Migration from WP-Table Reloaded to TablePress

If you are still using the outdated and discontinued plugin WP-Table Reloaded on your website, it is strongly recommend to switch to its official successor TablePress. WP-Table Reloaded has been discontinued in 2013 and will no longer receive any updates or support.

This page contains information and instructions for the migration from the discontinued WP-Table Reloaded plugin to TablePress.

Very important: It is recommended to create backups of your tables by exporting them.

If you are not using any special customizations in WP-Table Reloaded, like highly advanced “Custom CSS”, “WP-Table Reloaded Custom Data Fields”, or a “WP-Table Reloaded Extension”, you can follow the following steps for a successful migration from WP-Table Reloaded to TablePress. If you are using special customizations, special attention and care is recommended.

  1. To be on the safe side, create a “WP-Table Reloaded Dump File” (on the “Plugin Options” screen of WP-Table Reloaded), as a complete backup.
  2. If you want, you can additionally export your most important tables as CSV files, as a backup. If you are really afraid of data loss, it also doesn’t hurt to create a full backup of your WordPress mySQL database (which you should be doing regularly anyway.) For this, the WP Staging plugin is a great solution, as it makes backups and the creation of staging sites very easy. Note, that TablePress will not change or alter WP-Table Reloaded tables at any time. It will only read and import them.
  3. Then install and activate TablePress.

    Attention: You must install TablePress version 1.9.2 for the migration, as newer versions no longer contain the migration and import feature. After the migration, you should then however update to the latest version of TablePress!

    The easiest way to do that is via the “Plugins” -> “Add New” page in your Dashboard, or by manually downloading and installing the plugin’s ZIP file.
    Your tables will now not show on your site, but that is expected, and only temporary until you complete step 4.
  4. In TablePress, you will then see a notification that WP-Table Reloaded is installed and activated. Click the large button in the notification to get to the “Import” screen of TablePress. In the lower half, you can find an import possibility. Leave everything as it is there and click “Import from WP-Table Reloaded”. This will import your WP-Table Reloaded tables and their options into TablePress, as well as your “Custom CSS” (if you have any). The “Custom CSS” might need some updating or adjusting to the new styling, if it used special things, but likely that is not the case.
    Your tables will now show again on your site, now handled by TablePress, which you can recognize by the new, fresh and modern, styling.
  5. You can now work with your tables in TablePress. Changes that you make in TablePress tables will NOT influence/change/update WP-Table Reloaded tables!
  6. You should now also update to the latest available version of TablePress that the “Plugins” screen on your site offers.
  7. After that, uninstall WP-Table Reloaded. To do that, go to the “Plugin Options” screen of WP-Table Reloaded and click the “Uninstall Plugin WP-Table Reloaded” button at the bottom of the page. This will remove all tables and settings of WP-Table Reloaded from the database! (Remember that you can always get everything back from the “WP-Table Reloaded Dump File” that you created as a backup in step 1, in case you ever change your mind.) After that, you should also delete the “wp-table-reloaded” folder from the “wp-content/plugins/” directory on your server.
  8. That’s it 🙂 You have successfully migrated from WP-Table Reloaded to TablePress. Enjoy the new plugin!