Being able to display tables on your pages can be really handy. Tables help you sort and present data to people in a way that makes your information easier to understand.
WordPress provides users with a great visual editor, but there are some things that it doesn’t let you do by default, such as giving you the option 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 can imagine on a WordPress site with plugins, and adding tables to 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 content with no coding skills required.
Inserting Tables Into Your Content Easily In WordPress
To add tables to your WordPress posts or pages without touching code, we’ll use a FREE plugin called TablePress.
TablePress – WordPress Plugin
TablePress is a great 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 provides a simple user interface that 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 pagination, sorting, filtering, and more for your visitors. You can easily include the tables into your page 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 created 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 posts or pages, first install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it directly from within your Dashboard …
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see a new menu item displayed in your main menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” page controls your plugin styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can change the position of the TablePress menu entry in your Dashboard menu.
By default, the menu entry displays somewhere around the middle of your menu. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can easily position the menu option towards the top of your menu by choosing “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu entry now displays towards the top of the admin menu …
You can also play with other options in the “Plugin Options” tab, like table formatting styles, default language, etc. Leave the settings 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 WordPress posts and pages. The table will then display when your post or page is republished.
The benefit of doing this is that you can easily update the information inside 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 add a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Enter a table name, a description (optional), and the number of rows and columns you would like for the 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 any table you create at anytime…
Once the new table is created, it will get added to the “All Tables” list and be 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 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 inside the cell and either type or paste the content you want to display. You can add text, images and format your content (e.g. add bold text, insert links, 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 rows when visitors hover 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 creating it in the “Table Manipulation” section. You can insert links and images, hide, show, insert, delete and clone 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 your site users to sort, filter and search your table content, change the number of table rows showing on your post (and let visitors 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 in your screen allowing you to preview the table. Certain features like JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display when your table is published …
Remember to click the Save Changes button when finished to save your table data …
To view a list of all the tables you have created click on TablePress > All Tables …
A list of all your tables will be displayed in this screen. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, delete, export and preview your tables …
How To Use The Shortcode
You insert a table inside any page content using a shortcode.
Click on the Show Shortcode menu item under 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 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 insert a table when working inside the “Text” area of the WP editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon brings up a list of all existing tables.
Select the table you want to embed in the content and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added to your content …
Publish the post or page to view the table contents …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about TablePress is that you can change the contents of your table after publishing the table without having to edit your post or page. Change 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, 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 admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, choose the table(s) you would like 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 the table file, you can then reimport your table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress, go to your admin menu and choose 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” area. You can also import multiple tables from compressed (ZIP) files and choose whether to import tables as a new table or to replace an existing table.
To learn more about using TablePress, including accessing the plugin documentation for 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 a very useful and feature-rich free plugin will help you easily create and insert tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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