Being able to display tables on your pages can be really handy. Tables are great for sorting and presenting data to visitors in a format that can make your information easier to understand.
WordPress offers a feature-rich visual editor, but there are some things that it won’t do by default, such as letting you 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 users, this is not a practical option.
Fortunately, WordPress plugins give users almost unlimited expansion capabilities, and adding tables is no exception.
In this tutorial you will learn how to easily create and insert tables into your site’s pages with no coding skills required.
How To Insert Tables Into Posts And Pages With WordPress
To create and add tables to your WordPress posts or pages with no coding skills required, we’ll use a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
WP Plugin – TablePress
TablePress is a very powerful and time-saving WordPress plugin that makes creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress simple and easy.
TablePress requires no knowledge or skills coding HTML, CSS, etc. It lets you easily edit table data. You can add any type of data to tables.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to add features like pagination, sorting, filtering, and more for your visitors. You can insert tables into your 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 – Tutorial
To create and manage tables in WordPress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from your own WP Dashboard …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu item will get added to your Dashboard menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and select Plugin Options from the submenu list …
The “Plugin Options” screen affects the plugin’s styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can specify the position of the TablePress menu entry in your WP admin menu.
Normally, the menu item displays somewhere near the middle of your menu column. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can easily position the menu option towards 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 towards the top area of your menu list …
You can also specify other options in the “Plugin Options” area, like table formatting styles, default language, and so on. If you don’t need to modify this section, just leave the options as the default.
With TablePress, tables are created and formatted within the plugin screen. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your pages. Your table will then display or update after publishing your page.
The benefit of doing this is that you can easily modify the information in your tables without having to touch your posts and pages. The plugin then updates all of your table information in all locations where the table has been added to your content.
To add a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Type in a table name, an optional description, and the number of rows and columns you want for the 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 edit the name, description and size of your tables at anytime…
Once your new table has been created, it will get added to the “All Tables” list and be assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode lets you easily insert tables anywhere inside a post or page simply by typing or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want your tables to be displayed …
Once you have created a new table, adding content to it is easy.
In the “Table Content” section, just click in the cell and type or paste the content you want to display. You can add text, images and format your content (e.g. add bold text, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
Once your new table is created, additional options appear that let you configure your table.
For example, in the “Table Options” section 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 a row when visitors hover their mouse over the table, print 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 perform various operations on your table, like adding images or links, 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 your site users to sort, filter and search your table content, change the number of table rows showing on your pages (and let users 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 in your browser allowing you to preview your table. Certain features like JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display when your post or page is published …
Click the Save Changes button when finished to update your new table information …
After you have created one or more tables, you can view a list of all your tables by choosing TablePress > All Tables …
A list of all your tables will be displayed in this area. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, export, delete and preview tables …
How To Use The TablePress Shortcode
You can insert a table inside any posts and pages using the TablePress shortcode.
Click 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 cursor where you want the table to appear then click the TablePress menu icon …
TablePress Menu Icon In Visual Editor Screen
Note: You can also insert a table when working in the “Text” area of the WordPress 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 embed in your post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be inserted into your content …
Your table 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 open your post or page. Tweak the content in the plugin area, then save the new table settings and refresh your page to view the updated information.
Another great time-saving feature of the TablePress plugin, is that if you plan to keep adding new data to an existing table, you can simply export your current table, then add new data, 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, select TablePress > Export a Table in your WP admin 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 editing and resaving your table file, you can then re-import the 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, or its own JSON format.
To import a table, select and enter the source in the “Import Tables” area. You can import multiple tables from compressed (ZIP) files and select whether to import a table as a new table or replace an existing table.
To learn more about using TablePress, including where to access the plugin documentation for 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 time saving free plugin will help you easily create and insert tables into your site content.
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie