Being able to provide visitors with tables on your pages 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 feature-rich visual editor, but there are some things that the default editor won’t do, such as giving you the option to create tables without having to learn code.
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 give users almost unlimited expansion capabilities, and inserting tables into your content is no exception.
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to create and add tables easily into your posts and pages without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Easily Insert Tables Into WordPress Pages And Posts With No Coding Skills Required
If you want to create and add tables to your WordPress posts or pages and don’t have the skills and knowledge to create tables using HTML or CSS, the step-by-step tutorial below will show you how to easily do this using a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
TablePress
A powerful and time-saving WordPress plugin for creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress is TablePress.
TablePress requires no knowledge or skills coding HTML, CSS, etc. The plugin provides a simple user interface that lets you easily edit your table data. You can add any kind of data, even formulas to your tables.
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 even display tables inside text widgets.
You can also import and export tables from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
This plugin was created by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
Using TablePress WordPress Plugin – Step-By-Step Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress using TablePress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
You can download the plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it directly from your own Dashboard …
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see a new menu item on your Dashboard menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
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 Dashboard menu.
By default, the menu item appears around the middle of your menu bar. If you plan to use this plugin a lot, then you can position the menu option towards the top of the admin menu by selecting “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item now appears near the top section of your menu list …
You can also specify other settings in the “Plugin Options” section, like table formatting styles, default language, and so on. Leave these options as they are if you don’t need to change things in this section.
With TablePress, you create edit and format tables within the plugin section. Tables are then added via a shortcode into your WordPress posts and pages. Your table will then display after your post or page is saved.
The great thing about working directly from the plugin is that you can easily update the data inside your tables without having to open any of your pages. TablePress then updates all of your table data in all locations 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, and click on the Add Table button to create your new table. You can change the name, description and size of any table you create at anytime…
Once your new table is created, it will be 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 typing or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want your tables to be displayed …
Once a new table has been created, adding content to it is easy.
In the “Table Content” section, just click inside the cell and type or paste your content. You can add text, images and HTML formatting to your content (e.g. bold or italicize words, insert links, etc …)
Once your new table is created, the plugin also displays additional options for configuring 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 colors on consecutive rows, highlight a row 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 after it has been created in the “Table Manipulation” section. You can add links or images, hide, show, insert, delete and duplicate selected columns and rows, add new columns and rows, combine 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 posts (and let visitors 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 once your table is published …
Click the Save Changes button when finished to update your new table information …
To view a list of all your tables TablePress > All Tables …
A list of all your tables will be displayed in this screen. 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 content using a shortcode.
Get the shortcode for your tables by clicking 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 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 the table to show 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 WP editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon opens a window containing a list of all tables.
Select the table you want to embed into the post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be inserted …
Publish the post or page to view your table …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about TablePress is that you can change data after publishing the table without having to edit your post or page. Just tweak the content in the plugin area, then save your new table settings and refresh your page 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 table file with the news changes and your table content will be automatically updated throughout your site.
To export a table, click on TablePress > Export a Table in your WP admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, select 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 table file to your hard drive …
After making changes and resaving your table file, you can then reimport your table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress, 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 (e.g. Excel), an HTML file resembling a webpage, or its own JSON 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” section. You can also import multiple tables from ZIP files and choose whether to import a table as a new table or to replace an existing table.
To learn more about TablePress, including where to access documentation about extra features, or 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 quite a powerful time saving plugin that is free and will help you easily create and embed tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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