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Exports

CSV, Excel, PDF, server-side generation, filter-respecting, audit-logged.

Three export formats, all generated server-side, all respecting active filters.

Enabling exports#

[gravity_table id="42" export="csv,excel,pdf"]

Each format becomes a button in the toolbar. Omit export to hide the toolbar entirely.

Format characteristics#

FormatFileBest forAvoid for
CSV.csvSpreadsheets, BI tools, scriptsLong text fields with newlines
Excel.xlsxStakeholder reports, formatted data>50,000 rows (memory)
PDF.pdfCompliance reports, archivesEditable later (it’s not)

Filter-respecting#

Exports respect:

  • Active column filters (date range, multi-select, range sliders)
  • Current search term
  • Current sort
  • Per-user filter (filter_by_user="true" users export only their own rows)
  • Hard-coded filter

The downloaded file matches what the user is currently looking at.

CSV specifics#

  • Formula injection auto-prefix: cells starting with =, +, -, @ get a ' prepended (Excel renders the value, doesn’t evaluate)
  • UTF-8 BOM prepended for Excel-on-Windows compatibility
  • RFC 4180 quoted-newline handling

Excel specifics#

  • Real .xlsx (OpenXML), not HTML-renamed
  • Frozen header row
  • Auto-fit column widths (capped at 60 chars)
  • Number formatting (currency / dates / percentages)
  • Conditional formatting preserved from table config

PDF specifics#

  • Page numbers (bottom-right)
  • Repeating header row across pages
  • Brand header (site logo + table name + timestamp)
  • Optional cover page (pdf_cover="true")

Large datasets#

Above 5,000 rows, exports are queued server-side and emailed as a download link.

[gravity_table id="42" export="csv" export_queue_threshold="2000"]

Or send by email regardless of size:

[gravity_table id="42" export="csv" export_delivery="email"]

Per-format permissions#

[gravity_table id="42"
  export="csv,pdf"
  export_permissions="excel:manager"]

CSV/PDF for everyone; Excel only for users with the manager capability.

Audit trail#

[gravity_table id="42" export="csv,pdf" audit_exports="true"]

Each export logs:

  • user_id, user_login, ip_address
  • format (csv/excel/pdf)
  • row_count (post-filter)
  • filter_state_json
  • timestamp (UTC)
  • file_hash (SHA-256)

Useful when “who exported this” matters more than “who has access”.

Security: temporary file lifetime#

Exported files live in wp-content/uploads/gt-exports/ with .htaccess deny-direct-access. Auto-deleted after 24 hours. Shorten:

[gravity_table id="42" export="csv" export_ttl="3600"]

Deletes after 1 hour instead.

On nginx, the equivalent rule is in our recommended nginx config.

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