Being able to provide visitors with tables on your content can be very useful. Tables help you sort and present data to people in a way that makes your information easier to understand.
WordPress provides users with a feature-rich visual editor, but there are some things that it won’t let you do by default, 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 WordPress users, this is simply not a realistic option.
Fortunately, you can do just about anything you can imagine 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 insert tables into your content with no coding skills required.
How To Easily Create And Add Tables Into Your Content Without Coding Skills
Follow the tutorial below to learn how to create and add tables into your WordPress posts and pages using a FREE plugin called TablePress.
TablePress – WordPress Plugin
TablePress is a great WordPress plugin for creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress.
TablePress doesn’t require you to have any knowledge or skills coding HTML, CSS, etc. The plugin lets you easily edit your table data. Tables can contain any kind 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 easily insert tables into your content using shortcodes and even display tables inside text widgets.
You can also import and export tables from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
The plugin 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 Plugin For WordPress – Step-By-Step Tutorial
To create and manage tables in WordPress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download this plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from within your WP Dashboard …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, a new menu item will display on your WP admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and select Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” area controls your plugin styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can modify the position of the TablePress menu entry in your Dashboard menu.
By default, the menu entry displays around the middle of your menu. If you plan to use this plugin a lot, then you can position the menu item towards the top of your Dashboard menu by choosing “Top-level (middle)” on the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item will now appear closer to the top area of the menu …
You can also specify other plugin options in the “Plugin Options” area, like table formatting styles, default language, etc. If you don’t need to change this section, simply leave the options as the default.
With TablePress, tables are created and formatted within the plugin area. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your content. Your table will then display when republishing or saving your post.
The benefit of doing this is that you can easily change the information in your tables without having to manually edit your pages. TablePress then updates all of your table data inside all posts and pages where the table has been added to your content.
To create a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Enter the name, a description (optional), and the number of rows and columns you want 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 your table at anytime…
Once the new table has been created, it will be listed 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 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 it 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 HTML formatting to your content (e.g. add bold text, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
After your new table has been created, displays a number of additional options that will 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, display alternate background colours on consecutive rows, 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 modify your table content after creating it in the “Table Manipulation” area. You can add links and images, hide, show, insert, delete and duplicate 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, set the number of table rows displayed on your posts (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 the Preview button …
A preview window will open on your web browser allowing you to preview your table. Certain features such as the JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display when your post or page is published …
Click the Save Changes button after you are done editing to save your table information …
After you have created one or more tables, you can view a list of all your tables by clicking on TablePress > All Tables …
All your tables are displayed in this section. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, delete, export and preview your tables …
Using The TablePress Shortcode
You embed a table into any posts and pages with the TablePress shortcode.
Click 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 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 be inserted then click the TablePress menu icon …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress Visual Editor Screen
Note: You can also add a table when working in the “Text” area of the WP editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress Text 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 into your post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added …
Publish your post or page to view the table …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about TablePress is that you can change things after publishing the table without having to edit your post or page. Just tweak the content in the plugin area, then save your new table settings and refresh your post 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 items, 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 the main menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, select 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 table file to your hard drive …
After editing and resaving your file, you can then reimport the 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, an HTML file resembling a webpage, or its own format. You can also import existing tables from the WP-Table Reloaded plugin
To import a table, select and enter the import source in the “Import Tables” area. You can import multiple tables from a ZIP file and select whether to import tables as a new table or write over an existing table.
To learn more about using TablePress, including where to access the plugin documentation for extra features, or get technical 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 a very powerful time saving free plugin will help you easily create and embed tables into your page content.
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