Data Export (CSV, Excel, PDF)

TableCrafter lets visitors download the table they are looking at as a real CSV, Excel (XLSX), or PDF file, or copy it straight to the clipboard. Exports run through a single server-side handler that produces genuine, openable files and respects whatever filters, search, and sorting are currently applied.

Overview

When export is enabled, TableCrafter renders a set of export controls above the table: a format menu (CSV / Excel / PDF) and a Copy to Clipboard button. CSV from the simple button is built right in the browser, while Excel and PDF are generated on the server through the tc_export_data AJAX action and then streamed back as a downloadable file.

As of version 3.5.6, all three formats are honest files. The Excel export is a genuine OOXML .xlsx workbook assembled with PHP's ZipArchive (a real, openable spreadsheet), and the PDF export is a structurally valid PDF 1.4 document with a correct object table and cross-reference table. Neither is HTML or CSV renamed with a different extension.

Enabling export

With the shortcode

Add the export attribute to the [tablecrafter] shortcode. It is off by default, so set it to true to show the export controls.

# Enable the export menu and clipboard button
[tablecrafter source="https://api.example.com/products.json" export="true"]

Export pairs naturally with search and filters so users can narrow the data first, then export exactly what they see:

[tablecrafter source="https://api.example.com/products.json"
  search="true" filters="true" export="true" per_page="25"]

With the Visual Shortcode Builder

Open the TableCrafter admin menu, enter your data source, and toggle Export in the options panel. The builder writes export="true" into the generated shortcode and updates the live preview so you can confirm the controls appear before copying the shortcode.

With the Gutenberg block or Elementor widget

Both editors expose an Export toggle in their settings. The block describes it as adding CSV download and copy-to-clipboard buttons that respect current filters and search; turning it on is equivalent to export="true".

Shortcode attribute reference

Export formats

Copy to clipboard

The Copy to Clipboard button copies the current (filtered) rows as tab-separated values, with the column labels as the first line. Tab separation means you can paste directly into Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers and have it land in proper cells. The button briefly flips to "Copied!" to confirm.

It uses the modern navigator.clipboard API where available and falls back to a hidden textarea with document.execCommand('copy') on older or non-secure-context browsers, so it works without a file download.

What gets exported (filters and columns)

Export is intentionally "what you see is what you get":

• Filters and search: By default TableCrafter exports the filtered dataset, so any active column filters or search terms are applied to the export.
• Columns: Columns hidden via include/exclude, or any column marked non-exportable, are omitted from the file. Header labels in the export use the column's display label when one is available.
• Cell formatting: Values are cleaned for export. HTML is stripped to plain text, date-like values are formatted per the active template's date format, and numeric values are normalised, so the file stays tidy in spreadsheet tools.

How the server-side export works

For Excel and PDF (and the server CSV path), the table sends its already-rendered rows and column configuration to WordPress:

1. The browser POSTs to admin-ajax.php with action=tc_export_data, the chosen format, the row data, the columns, a filename, and a nonce.
2. The handler verifies the tc_export_nonce and confirms the user has the read capability, then generates the file into a protected uploads folder (wp-uploads/tablecrafter-exports/, locked down with .htaccess and an index.php).
3. The response includes a one-time download_url (a tc_download_export request guarded by its own tc_download_nonce). The browser follows it to download the file.
4. After the download is served, the temporary file is removed and its transient deleted. Any stragglers are swept by a cleanup routine that deletes export files older than an hour.

Developer notes

The export pipeline lives in includes/class-tc-export-handler.php (class TC_Export_Handler). A few extension points worth knowing:

• Export templates filter: tc_export_templates lets you add or modify named templates. Each template controls whether a metadata footer is included and which date and number formats are applied. Built-in templates are default, business, and data_analysis.
• Metadata footer: When a template enables it (or the request asks for it), exports can append an "Export Information" block listing the generation timestamp, total record count, and any applied filters or sort order.
• Capability: The AJAX handler requires the read capability, so the feature is available to logged-in subscribers and above; it is also registered for non-logged-in visitors via the nopriv hook.

// Add a custom export template via the tc_export_templates filter
add_filter( 'tc_export_templates', function ( $templates ) {
    $templates['invoice'] = [
        'name'            => 'Invoice',
        'description'     => 'Currency-formatted report',
        'include_metadata' => true,
        'date_format'     => 'M j, Y',
        'number_format'   => '$0.00',
    ];
    return $templates;
} );

Troubleshooting

• Excel export errors: XLSX generation requires PHP's ZipArchive extension. If it is missing, the handler reports that ZipArchive is required; enable the zip PHP extension on the server.
• No export buttons appear: Confirm export="true" is set (it defaults to off) and that the table actually loaded data.
• Download link expired: Generated files are only retrievable for a few minutes. Re-run the export to get a fresh link.

Next, see filtering-and-search.html to control exactly which rows make it into an export, and column-management.html for choosing which columns are included.