Being able to easily add tables on your website 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.
The WordPress visual editor is great, 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 most non-technical users, this is not a feasible option.
Fortunately, you can do almost 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 create and insert tables easily into your pages and blog posts without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Insert Tables Into Your Content Easily In WordPress
If you want to add tables to your WordPress posts or pages with no coding skills required, the tutorial below will show you how to do this using a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
WordPress Plugin – TablePress
TablePress is a great plugin for creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress.
TablePress doesn’t require you to have any knowledge or skills coding HTML, CSS, etc. It lets you easily edit table data. You can add any type of data to your tables.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to include features like pagination, sorting, filtering, and more for your site visitors. You can easily insert tables into your content using shortcodes and even display tables using text widgets.
Tables can also be imported and exported from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON formats.
This plugin was written and developed by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
Using TablePress WP Plugin – Step-By-Step Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress with TablePress, first install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download this plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it directly from within your WordPress Dashboard …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you will see a new menu item on your admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” screen controls your plugin styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can modify where the TablePress menu entry appears on your Dashboard menu.
Normally, the menu entry displays somewhere in the middle of your menu column. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can position the menu item closer to the top of your menu by specifying “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu entry now appears near the top area of your admin menu …
You can also specify other settings in the “Plugin Options” tab, such as formatting styles for your tables, default language, etc. Leave all default options as they are if you don’t need to change things in this area.
With TablePress, you create and edit tables within the plugin section. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your WordPress posts and pages. The tables will then display when publishing your content.
The benefit of working directly from the plugin is that you can easily modify the data inside your tables without having to manually edit your posts and pages. 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, 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, and 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 simply by inserting or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want to display a 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 either type or paste the content you want to display. You can add text, images and format your content (e.g. bold or italicize words, insert links, etc …)
Once your new table is created, you will see a number of additional options that will allow you to configure your table.
For example, in the “Table Options” section you can select the first row of your table to be the table header or the last row of the table to be the table footer, display alternate background colours on consecutive rows, highlight a row when visitors hover their mouse over the table, display the table name and description above or below the table, and more …
You can also edit your table information after it has been created in the “Table Manipulation” section. You can perform a range of different table edits, like inserting links or images, hiding, showing, inserting, deleting and cloning selected columns and rows, adding new rows and columns, 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, set the number of table rows displayed on your posts (and let users 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 displaying your table. Certain features like JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display when your post or page is published …
Remember to click the Save Changes button when finished to update 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 the shortcode, copy, export, delete and preview your tables …
Using The Shortcode To Embed Tables Into Your Pages And Posts
You insert a table inside any posts and pages with a 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 mouse 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 add a table when working inside the “Text” area of the WP editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon displays a list of all existing tables.
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 …
Publish your post or page to view the table contents …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about this plugin is that you can change information after publishing the table without having to edit your post or page. Edit the content in the plugin area, then save the new table settings and refresh your page to view the updated content.
Another great time-saving feature of the TablePress plugin, is that if you plan to keep adding more data to an existing table, just 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 your 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 making changes and resaving the table file, you can then easily reimport the table into WordPress.
To import a table, go to your 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, or its own JSON format.
To import a table, select and enter the source in the “Import Tables” section. You can also import multiple tables from a ZIP file and select whether to import tables as a new table or replace an existing table.
For more information about TablePress, including accessing the plugin documentation for additional features, or get plugin 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 quite a powerful time saving plugin that is free and will help you easily create and add tables into your site content.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)