Being able to easily add tables on your content can be really handy. Tables are great for sorting and presenting data to visitors in a way that makes your information easier to understand.
The WordPress visual editor is great, 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 create tables manually 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 feasible option.
Fortunately, WordPress plugins let you do almost anything you can imagine, and inserting tables into your content with the click of a mouse is no exception.
In this tutorial you will learn how to create and add tables easily into your pages and blog posts with no coding skills required.
How To Insert Tables Into Your Content Easily Without Programming Skills
If you want to create and add tables into your WordPress content with no coding skills required, then the tutorial below will show you how to add tables into your WordPress posts and pages using a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
WP Plugin – TablePress
TablePress is a great WordPress plugin that makes creating, editing and managing tables in your WordPress posts and pages simple and easy.
TablePress requires no knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. The plugin lets you easily edit your table data. You can add any kind of data, even formulas to tables.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to add features like sorting, pagination, filtering, and more for visitors. You can insert tables into your pages and blog posts using shortcodes and display tables using text widgets.
You can also import and export tables 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).
Using TablePress Plugin For WordPress – Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress posts or pages, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from within your own Dashboard …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see a new menu item in your WP admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and select Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” area affects the plugin’s styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can specify where the TablePress menu entry appears on your Dashboard menu.
Normally, the menu item displays somewhere near the middle of your menu column. If you plan to use this plugin a lot, then you can easily position the menu item closer to the top of your Dashboard menu by choosing “Top-level (middle)” on the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu entry will now display closer towards the top area of the menu …
You can also play with other plugin options in the “Plugin Options” section, like table formatting styles, default language, and so on. Leave these options as they are if you don’t need to change things in this section.
With TablePress, you create and edit your tables inside the plugin screen. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your text. Your tables will then display after your post or page is published or updated.
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 information in all instances where the table has been added to your content.
To create a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Enter a 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 change the name, description and size of your tables at anytime…
Once your new table is created, it will display in 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 typing or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want to display your table …
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 your content. You can add text, images and HTML formatting to your content (e.g. add bold text, insert links, etc …)
After your new table has been created, displays additional options for configuring 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 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 after creating it in the “Table Manipulation” subsection. You can add images or links, hide, show, insert, delete and clone selected columns and rows, add new columns and rows, combine cells, etc …
You can also enable JavaScript library features in your tables that will allow your visitors to sort, filter and search your table content, change the number of table rows showing on your posts (and also allow users to change 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 on your browser allowing you to preview your table. Certain features like JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display once your table is published …
Click the Save Changes button after you are done editing to update your table data …
After you have created one or more tables, you can view a list of all your tables by selecting TablePress > All Tables …
All your tables are displayed in this section. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, export, delete and preview your tables …
How To Use The Shortcode To Insert Tables Into Your Pages And Blog Posts
You can embed tables inside any pages and blog posts using 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 the table to be embedded then click the TablePress menu icon …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress Visual Editor Screen
Note: You can also insert a table when working inside the “Text” area of the editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress Text Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon displays a list of your available tables.
Select the table you want to add to the content and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be placed in the location you specified …
Your table will display as soon as you publish your post or page …
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 open your post or page. Edit the content in the plugin area, then save your new table settings and refresh your post to view the updated content.
Another great time-saving feature of the TablePress 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 a 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 table file to your hard drive …
After editing and resaving your file, you can then easily re-import the table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress, 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 format.
To import a table, select and enter the 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 write over an existing table.
For more information about TablePress, including accessing documentation about additional features, or get technical support for the plugin, 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 and feature-rich free plugin will help you easily create and embed tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum