How to Export Gravity Forms Data to Excel and PDF

Updated July 2026 • 6 min read • By Fahad Murtaza

Gravity Forms has a built-in CSV exporter, but it dumps every field in the form, for every entry, all at once. There is no way to export only the columns your table shows, or only the rows that match your current filters. TableCrafter's export feature gives you exactly that: export the visible, filtered data in the column order you configured, in XLSX or PDF format. WordPress powers 43% of all websites globally (W3Techs, July 2026), and TableCrafter bridges the gap between the data you collect and the tables your users need to see, no custom PHP, no dashboard access required for viewers, and no per-row limits on the free tier. The free version on WordPress.org supports CSV, JSON, Google Sheets, and Excel. Pro adds Gravity Forms, Airtable, Notion, WooCommerce, REST APIs, inline cell editing, export to CSV/PDF, role-based column visibility, and auto-refresh. Every table embeds on any page with. PDF export is requested by users in 64% of data-heavy WordPress plugin reviews (WordPress.org plugin directory analysis, 2025).

How TableCrafter Export Differs from GF's Built-In Export?

Understanding the difference helps you decide when to use each tool:

• Gravity Forms built-in export: Exports all fields across all entries (or a date-filtered subset). Runs from wp-admin. Requires admin or editor access. Format is CSV only. Column order follows the form's field order.
• TableCrafter export: Exports only the columns in your table configuration, in your configured column order. Exports only the rows matching your current active filters. Can be placed on a frontend page accessible to non-admin roles. Formats include CSV, XLSX, and PDF.

Use GF's built-in export for full data archival or when you need fields that are not in your TableCrafter column configuration. Use TableCrafter's export for operational reporting on a curated, filtered subset of the data.

The configuration you set here applies to every visitor who loads a page containing this table, regardless of whether they are logged in. Role-specific overrides for columns and rows are a separate layer and do not replace these global display settings. Apply global settings first, then add role restrictions as needed for tables that serve multiple user types.

How Do I Enable the Export Button?

Open your table configuration under TableCrafter → Tables → [Your Table] → Edit. Scroll to Table Options → Export. Toggle Enable Export Button on. Pro The export feature is only available on TableCrafter Pro plans — it does not appear in free version table configurations.

After toggling on, choose which formats to make available: CSV, Excel (XLSX), and PDF can each be individually enabled or disabled. Then add the export parameter to your shortcode:

[tablecrafter id="1" export="true"]

The export button renders in the top-right corner of the table toolbar, above the search bar and filter row. When clicked, it shows a dropdown with the formats you enabled — visitors click the format they want and the file downloads immediately. The button label defaults to "Export" with a download icon; you can change the label text under Export → Button Label to match your site's language or terminology (e.g., "Download Data" or "Save as file").

The export button is visible only to users who meet the minimum role configured in the table's Access tab. If a visitor does not have that role, neither the table nor the export button appears for them.

How Do I Configure Export Formats?

Under Export > Formats, select which formats to offer. You can enable one or all three simultaneously. When multiple formats are enabled, the export button becomes a dropdown button with one option per format.

CSV Export

The CSV format is a plain UTF-8 encoded comma-separated values file. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc, and any other spreadsheet application. Column headers in the first row match your configured column labels (not the original GF field labels, unless you have not changed them). Date values are formatted according to your TableCrafter > Settings > Display > Date Format setting.

CSV is the right choice when the data will be imported into another system (CRM, analytics tool, database) or when the recipient may not have Excel.

XLSX Export

The XLSX format produces a proper Excel workbook. TableCrafter applies basic formatting: the header row is bold with a light blue fill, alternating row background colors match the table's display theme, and column widths are auto-sized based on content length. Date columns export as Excel date values (not strings), so they are sortable and filterable natively in Excel.

Number columns with currency formatting in TableCrafter export as Excel number cells with two decimal places. Checkbox columns export as comma-separated strings of the checked values.

PDF Export

The PDF format generates a paginated document with your table title (the internal TableCrafter table name) as the page header, a generation timestamp in the footer, and the table data in a clean single-column-width layout. Long text in Textarea columns is word-wrapped.

PDF export settings include:

• Page orientation: Portrait or Landscape. Choose Landscape for tables with more than 6 columns.
• Page size: A4 or Letter.
• Logo: Upload a logo image to appear in the top-left corner of each PDF page.
• Font size: Reduce to 9pt for dense tables, increase to 12pt for readability-first reports.

What Is Export Scope: Filtered Rows vs. All Rows?

This is the most operationally important export setting. Under Export > Scope, choose between:

• Filtered rows only (recommended): Exports only the rows currently matching active search and filter conditions. If 2,400 entries exist but the current filter shows 87, the export contains 87 rows.
• All matching entries: Ignores the current filter state and exports all entries that would appear in this table without any filters applied (still respects the current-user filter and role-based access restrictions, but ignores column filters and search terms).

Most teams should use "Filtered rows only." The "All matching entries" option is useful when you want a scheduled export or when the export is triggered programmatically.

This step completes the connection between your data source and the TableCrafter table engine. Once saved, the plugin caches the connection credentials in the WordPress options table and uses them on every subsequent page load. If you update the source configuration later — for example, rotating an API key or changing a sheet URL — return to this step, enter the new value, and save again. The table updates immediately on next load without any shortcode changes.

How Does Controlling Which Columns Appear in the Export Work?

By default, every visible column in the table is included in the export. To exclude specific columns from the export while keeping them visible in the table, go to the column card's Display tab and toggle off Include in Export.

Common columns to exclude from exports:

• Edit action columns (pencil icons)
• Internal Entry ID if sharing with external recipients
• File upload columns (URLs do not render meaningfully in a spreadsheet)

You can also add columns to the export that are hidden from the table display. Set a column's visibility to Export Only in the Display tab. This column does not render in the browser table but appears in the downloaded file, useful for including a unique identifier or internal code that table viewers do not need to see.

If this step produces unexpected output, check the source data directly in the connected system. TableCrafter passes data through without modification — if a cell displays an unexpected value, the source record contains that value. Use the TableCrafter debug log (Settings > Advanced > Debug Mode) to trace the exact query sent to the source and the raw response received, which narrows the diagnosis to either a source-side or rendering-side issue.

How Does Export Permissions Control Who Can Download?

Under Export > Permissions, specify which WordPress roles can trigger an export. The export button is only rendered for users whose role is in the allowed list. Roles below the threshold do not see the button. Attempting to call the export AJAX endpoint directly without the appropriate role returns a 403 error.

A typical configuration: Subscribers see no export button (they view their own entries but cannot bulk-export data). Editors and Administrators see the export button and can download filtered results.

The shortcode accepts all column and filter settings defined in the table builder as defaults, but you can override individual parameters inline. For example, `[tablecrafter id="1" per_page="25"]` overrides the default rows-per-page setting for this specific embed without changing the saved table configuration. This lets you reuse one table definition across multiple pages with different display requirements.

How Does Export Filename Template Work?

Under Export → Filename, set a filename template using these variables:

• {table_name} — the internal TableCrafter table name as entered in the table builder (spaces are replaced with hyphens in the filename)
• {date} — today's date in YYYY-MM-DD format at the time of export; useful for version-stamping files
• {user} — the WordPress username of the logged-in user triggering the export; useful for audit trails
• {form_id} — the Gravity Forms form ID that the table is connected to; useful when multiple tables reference different forms but share a naming convention

An example template: support-tickets-{date}-{user} produces a filename like support-tickets-2026-06-24-jsmith.xlsx. This makes it easy to identify who downloaded what and when without opening the file, which is useful for compliance purposes and when reviewing downloads from a shared folder.

The template applies to all export formats (CSV, Excel, PDF) from the same table — only the file extension changes per format. If you want different naming conventions per format, configure separate tables or handle the rename on the client side after download. If the {user} token is included and the visitor is not logged in, it renders as "guest" in the filename.

What Are the Next Steps?

Your Gravity Forms data is now exportable in the format your team actually uses, filtered to exactly the rows that matter. If you are building a full admin tool, combine the export feature with inline editing so team members can update entry statuses and then export the updated dataset in one workflow, all without leaving the frontend table page.