Migrating from TablePress

TablePress stores static tables inside your WordPress database; TableCrafter renders live tables from an external source URL such as Google Sheets, a CSV file, or a JSON API. This guide walks through moving your TablePress content to a live source and gives an honest, side-by-side comparison so you can decide what actually belongs in TableCrafter.

Read this first: the two plugins are not the same shape

TableCrafter is not a drop-in replacement for TablePress, and pretending otherwise will waste your afternoon. The core architectural difference drives every step below:

• TablePress is a table editor. Your data lives in the WordPress database (post type tablepress_table), you edit cells in wp-admin, and you embed with [table id=5 /].
• TableCrafter is a data renderer. It holds no table data of its own. The [tablecrafter] shortcode points at a source URL and fetches the rows at render time, then caches the result. There is no built-in spreadsheet grid for typing in cells.

Decide which tables should move

Because the data model differs, migrate by intent rather than migrating everything blindly:

Step 1 — Export your data out of TablePress

Open wp-admin → TablePress → Export Tables. Select the table(s) and export. Two formats matter for this migration:

• CSV — the simplest target. TableCrafter parses CSV natively, treating row 1 as the column headers.
• JSON — useful if you want a structured object you will host on an API or keep nested under a key.

If you'd rather keep editing the data going forward, paste the exported rows into a new Google Sheet instead of saving a flat file. That choice is what unlocks "edit the sheet, the site updates" later.

Step 2 — Host the data at a fetchable URL

TableCrafter needs a URL it can read over HTTP. Pick whichever source fits how the data changes:

Step 3 — Swap the shortcode

This is the actual cutover. Find every TablePress embed and replace it with a TableCrafter shortcode that points at your new source.

Before (TablePress):

[table id=5 /]

After (TableCrafter), Google Sheet source with search and pagination):

[tablecrafter source="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BxiMVs0XRA5nFMdKvBdBZjgmUUqptlbs74OgvE2upms/edit#gid=0" search="true" per_page="25"]

TablePress's DataTables features (search box, sorting, pagination) map onto TableCrafter attributes, so most tables keep their behavior:

If you embed via the editor instead of raw shortcode, add the native TableCrafter block (tablecrafter/data-table) and fill in the same fields in the block sidebar, or use the Elementor "TableCrafter Data Table" widget.

Step 4 — Recover the live-update advantage you came for

This is the payoff that TablePress can't match. With a Google Sheet or JSON source, editing the data no longer means logging into wp-admin. For data that changes on its own (prices, scores, inventory), turn on auto-refresh so the front end re-fetches without a page reload:

[tablecrafter source="https://api.example.com/stocks.json"
  auto_refresh="true" refresh_interval="60000"
  refresh_indicator="true" refresh_last_updated="true"]

refresh_interval is in milliseconds (default 300000, five minutes). Server-side, TableCrafter also caches each render and revalidates stale entries in the background (stale-while-revalidate), so first paint stays fast even on a slow source.

Honest comparison: what you gain and what you lose

Migrating is a trade, not a pure upgrade. Go in clear-eyed.

Styling and behavior parity

You don't get TablePress's per-table custom CSS box, but TableCrafter exposes stable hooks for theming and scripting:

• CSS classes — every table is a .tablecrafter-container wrapping a .tc-table; links render as .tc-link and yes/no values as .tc-badge. Target these in your theme stylesheet.
• CSS variables — the accessibility/contrast layer reads custom properties including --tc-border-color, --tc-text-color, --tc-bg-color, and --tc-focus-color, so you can retheme without editing plugin files.
• JS events — mobile card interactions dispatch bubbling CustomEvents on the container: tablecrafter:cardTap, tablecrafter:cardView, and tablecrafter:cardEdit, each carrying the row data in event.detail.

Post-migration checklist

1. Confirm each replaced page renders rows (admins see an inline error helper if the source fails; visitors see a graceful fallback message).
2. Verify column headers match what TablePress showed; trim with include/exclude if the source carries extra columns.
3. Test the mobile card view and an export download if you enabled export.
4. Once every embed is migrated and verified, deactivate TablePress and remove the orphaned [table id=...] shortcodes so they don't render as plain text.

Next steps: connect your spreadsheet in google-sheets.html, then dial in search, filters, and pagination with the full attribute reference in shortcode-reference.html.