Hi Uriahs,

When it comes to showing/hiding Columns for front-end Users, please check out how we explained all the possibilities on this Page.

Please note:

• Invisible columns are still passed to the front end. This means that if there are many invisible columns, they can needlessly load the page. If there’s absolutely no need for the invisible columns’ data in the front-end, it’s better to delete them in the data source when possible.
• Invisible columns can be used for filtering. If the advanced filter is enabled and is rendered in the form, or in a widget, the filter can also use the data from invisible columns. Please see this documentation section for details.
• Since hidden columns are not supported in Excel-like tables, they also can’t be edited through it. They can be edited with a popup modal of the Standard view, but they are not yet included as editable in Excel-like.

2. Regarding the export question / which Columns will be exported, etc :

The table tools functionalities are based on a 3rd party HTML5 library and they are not customizable. Unfortunately, the library allows very little “fine-tuning” of the generated files, so font, size, and other properties cannot be changed.

There are some limitations in this library we will emphasize for your awareness:

• For tables with server-side processing, only the visible rows will be exported to any format. If you want the entire table to be exported (or copied to a clipboard), you need to choose the “Show All” feature in the “show … entries” block, and then do the export:
• Generated PDF, XLS, CSV are not customizable. Unfortunately, the library allows very little “fine-tuning” of the generated files, so font, size, and other properties cannot be changed (but the title can – see below).
• Conditional formatting is not reflected in any of generated export files.
• Other front-end extensions cannot be combined with Table Tools. If you have row grouping enabled for the table, or there are some customizations you did yourself, they won’t be reflected in the generated Excel, CSV or PDF document, nor in the clipboard.
• When you export tables with the wpDataTables plugin, please note that you can export values, but not formulas. WpDataTables doesn’t support exporting formulas, so a Formula column will be exported only with values; and any calculations of Average, MIN, MAX, and Total will not be exported at all.
• Exporting images is not possible at the moment, but you are able to export them as HTML with the new “Include HTML” option.
• You can’t export columns that are hidden – they will not be visible in any exporting or printing tool.
• Export numbers with comma as decimal separators have issues in the Excel report. Please use the CSV export button or change column type to string for these columns.

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If you need better PDF export options, our advice would be to acquire something like the WP Advanced PDF plugin, which offers a lot more options when creating PDF files from our tables, along with other content on your website.

I hope that covers everything , but let me know if i misunderstood what you need to achieve.

Thank you.

Hi Uriahs,

My apologies - i have sent you the completely wrong Documentation Page for that subject, this is the right Page, under the "Column visibility" section.

As it says, If this button is turned on for the table, your front-end table users will be able to toggle the visibility of the table’s columns.

 Please note that it also includes the columns that you’ve hidden from the back-end. 

You can un-select the button to hide the column and select it back to show it.

I hope that helps.

Let me know if you have any questions.