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 way that makes your information easier to understand.
The WordPress visual editor is great, but there are some things that the default editor doesn’t let you 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 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 easily create and insert tables into your site’s pages with no coding skills required.
How To Add Tables To WordPress
To create and add tables to your WordPress posts or pages without touching code, we’ll use a FREE WordPress plugin called TablePress.
TablePress
TablePress is a great plugin that makes creating, editing and managing tables in your WordPress posts and pages a very simple and easy process.
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. You can add any kind of data to tables.
An additional JavaScript library can be used to include features like pagination, sorting, filtering, and more for site users. You can insert tables into your pages and blog posts using shortcodes and display these using text widgets.
You can also import and export tables from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON.
This 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 – Step-By-Step Tutorial
To create and manage tables in WordPress with TablePress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
You can download this plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from within your own Dashboard …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you will see a new menu item on your admin menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the submenu list …
The “Plugin Options” section affects the plugin’s behavior in different areas of your site …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can modify where the TablePress menu entry appears on your WP admin menu.
By default, the menu item displays somewhere in the middle of your menu. If you plan to use this plugin often, then you can position the menu item towards the top of your menu by specifying “Top-level (middle)” in the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu entry will now show towards the top area of your menu list …
You can also specify other plugin options in the “Plugin Options” tab, such as table formatting styles, default language, and so on. If you don’t need to modify this section, then just leave the default options.
With TablePress, tables are created and formatted inside the plugin screen. Tables are then placed via a shortcode into your pages. The tables will then display when your post or page is saved.
The benefit of doing this is that you can easily update the data inside your tables without having to open any of your posts. The plugin 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 …
Type in the table name, a description (optional), and the number of rows and columns you want 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 your tables at anytime…
Once the new table has been 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 by simply typing or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want to display a table …
Once you have created a new table, adding content to your table is really easy.
In the “Table Content” section, click in 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. add bold text, insert hyperlinks, etc …)
After your new table has been 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 colours on consecutive rows, 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 content after it has been created in the “Table Manipulation” subsection. You can perform a range of different table operations, like inserting images and 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 visitors to sort, filter and search your table content, change the number of table rows displayed on your content (and also allow users to specify the number of rows displayed), display table information, etc …
You can see how your table looks anytime, by clicking the Preview button …
A preview window will open allowing you to preview 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 data …
Once you have created one or more tables, you can view a list of all your tables by clicking on TablePress > All Tables …
All the tables you have created are listed here. You can edit, see the shortcode, copy, delete, export and preview your tables …
Using The TablePress Shortcode
You embed tables into any page content using the TablePress shortcode.
Click on the Show Shortcode menu item under the table title to get the shortcode …
The plugin also adds a shortcode menu icon 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 show 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 WP editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In WordPress HTML Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon displays a list of all existing tables.
Select the table you want to embed into your post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be added to your content …
Your table will display as soon as you publish your post or page …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about this plugin is that you can edit data after publishing the table without having to open your post or page. Edit the content in the plugin area, then save the new table settings and refresh your page to view the updated content.
Another great time-saving feature of the TablePress plugin, is that if you plan to keep adding new data to an existing table, just export your current table, then add new data, 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 main 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 editing and resaving your file, you can then easily re-import your table into WordPress.
To import a table, 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 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 source in the “Import Tables” area. You can also import multiple tables from a ZIP file and select whether to import a table as a new table or replace an existing table.
To learn more about TablePress, including accessing the plugin documentation for additional features, get technical support for the plugin, 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 a very powerful and feature-rich plugin that is free and will help you easily create and add tables into your WordPress posts and pages.
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