t 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 users, this is not a feasible option.
Fortunately, you can do almost anything you need done on a WordPress site with plugins, and adding tables is no exception.
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to easily create and add tables into your WordPress posts and pages with no coding skills required.
Adding Tables In WordPress Content
If you want to add tables into your WordPress content without touching code, then the tutorial below will show you how to do this using a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
WP Plugin – TablePress
A very 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 doesn’t require you to have any knowledge or skills coding HTML, CSS, etc. It lets you easily edit your table data. You can add any kind of data to your tables.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to add features like sorting, pagination, filtering, and more for your site visitors. You can include the tables into your pages and blog posts using shortcodes and display tables inside text widgets.
You can also import and export a table from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON formats.
TablePress was developed by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
How To Use TablePress WordPress Plugin – Step-By-Step Tutorial
To create and manage tables in WordPress using TablePress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it directly from your Dashboard …
After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu item will appear on your WordPress admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” screen controls your plugin styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can change where the TablePress menu entry appears on your Dashboard menu.
Normally, the menu entry displays somewhere in the middle of your menu. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can position the menu option towards the top of the admin menu by specifying “Top-level (middle)” on the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item now displays closer towards the top of the menu …
You can also play with other options in the “Plugin Options” tab, like formatting styles for your tables, default language, and so on. If you don’t need to change these settings, then just leave the options as the default.
With TablePress, you create and edit tables within the plugin section. Tables are then placed via a shortcode into your WordPress posts and pages. The table will then display or update after publishing or updating your pages or posts.
The advantage of doing this is that you can easily change the data in your tables without having to touch your pages and posts. TablePress then updates all of your table information in all instances where the table has been added to your content.
To create a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Enter the 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, and click on the Add Table button to create your new table. You can change the name, description and size of any table you create 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 lets you easily add tables anywhere inside a post or page by simply inserting or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want to display your table …
Once a new table has been created, adding content to your table is easy.
In the “Table Content” section, click inside the cell and either type or paste the content you want to display. You can add text, images and HTML formatting to 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” 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, make the background of consecutive rows alternate in colour, highlight rows when a visitor hovers their mouse over the table, display the table name and description above or below the table, and more …
You can also edit your table after it has been created in the “Table Manipulation” area. You can insert links and images, hide, show, insert, delete and duplicate selected rows and columns, add new rows and columns, combine 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 pages (and also allow visitors to 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 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 table information …
To view a list of all your tables TablePress > All Tables …
Your tables are displayed in this section. You can edit, see the shortcode, copy, export, delete and preview tables …
Using The TablePress Shortcode
You embed a table into content with a shortcode.
You can get the shortcode for your tables by clicking on the Show Shortcode menu item below the 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 be embedded 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 opens a window containing a list of your tables.
Select the table you want to embed into your content and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be inserted …
Publish your post or page to view the table and table contents …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about this plugin is that you can change the contents of your table after publishing the table without having to edit your post or page. Tweak 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 exported file with the news changes and your table content will be automatically updated throughout your site.
To export a table, select TablePress > Export a Table in your main menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, choose the table(s) you want 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 file to your hard drive …
After editing and resaving your table file, you can then easily re-import your table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress, 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 (e.g. Excel), 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 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 using the plugin, including accessing documentation about extra features, or get plugin 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 useful time saving free plugin will help you easily create and insert tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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