Title: Searchable Tables
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# Searchable Tables

 *  Resolved [designscape](https://wordpress.org/support/users/designscape/)
 * (@designscape)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/)
 * I have a lot of products on my website (not selling on the site, for information
   purposes only) and I used tablepress to build tables for each product type.
 * Please tell me if there’s a way to make all of the tables searchable from a search
   feature on the website.
 * If not, is there any way you can add this functionality?!?
 * Thank you,
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress/)

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982393)
 * Hi,
 * thanks for your question, and sorry for the trouble.
 * Each table is searchable/filterable with the “Search” field in its top right 
   corner.
    Additionally, the WordPress search will search all tables that are embedded
   into a post or page with the Shortcode.
 * There’s however no feature that searches all tables and displays the results 
   as a table again.
 * Regards,
    Tobias
 *  Thread Starter [designscape](https://wordpress.org/support/users/designscape/)
 * (@designscape)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982394)
 * Tobias, thank you for your reply. I just tried it and it does not work for me.
   Could I be doing something wrong.
 * Here is a page with a product number: Pick ANY OEM REFERENCE PART # [http://www.epowerrail.com/air-brakes/](http://www.epowerrail.com/air-brakes/)
 * Im using the search features on the main web page and it will not give me a result.
 * [http://www.epowerrail.com/](http://www.epowerrail.com/)
 * I would appreciate if you could lay your eyes on my problem.
 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982395)
 * Hi,
 * ok, that’s strange. Are the table Shortcodes looking exactly like
 *     ```
       [table id=123 /]
       ```
   
 * in your pages? And, do you enter the page content (with the Shortcodes) into 
   the regular page editor, or does your theme maybe use a special way of editing
   content?
 * Regards,
    Tobias
 *  Thread Starter [designscape](https://wordpress.org/support/users/designscape/)
 * (@designscape)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982397)
 * That is how the shortcode looks but they are not on the page itself, the shortcode
   is embedded in a plug in that allows me to create custom columns.
 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982398)
 * Hi,
 * ah, ok. That explains it then 🙁 Those custom columns are then not searched by
   the WordPress search in the way that is required for also finding tables then
   🙁
    Sorry.
 * Regards,
    Tobias
 *  Thread Starter [designscape](https://wordpress.org/support/users/designscape/)
 * (@designscape)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982399)
 * Sorry to even ask, but is there anyway to make them searchable that way?
 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982402)
 * Hi,
 * no, sorry, I don’t really see a solution for that, with that other plugin storing
   the actual page data in those custom columns (which are probably stored in a 
   different location than where WordPress stores the page content internally).
 * Regards,
    Tobias
 *  Thread Starter [designscape](https://wordpress.org/support/users/designscape/)
 * (@designscape)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982403)
 * Im going to remove the shortcode from that additional content and put it back
   on the regular page area and see if that works. Ill confirm when I do my test.
   Thanks for your correspondence.
 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982405)
 * Hi,
 * yes, that should work then.
    Sorry for not being able to suggest a better solution
   🙁
 * Regards,
    Tobias
 *  Thread Starter [designscape](https://wordpress.org/support/users/designscape/)
 * (@designscape)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982478)
 * I think I have everything working as best I can but I do have one more question
   for you and maybe you can think of something that will work.
 * So far I am able to use the standard Search function for my website to return
   the result of a part number embedded in tablepress. What this does (for example,
   if I search for Electronic Bell) is bring me to the page that has the tablepress
   table but it does not return the actual entry in the table.
 * Now, if I use the search function that is embedded in the tablepress, this gives
   me exactly what I want.
 * What that would mean is that if a customer is searching for a part (the electronic
   bell for instance), they would have to search twice in order to find what they
   are looking for (the actual part number).
 * Is there any way to use a universal tablepress search box and have that on my
   primary page INSTEAD of the native search feature that is built into wordpress?
 * Phew! That was a lot to explain and I hope you understand the issue and what 
   im asking.
 * Thanks again for taking the time to address this with me. I look forward to hearing
   back from you at your earliest convenience.
 * Thank you,
 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982519)
 * Hi,
 * good to hear that the search is now working!
 * For this idea, of replacing the search field, you could try two other Extensions,
   that would however need adjustments. Please take a look at these threads for 
   a start: [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/linking-and-filtering-a-table-press-table-from-my-header](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/linking-and-filtering-a-table-press-table-from-my-header)
   
   [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/link-to-a-table-searchfilter](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/link-to-a-table-searchfilter)
   You will then need to change some PHP code in those Extension to make this work.
 * Regards,
    Tobias

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

The topic ‘Searchable Tables’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 11 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/searchable-tables/#post-4982519)
 * Status: resolved