Easy Excel and Google Sheets Sync in WP Table Manager

WP Table Manager is the most intuitive way to create, manage and showcase tables on your WordPress website. WP Table Manager also allows you to import tables from Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets files, as well as export them back into .XLSX files that are supported by Excel and Google Sheets. Now, however, we’re going one step further: synchronization!

Excel synchronization with WP tables in video

In most environments, data changes occur quite frequently. Whereas importing and exporting make it easier for you to work on your data anywhere you’d like, and then integrate it with WP Table Manager, that's a tedious approach: any time you update the files, you have to import the new version. Now there is a far better option... Synchronized tables!

Synchronized tables work exactly as you’d expect them to. Whenever you make changes to the data within the files, they are reflected automatically on the tables generated by WP Table Manager without you having to intervene. That means you can collaborate on files in Google Sheets and have the changes copied to your WordPress blog immediately!

The synchronization features are available for WordPress websites running the latest version of WP Table Manager. And you don’t even have to change your preferred spreadsheet client as synchronization works with both Excel files and Google Sheets documents! In the rest of this article, we take a look at how you can set up your WordPress tables to be automatically synchronized with Excel and Google Sheets files.

Excel Synchronization in WordPress

Microsoft Office Suite’s Excel software is one of the most widely-used spreadsheet editing programs and its files can now be used directly with WP Table Manager. In order to use files compatible with Excel, such as .XLSX files, firstly, create the file that you want to use for synchronization and fill it with any initial data.

In order to import and synchronize Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, you need to upload the file somewhere. The easiest and most accessible place to put it is on your own server by using WordPress' media manager. However, you can also upload it on another server, as long as it's accessible from your WordPress blog.

The next step is to navigate to WP Table Manager and create a new table, or select an existing table that will be the container for the Excel synced data. To add the Excel spreadsheet's data to the table, choose Excel from the Import & Sync menu.

You can add a link to the Excel file directly and fetch its data. If you don't know the exact link, you can browse your server and look for the spreadsheet yourself. You can optionally copy the style into your table too. Before clicking done, make sure that the auto sync option is switched on to enable synchronization… And you're set!

Google Sheets in WordPress

If you’re a Google Sheets power-user, or even if you are considering transitioning away from Microsoft Excel, the process is quasi-identical. Like before, the first step is inserting your data into a Google Sheets document.

Naturally, you can’t browse for this spreadsheet from WP Table Manager. Instead, navigate to the file menu on Google Sheets, and click on publish to the web. This will allow WP Table Manager to read the data in your spreadsheet.

To use Google Sheets’ spreadsheets with WP Table Manager, click on publish to make the spreadsheet available elsewhere on the web, and copy the generated URL. Next, click on Google Sheets from the Import & Sync menu on WP Table Manager, and paste the Google Sheets file's URL. Like before, fetch the data (and optionally, the style), enable auto sync and click on done.

Automatic Synchronization

By following this process, if you modify the data in your Google Sheets or Excel documents, the changes will be reflected on your WordPress website thanks to WP Table Manager’s synchronization features.

By default, there is no delay associated with the automatic synchronization. That means WP Table Manager will fetch updates as soon as it notices that the Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet changed. You can change this behaviour from WP Table Manager's Configuration.

You can set a delay of up to 24 hours, giving you ample time to fix any mistakes you might have made while editing your remote spreadsheets. Remember that if you prefer, you can turn off synchronization altogether, in which case you will have to click on fetch data in the same way as before to manually synchronize the tables.

The synchronization process is invaluable in collaborative editing, for example at your workplace or academic environment. Multiple people can edit the same data, and have it show on WordPress, and all it takes is a simple, one-time process!