Being able to easily add tables on your content can be very useful. Tables are great for sorting and presenting data to visitors 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 won’t do, such as letting you create tables without having to learn code.
Although you can add tables manually to your content in WordPress if you know HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), for many non-technical WordPress users, this is not a realistic option.
Fortunately, you can do just about anything you can imagine on a WordPress site with plugins, and adding tables to your content with the click of a mouse is no exception.
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to easily create and add tables into your pages and blog posts without requiring knowledge of HTML or CSS or coding skills.
How To Create And Insert Tables Into WordPress Posts And Pages Easily Without Touching Code
To add tables into your WordPress content with no HTML or CSS knowledge required, we’ll use a FREE plugin called TablePress.
TablePress – WordPress Plugin
TablePress is a very powerful and time-saving plugin for creating, editing and managing tables in WordPress.
TablePress requires no knowledge or skills coding HTML, CSS, etc. It provides a simple 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 add features like sorting, pagination, filtering, and more for visitors. You can include the tables into your posts and pages using shortcodes and display these using text widgets.
You can also import and export a table from/to CSV files (e.g. from Excel), HTML files, and JSON formats.
TablePress was written and developed by Tobias Bäthge and is licensed as Free Software under GNU General Public License 2 (GPL 2).
Using TablePress Plugin For WP – Step-By-Step Tutorial
To create and add tables to WordPress using TablePress, install and activate the TablePress plugin.
Download this plugin here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress
Or install it from within your Dashboard …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you will see a new menu item on your main menu called TablePress …
Click on TablePress and choose Plugin Options from the submenu list …
The “Plugin Options” section controls your plugin styling and display settings …
For example, in the “User Options” section, you can modify the position of the TablePress menu entry in your admin menu.
Normally, the menu entry displays somewhere near the middle of your menu. If you plan to use this plugin a lot, then you can easily position the menu option towards the top of your Dashboard menu by choosing “Top-level (middle)” on the User Options > Admin menu entry dropdown menu …
The TablePress menu item will now show closer towards the top of your admin menu …
You can also play with other options in the “Plugin Options” tab, like 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 area.
With TablePress, tables are created and modified within the plugin area. Tables are then placed via a shortcode into your posts. The tables will then display after publishing or updating your pages or posts.
The great thing about doing this is that you can easily modify the information inside your tables without having to open any of your posts. TablePress 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 …
Enter a 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, 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 be assigned a unique Shortcode ID …
The TablePress shortcode allows you to easily insert tables anywhere in your content by simply inserting or copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you want your tables to display …
Once a new table has been created, adding content to your table is really easy.
In the “Table Content” section, click in the cell and either 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, additional options appear that let you configure your table.
For example, in the “Table Options” section 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, print the table name and description above or below the table, and more …
You can also edit your table information after creating it in the “Table Manipulation” subsection. You can add links or images, hide, show, insert, delete and clone selected rows and columns, add new rows and columns, combine cells, etc …
You can also enable JavaScript library features in your tables that will allow site visitors to sort, filter and search your table content, set the number of table rows displayed on your content (and also allow visitors to specify the number of rows displayed), display table information, etc …
You can preview your table anytime, by clicking on the Preview button …
A preview window will open in your browser allowing you to preview your table. Certain features such as the JavaScript options are disabled in preview mode, but will display once your post or page is published …
Remember to click the Save Changes button when finished to update your table data …
To view a list of all your tables TablePress > All Tables …
A list of all the tables you have created will be displayed in this area. You can edit, see shortcodes, copy, delete, export and preview tables …
How To Use The Shortcode To Embed Tables Into Your Posts And Pages
You can insert a table inside pages and posts using a shortcode.
Get the shortcode for your tables by clicking on the Show Shortcode menu item under the table title to get the shortcode …
The plugin also adds a menu item to your WordPress content editor. This allows you to easily insert tables into your posts and pages while working on your content.
Place your 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 inside the “Text” area of the editor …
TablePress Menu Icon In Text Editor Screen
Clicking on the menu icon brings up a list of all your tables.
Select the table you want to insert into the post or page and click Insert Shortcode …
Your TablePress shortcode will be inserted …
Publish your post or page to view your table and table contents …
As stated earlier, one of the great things about this plugin is that you can edit data after publishing the table without having to edit your post or page. Change 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 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 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 an existing table, click on TablePress > Export a Table in the main menu …
In the “Export Tables” section, choose 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 reimport your table into WordPress.
To import a table into WordPress from your hard drive, go to your menu and choose 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.
To import a table, select and enter the import source in the “Import Tables” area. You can also import multiple tables from ZIP files and select whether to import a table as a new table or replace an existing table.
To learn more about the plugin, including where to access documentation about additional features, or 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 an extremely useful 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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"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)