Being able to display tables on your content can be very useful. Tables help you sort and present data to people in a way that makes your information easier to understand.
The WordPress visual editor offers many features, but there are some things that the default editor doesn’t do, 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 users, this is simply not a feasible option.
Fortunately, you can do almost anything you need done on a WordPress site with plugins, and adding tables to your content is no exception.
In this tutorial you will learn how to create and insert tables easily into your site’s pages with no coding skills required.
How To Create And Insert Tables Into Your Content In WordPress
Follow the tutorial below to learn how to easily add tables in WordPress using a FREE plugin called TablePress.
WordPress Plugin – TablePress
A powerful and time-saving plugin that makes creating, editing and managing tables in your WordPress posts and pages a very simple and easy process is TablePress.
TablePress requires no knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. The plugin lets you easily edit your table data. You can add any type of data to your tables.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to add features like pagination, sorting, filtering, and more for visitors. You can easily include the tables into your posts and pages using shortcodes and even display these using text widgets.
A table can also be imported and exported from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
This plugin was 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 posts or pages, first install and activate the TablePress plugin.
You can download this plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from within your own WP Dashboard …
After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu item will display on your main menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the list of submenus …
The “Plugin Options” area controls your plugin styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can specify where the TablePress menu entry appears on your WP admin menu.
By default, the menu entry appears somewhere near the middle of your menu bar. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can position the menu option close to the top of your admin menu by selecting “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item now shows close to the top of your admin menu …
You can also play with other options in the “Plugin Options” area, such as formatting styles for your tables, default language, etc. If you don’t need to modify these settings, just leave the options as the default.
With TablePress, tables are created and formatted within the plugin screen. Tables are then placed via a shortcode into your posts. The tables will then display after saving your page.
The great thing about working directly from the plugin is that you can easily update the data in your tables without having to manually edit your pages and posts. The plugin then updates all of your table data in all instances where the table has been added to your content.
To create a new table select TablePress > Add New Table …
Type in 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 change the name, description and size of any tables you create at anytime…
Once the new table is created, it will get added to the “All Tables” list and be assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode allows you to easily add tables anywhere inside a post or page simply by inserting or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want your tables to be displayed …
Once you have created a new table, adding content to the table is very easy.
In the “Table Content” section, 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 links, etc …)
After your new table has been created, additional options appear that 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 or the last row of the table to be the table footer, make the background of consecutive rows alternate in color, highlight rows when a visitor hovers their mouse over the table, print 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 perform various operations on your table, such as adding images or links, hiding, showing, inserting, deleting and duplicating selected rows and columns, 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, change the number of table rows displayed on your post (and also allow users to 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 screen allowing you to preview 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 data …
Once you have created one or more tables, you can view a list of all your tables by selecting TablePress > All Tables …
A list of all the tables you have created 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 Page Content
You insert a table into your posts and pages using a shortcode.
You can 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 cursor where you want the table to be inserted then click the TablePress menu icon …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress Visual Editor Screen
Note: You can also insert a table when working inside the “Text” area of the WordPress editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon displays a list of your tables.
Select the table you want to insert into the post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be placed in the location you specified …
The table and 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 edit the contents of your table 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 page to view the updated information.
Another great time-saving feature of the TablePress plugin, is that if you plan to keep adding more data to an existing table, you can simply 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, select TablePress > Export a Table in your admin menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, select 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 file to your hard drive …
After making changes and resaving your table file, you can then easily reimport your table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress, go to the sidebar 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 JSON format.
To import a table, select and enter the source in the “Import Tables” section. You can import multiple tables from a compressed (ZIP) file and choose whether to import a table as a new table or replace an existing table.
To learn more about the plugin, including where to access 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 an extremely powerful time saving free plugin will help you easily create and insert tables into your page content.
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