The ability to easily add tables to your pages 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.
The WordPress visual editor is great, but there are some things that it doesn’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 simply not a feasible 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 create and insert tables easily into your pages and blog posts without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Add Tables To WordPress Pages And Posts Easily With No Coding Skills Required
Follow the step-by-step tutorial below to learn how to create and add tables in WordPress using a FREE plugin called TablePress.
WordPress Plugin – TablePress
TablePress is a very powerful and time-saving plugin for creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress.
TablePress does not require you to have any knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. It provides a simple user interface that lets you easily edit your table data. 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 site visitors. You can easily insert tables into your page content 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.
TablePress was written and developed by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
Using TablePress – Tutorial
To create and manage tables in WordPress, first install and activate the TablePress plugin.
You can download this plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from within your Dashboard …
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see a new menu item on your main menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” section affects the plugin’s behavior in different areas of your site …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can specify the position of the TablePress menu entry in your Dashboard menu.
Normally, the menu item appears somewhere near the middle of your menu column. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can position the menu option towards the top of the menu by selecting “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu entry now shows at the top section of your menu …
You can also specify other settings in the “Plugin Options” screen, such as formatting styles for your tables, default language, and so on. Leave the default options as they are if you don’t need to change things in this section.
With TablePress, tables are created and modified within the plugin area. Tables are then inserted via a shortcode into your content. The tables will then display or update after saving and publishing your post.
The benefit of doing this is that you can easily update the data inside your tables without having to manually edit your pages. TablePress then updates all of your table data everywhere where the table has been added to your content.
To create a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Enter the table name, a description (optional), 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, then click on the Add Table button to create your new table. You can change the name, description and size of your tables 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 lets you easily insert tables anywhere in your content by simply inserting or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want to display your table …
Once you have created a new table, adding content to your table is really easy.
In the “Table Content” section, click inside 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 links, 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 specify 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 colors 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 modify your table content after creating it in the “Table Manipulation” subsection. You can perform a range of manipulations on your table, such as adding images or 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 visitors to sort, filter and search your table content, set the number of table rows showing on your post (and also allow users to 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 on your screen 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 when finished to save your new table data …
Once you have created one or more tables, you can view a list of all your tables by choosing TablePress > All Tables …
All your tables are listed here. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, export, delete and preview your tables …
Using The TablePress Shortcode
You can embed a table into any pages and blog posts with a shortcode.
You can get the shortcode for your tables by clicking on the Show Shortcode menu item below your table title to get the shortcode …
The plugin also adds a shortcode menu icon to your WordPress content 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 your table to show then click the TablePress menu icon …
TablePress Menu Icon In Visual Editor Screen
Note: You can also insert a table when working in the “Text” area of the editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In Text 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 the content and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be inserted into your content …
Publish the post or page to view your table contents …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about this plugin is that you can change the contents of your table after publishing the table without having to open your post or page. Just tweak the content in the plugin area, then save your new table settings and refresh your post to view the updated content.
Another great time-saving feature of this plugin, is that if you plan to keep adding more data to an existing table, just export your current table, then add new information, 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) 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 editing and resaving the table file, you can then reimport your table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress from your hard drive, go to your Dashboard 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 resembling a webpage, or its own format.
To import a table, select and enter the source in the “Import Tables” area. You can import multiple tables from compressed (ZIP) files and select whether to import a table as a new table or write over an existing table.
For more information about using TablePress, including accessing documentation about additional features, 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 and feature-rich free plugin will help you easily create and insert tables into your site content.
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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