Being able to display tables on your website can be very useful. Tables are great for sorting and presenting data to people in a format that can make your information easier to understand.
WordPress provides users with a feature-rich visual editor, but there are some things that the default editor won’t do, like being able 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, WordPress plugins let you do almost anything you can imagine, and adding tables to your content with the click of a mouse is no exception.
In this tutorial you will learn how to create and insert tables easily into your site’s pages without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Add Tables To WordPress Content
To add tables into your WordPress content with no coding skills required, we’ll use a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
TablePress – WordPress Plugin
A powerful and time-saving WordPress plugin for creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress is TablePress.
TablePress does not require you to have any knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. It lets you easily edit your table data. 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 insert tables into your posts and pages using shortcodes and display these inside text widgets.
A table can also be imported and exported from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
The plugin was developed by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
How To Use TablePress – 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 your own Dashboard …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu item will be added to your WordPress admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the submenu list …
The “Plugin Options” page affects the plugin’s behavior in different areas of your site …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can change where the TablePress menu entry appears on your admin menu.
Normally, the menu item displays somewhere near the middle of your menu. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can easily position the menu item near the top of your menu by selecting “Top-level (middle)” on the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu entry will now appear towards the top of the menu list …
You can also specify other plugin options in the “Plugin Options” section, like formatting styles for your tables, default language, etc. Leave the settings as they are if you don’t need to change things in this section.
With TablePress, you create edit and format your tables within the plugin area. Tables are then inserted via a shortcode into your text. The tables will then display or update after your content is republished.
The benefit of doing this is that you can easily change the information inside your tables without having to touch your pages. TablePress then updates all of your table information inside all posts and pages where the table has been added to your content.
To add a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Enter the 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 your table at anytime…
Once the new table has been created, it will be added to 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 simply by typing 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 easy.
In the “Table Content” section, just click inside the cell and either type or paste your content. You can add text, images and format your content (e.g. add bold text, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
Once your new table is created, displays additional options for configuring 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 a visitor hovers their mouse over the table, show the table name and description above or below the table, and more …
You can also edit your table content after it has been created in the “Table Manipulation” subsection. You can add links and images, hide, show, insert, delete and clone selected columns and rows, add new columns and rows, 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, set the number of table rows showing on your site (and let users specify the number of rows displayed), display table information, etc …
You can preview your table anytime, by clicking the Preview button …
A preview window will open in your web browser 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 new table information …
Once you have created one or more tables, you can view a list of all your tables by selecting TablePress > All Tables …
Your tables are displayed in this section. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, export, delete and preview your tables …
Using The Shortcode To Insert Tables Into Your Page Content
You can insert tables into your pages and posts with a shortcode.
Get the shortcode for your tables by clicking on the Show Shortcode menu item under your table title to get the shortcode …
The plugin also adds a menu item 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 WordPress Visual Editor Screen
Note: You can also add a table when working inside the “Text” area of the editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon opens a window containing a list of all existing tables.
Select the table you want to add to the post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be inserted …
Publish your post or page to view your table …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about TablePress is that you can edit data after publishing the table without having to edit your post or page. Just tweak 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 the TablePress 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 table file with the news changes and your table content will be automatically updated throughout your site.
To export an existing table, click on TablePress > Export a Table in your WP admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, choose 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 the table file, you can then re-import your table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress from your hard drive, 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, or its own JSON format.
To import a table, select and enter the import source in the “Import Tables” area. You can import multiple tables from ZIP files and choose whether to import a table as a new table or replace an existing table.
To learn more about the plugin, including accessing 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 quite a useful 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)