Troubleshooting

Version 1.1.0 Updated October 26, 2026

Most Core Tables problems come down to 3 things: a dataset that isn’t published, a value that doesn’t match its column type or a cache that hasn’t caught up. Find what you’re seeing below.

Quick Fixes

What you see	Why	Fix
Nothing shows on the page	The dataset is unpublished, in Trash or deleted, or none of its columns are public	Publish the dataset with at least 1 public column. Logged-in editors see “Choose and publish a Core Tables dataset to display it here.”
Your edits aren’t on the site	Save draft doesn’t publish, and saving the post doesn’t publish the dataset	Open the dataset and select Publish dataset…
“This dataset changed in another editor. Reload before trying again.”	Someone saved the dataset after you opened it	Reload, then make your edit again
“Row N, Label: …” when saving	A cell doesn’t match its column type, often after you changed a Type	Fix that cell, or change the type back. Types don’t convert existing values.
“Chart columns are unavailable. The published data is shown below.”	The category column is also a series, a chosen column was removed or made private, or a series isn’t a number or currency column	Pick different columns in the block’s Chart data panel
“No numeric values to chart. The table is shown below.”	Every series cell is empty	Fill in the values, or choose a different series
No Download CSV button	The published revision doesn’t allow CSV, or the block’s Download CSV button is off	Turn on both, and publish the dataset. Charts never show the button.
“The table could not be refreshed. The last loaded rows are still shown.”	The page couldn’t reach the public REST API, often because a security plugin blocks it	Allow anonymous access to `/wp-json/core-tables/v1/public/`
Changes show for you but not visitors	A page or CDN cache is serving the old page	Purge the cache for that page
“Image unavailable” in a table	The image was deleted, or its parent post was made private or trashed	Choose an available image. The next publish fails until you do.

Values and Column Types

Each column type accepts one format:

Number and Currency: plain numbers with a decimal point, like 1299.5. No currency symbols, units, % signs or thousands separators. The largest value is 1 trillion.
Date: YYYY-MM-DD only, and it’s shown that way on the site.
URL: http or https links without a user name or password.
Yes / No: true, false, 1 or 0.

Imports are more forgiving than the editor. They accept 1,000 and $5 and clean them up, but only in CSV, Markdown and JSON.

Imports

Merged cells are refused everywhere. HTML, TablePress, wpDataTables and WP Table Builder imports all stop on them. Unmerge them in the source first.
1 table at a time. Several HTML or Markdown tables in one paste fail.
Formatted HTML columns stay rich text. Plain HTML columns get number, price, date and link detection, but a column with bold, italic, links or code in any cell doesn’t. Set the type on the Columns tab, or remove the formatting before importing.
Images must be in this site’s Media Library. External image links fail with “Import the image into the WordPress media library before converting this table.” Only images are supported, not video or PDF.
Formulas import as text from TablePress.

The full rules are in Import CSV and Convert Tables.

Search, Sort and Filters

Search looks for your text anywhere in public cells, but not in image columns.
Column filters are exact matches. A filter for Pro won’t match Pro Plus. Number filters need plain numbers, and Yes / No filters take true, false, 1 or 0.
Text sorts by your database’s collation, which is usually not case-sensitive. Numbers, prices and Yes / No sort as values.
Empty cells always sort last, in both directions.
Image columns can’t be searched, sorted or filtered.

Charts

Charts don’t add values together. Each row is 1 point: “Values are not added together.” Total your data before you chart it.
Rich text and image columns can’t be the category column.
A chart shortcode with pagination=yes shows 10 rows per page unless you set per_page. It uses the site’s shortcode default, not the block’s 50.
2 paginated embeds of the same dataset on one page share the same page link setting when JavaScript is off, so they turn pages together.

Caches

Core Tables purges LiteSpeed Cache and WP Super Cache when you publish, unpublish, trash, restore or delete a dataset. It doesn’t purge Cloudflare, WP Rocket or host caches. Saving the Appearance settings doesn’t purge any cache.

Purge those caches by hand, or hook into core_tables_cache_invalidate as shown in Hooks, Data, Privacy and Uninstall.

Appearance

A block’s accent color must be a 6-digit hex like #2271b1. Other formats, such as 3-digit hex, rgba or a theme color variable, are rejected, and the accent falls back to the site setting. The block’s other appearance overrides still apply.
The same applies to shortcode accent and the other style attributes: an invalid value falls back on its own.

Exports

An admin export includes private columns, because it exports the draft. Check the file before sharing it.
Negative numbers export as '-5. The apostrophe stops spreadsheet apps from running the value as a formula. Remove it in your spreadsheet if you need the numbers to calculate.
The public CSV works without the button. Once the published revision allows CSV, anyone can download it from its public address.

Export Datasets and Public CSV Downloads has the details.

Google Sheets

“Google denied access” means the Sheets API is off or the sheet isn’t shared with the service account as a viewer.
Changed headings or dataset columns need Preview source and new column matching.
Scheduled refreshes pause while a manually edited draft waits for review.
Scheduled refreshes depend on WP-Cron, which runs only when people visit. Use real server cron on quiet sites.
A changed AUTH_KEY means pasting the JSON key again.

Every Sheets message is explained in Sheets Refresh, Schedules and Errors.

Permissions

Editors see only their own datasets. A dataset created by another editor doesn’t appear for them, and there’s no way to change a dataset’s owner.
Authors can’t open the dataset editor. They can add Core Table and Core Chart blocks and choose published datasets.
Plugin imports, Google Sheets setup, revision cleanup and permanent delete need an administrator.
Permanent delete is blocked while a Sheets refresh runs. Try again when it finishes.

License

“This site needs a strong AUTH_KEY and Sodium before activation.” means AUTH_KEY in wp-config.php is shorter than 32 characters, or the Sodium PHP extension is missing.
A license shows reconnect after the site address or AUTH_KEY changes. Select Remove local license copy, then activate again.
Disconnect license needs the license server to answer. If it can’t be reached, the license stays connected.
Tables keep working without a license. Only automatic updates stop.

Setup

Network activation isn’t supported. Activate Core Tables on each site.
“Core Tables needs its Composer dependencies” or “Core Tables assets are missing” means the plugin folder is incomplete. Reinstall from the ZIP on the product page.

Limits

Limit	Value
Rows per dataset	10,000
Columns per dataset	30
Bytes per cell	2,000
Dataset or import size	16 MB
Rows per table page	100
Rows per chart page	50
Chart series	6
Rows per editor grid page	25
Revisions per history page	20
Undo steps	20
Tables listed per source plugin	500