Being able to display tables on your website can be really handy. Tables help you sort and present data to visitors in a format that can make your information easier to understand.
WordPress provides users with a great visual editor, but there are some things that it won’t let you do by default, such as letting you 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 not a feasible option.
Fortunately, WordPress plugins give users almost unlimited expansion capabilities, and inserting tables into your content with the click of a mouse is no exception.
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to easily create and insert tables into your pages and blog posts without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Add Tables In WordPress Posts And Pages
If you want to create and add tables into your WordPress content and don’t have the skills and knowledge to create these using HTML or CSS, then the step-by-step tutorial below will show you how to easily do this using a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
WordPress Plugin – TablePress
TablePress is a great WordPress plugin for creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress.
TablePress requires no knowledge or skills coding HTML, CSS, etc. The plugin provides a simple user interface that allows you to easily edit table data. Your tables can contain any kind of data, even formulas.
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 content using shortcodes and even display these using text widgets.
You can also import and export a table from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
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 Plugin For WP – Step-By-Step Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
You can download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from your WP Dashboard …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, a new menu item will get added to your Dashboard menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the submenu list …
The “Plugin Options” area affects the plugin’s behavior in different areas of your site …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can modify the position of the TablePress menu entry in your admin menu.
Normally, the menu item appears around the middle of your menu. If you plan to use this plugin a lot, then you can easily position the menu item near the top of your admin menu by choosing “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu entry will now show closer towards the top section of your menu list …
You can also play with other plugin options in the “Plugin Options” section, such as table formatting styles, default language, etc. Leave all default options as they are if you don’t need to change things in this section.
With TablePress, you create edit and format your tables inside the plugin area. Tables are then placed via a shortcode into your pages and posts. The table will then display or update after your content is republished.
The benefit of doing this is that you can easily change the data inside your tables without having to manually edit your posts. TablePress then updates all of your table data in all locations where the table has been added to your content.
To create a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Enter 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 your table at anytime…
Once your new table is created, it will be added to the “All Tables” list and get assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode lets you easily insert tables anywhere in your content simply by inserting or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want your table to be displayed …
Once a new table has been created, adding content to the table is easy.
In the “Table Content” section, just click in the cell and either type or paste the content you want to display. You can add text, images and HTML formatting to your content (e.g. bold or italicize words, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
After your new table has been created, additional options appear that 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, make the background of consecutive rows alternate in color, 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 creating it in the “Table Manipulation” area. You can perform various table manipulations, such as adding images and links, hiding, showing, inserting, deleting and duplicating 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 page (and let users 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 allowing you to preview your table. Certain features like JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display when your table 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 going to TablePress > All Tables …
A list of all your tables will be displayed in this section. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, export, delete and preview your tables …
How To Use The Shortcode To Insert Tables Into Your Content
You can embed a table inside any content 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 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 be embedded 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 WordPress editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon opens a window containing a list of all your existing tables.
Select the table you want to insert into your post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added to your content …
Your table contents 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 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 content to view the updated information.
Another great time-saving feature of this plugin, is that if you plan to keep adding data to an existing table, just export your current table, then add new items, make changes, etc. You can then re-import your exported file with the news changes and your table content will be automatically updated throughout your site.
To export a table, select TablePress > Export a Table in your WP admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, choose 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 re-import your table into WordPress.
To import a table, go to the admin menu and choose 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 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 ZIP files and select whether to import a table as a new table or to replace an existing table.
To learn more about using TablePress, including accessing the plugin documentation for extra features, 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 powerful time saving plugin that is free and will help you easily create and add tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now