The ability to easily add tables to your website can be very useful. Tables help you sort and present data to people in a way that makes your information easier to understand.
The WordPress visual editor offers many features, but there are some things that it doesn’t let you do by default, such as letting you easily create tables.
Although you can create tables manually in WordPress if you know HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), for most non-technical users, this is not a practical option.
Fortunately, you can do just about anything you need done on a WordPress site with plugins, and inserting tables into your content is no exception.
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to easily create and add tables into your posts and pages without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Create And Insert Tables Into Your Content Easily In WordPress
Follow the tutorial below to learn how to add tables in WordPress using a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
TablePress
TablePress is a powerful and time-saving WordPress plugin that makes creating, editing and managing tables in your WordPress posts and pages a very simple and easy process.
TablePress does not require you to have any knowledge or skills coding HTML, CSS, etc. It provides a simple user interface that allows you to easily edit your table data. You can add any type of data, even formulas to your tables.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to include features like sorting, pagination, filtering, and more for site users. You can easily include the tables into your posts and pages using shortcodes and display these inside text widgets.
You can also import and export tables from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON formats.
The plugin was created by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
Using TablePress WordPress Plugin – 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 own WP Dashboard …
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see a new menu item on your main menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and select Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” section 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 admin menu.
Normally, the menu entry displays somewhere around the middle of your menu bar. If you plan to use this plugin a lot, then you can position the menu option towards the top of the Dashboard menu by specifying “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item now appears towards the top area of the menu list …
You can also specify other options in the “Plugin Options” screen, like formatting styles for your tables, default language, and so on. If you don’t need to modify these settings, simply leave the default options.
With TablePress, you create edit and format tables within the plugin section. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your pages and posts. The table will then display or update after saving and publishing your post.
The great thing about working directly from the plugin is that you can easily modify the data in your tables without having to open any of your posts. The plugin then updates all of your table data inside all posts and pages where the table has been added to your content.
To add a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Type in 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, 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 your new table has been created, it will appear in the “All Tables” list and be assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode allows you to easily add tables anywhere in your content simply by typing or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want to display a table …
Once a new table has been created, adding content to it is very easy.
In the “Table Content” section, just click in the cell and either type or paste your content. You can add text, images and HTML formatting to your content (e.g. bold or italicize words, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
Once your new table is created, you will see additional options for configuring 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 color, highlight a row 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 modify your table after creating it in the “Table Manipulation” subsection. You can perform a range of different table edits, such as adding images and links, hiding, showing, inserting, deleting and duplicating selected rows and columns, adding new columns and rows, combining cells, etc …
You can also enable JavaScript library features in your tables, such as allowing visitors to sort, filter and search your table content, change the number of table rows displayed on your posts (and let users change the number of rows displayed), display table information, etc …
You can preview your table anytime, by clicking on the Preview button …
A preview window will open displaying the table. Certain features like JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display once your table is published …
Remember to click the Save Changes button after you are done editing to update your new table data …
To view a list of all your tables TablePress > All Tables …
All the tables you have created are listed here. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, export, delete and preview tables …
How To Use The TablePress Shortcode To Insert Tables Into Your Pages And Posts
You insert tables into your page content using a shortcode.
Click on the Show Shortcode menu item under your table title to get the shortcode …
The plugin also adds a menu item 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 show 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 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 add to the content and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added …
Publish the post or page to display the table …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about this plugin is that you can edit information 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 page 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 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 admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, select the table(s) you would like 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 table file to your hard drive …
After changing and resaving your file, you can then easily reimport the table into WordPress.
To import a table, go to the 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 format.
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 a table as a new table or write over an existing table.
To learn more about TablePress, including where to access documentation about 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 an extremely useful and feature-rich free plugin will help you easily create and add 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