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 offers 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 create tables manually in WordPress if you have knowledge of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), for many non-technical WordPress users, this is not a realistic option.
Fortunately, WordPress plugins let you do almost anything you can imagine, and adding tables to your content is no exception.
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to create and insert tables easily into your WordPress posts and pages with no coding skills required.
Adding Tables In WordPress
If you want to create and add tables into your WordPress content without touching code, then the tutorial below will show you how to do this using a FREE plugin called TablePress.
TablePress – WordPress Plugin
TablePress is a great plugin that makes creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress simple and easy.
TablePress requires no knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. It provides a simple 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 add features like pagination, sorting, filtering, and more for your visitors. You can easily insert tables into your posts and pages using shortcodes and display tables using text widgets.
You can also import and export tables from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
The plugin was written and developed by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
How To Use TablePress WordPress Plugin – Tutorial
To create and manage tables in WordPress with TablePress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
You can download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from within your WP Dashboard …
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu item will display on your Dashboard menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and select 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 WP admin menu.
Normally, the menu entry displays somewhere around the middle of your menu. If you plan to use this plugin a lot, then you can position the menu item near the top of your admin menu by selecting “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item will now appear close to the top area of your admin menu …
You can also play with other options in the “Plugin Options” tab, such as table formatting styles, default language, and so on. Leave all default options as they are if you don’t need to change things in this area.
With TablePress, tables are created and edited within the plugin area. Tables are then inserted via a shortcode into your WordPress posts and pages. Your tables will then display when republishing or saving your pages or posts.
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 a table name, an optional description, and the number of rows and columns you would like 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 change the name, description and size of any tables you create at anytime…
Once the new table is created, it will be listed in 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 by simply 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 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, the plugin also displays a number of additional options that will 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 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 edit your table information after it has been created in the “Table Manipulation” area. You can perform a range of different table operations, like inserting images and links, hiding, showing, inserting, deleting and duplicating selected columns and rows, adding new columns and rows, combining cells, etc …
You can also enable JavaScript library features in your tables that will allow your visitors to sort, filter and search your table content, set the number of table rows displayed on your posts (and let visitors change 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 allowing you to preview your table. Certain features such as the JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display once your table is published …
Click the Save Changes button after you are done editing to save your new table data …
After 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 tables …
How To Use The Shortcode To Embed Tables Into Your Pages And Blog Posts
You can insert a table inside pages and posts using the TablePress shortcode.
Click on the Show Shortcode menu item under the 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 be embedded then click the TablePress menu icon …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress Visual Editor Screen
Note: You can also insert a table when working in the “Text” area of the editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon brings up a list of all your tables.
Select the table you want to add to your content and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added …
Publish your post or page to view the table contents …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about TablePress is that you can change things after publishing the table without having to open your post or page. Edit the content in the plugin area, then save your new table settings and refresh your post 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, you can simply export your current table, then add new data, 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 an existing table, select TablePress > Export a Table in the admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, choose the table(s) you want 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 file to your hard drive …
After making changes and resaving your table file, you can then reimport the table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress, 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 source in the “Import Tables” section. You can import multiple tables from ZIP files and select whether to import tables as a new table or to replace an existing table.
For more information about using TablePress, including where to access documentation about 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 an extremely useful and feature-rich free plugin will help you easily create and embed tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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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)