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Formidable Team / Last Updated July 14, 2023

How To Create a Searchable Database on a WordPress Site

Discover three powerful ways to create a searchable database on your WordPress site. Organize data efficiently and enhance website functionality with ease.

how to create a searchable database in a WordPress site with database forms

Approximate read time: 5.5 minutes

If you're like most business owners, you've got tons of data coming in from users on your website every day. 

Hidden inside those numbers and statistics are the secrets to potential income. But what is the best way to manage all that data?

Build a searchable database website!

And this guide will show you exactly how to create an online searchable database today!

Get Better Forms FREE!
 

But first, let's talk about the difference between a standard WordPress database and a simple searchable database.

  • Difference between a WordPress database and a searchable database
  • Searchable database options for WordPress
  • How to make a searchable database in WordPress

    Difference between a WordPress database and a searchable database

    All WordPress sites have a database built into every installation. But the basic database has few tools for searching or analyzing your database stores.

    In other words, WordPress will collect and hold the data for a website, but making heads or tails of it is up to you.

    What is a WordPress database?
    A WordPress database is a digital storage bank of information. When a user fills out a form, the responses are stored in the website's backend.

    A searchable database allows you to store, search, and connect all information. It is the best way to take all the valuable data pouring into your website and turn it into actionable trends.

    And that leads to the question: How do you add a custom database to WordPress websites?

    After all, what good is a database of information if you can't do a database search in WordPress?

    ? Want to know more about databases? This is the best relational database plugin for WordPress

    Searchable database options for WordPress

    The easiest solution? A searchable database plugin for WordPress! Or at least a plugin that will help you make one!

    A good WordPress database search plugin will have these core elements:

    • Methods to input data (forms or data import)
    • A user interface or dashboard to search, sort, and filter data through forms, fields, and search functions
    • Tools to visualize data & build data relationships
    • Search and Replace for WordPress

    So to get you started, we'll show you three of the most common ways to create a searchable database in WordPress. 

    Let's get to creating a WordPress searchable database website!

    How to make a searchable database in WordPress

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    To start, here are the database creation methods we'll cover today:

    1. Code the database yourself from scratch
    2. Use a powerful form-building plugin
    3. Install a WordPress database plugin

    1. Code the database yourself from scratch

    Ready to test your coding skills?

    Fair warning: it takes a lot of expertise to code a searchable database in a WordPress website.

    Luckily, the WordPress admin has a MySQL database name with phpMyAdmin installed by default.

    But here's where you must ask yourself: Will your database be as huge as websites like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube? Or are you building something smaller in scale?

    If you're not planning for massive scaling in the future, custom coding may not be worth the hassle or money it costs to hire a programmer to set up WordPress hosting with a web host, usernames and passwords, and your database.

    We guess you’re looking for an easier way to create a website with a searchable database! After all, why spend time and money reinventing the wheel? Let's move on to the next method for creating a WordPress search database: plugins.

    2. Use a powerful form-building plugin

    Formidable Forms is a searchable database plugin

    As mentioned above, making a searchable database website might be challenging unless you are a big-time code wizard. 

    There is another way to set up your WordPress website with the online database you're hoping for. You can use an advanced WordPress form builder plugin!

    But first, what's the difference between form-building and database plugins?

    Form-building plugins do more than just databases! You can build contact forms, conversational forms, landing pages, and more with an all-in-one form builder plugin. 

    Conversely, WordPress database plugins can only do one thing: be a database management system.

    Save yourself time and effort, and download the drag-and-drop plugin from Formidable Forms. The free version gives you many of the searchable database features you need, and it works with any WordPress theme.

    And don't take it from us, just ask the experts ?.

    Testimonial from J. Marnell, a former Oracle database employee

     Get Formidable Forms Now!

    For example, here's more about Formidable's approach to database management:

    Methods to input data

    Form builders are all about data collection.

    So you can be sure Formidable has you covered there. Create a form, add your fields, and publish it on any WordPress blog post or page. You're done!

    Creating forms is simple, too. Just drag and drop form fields into the form building area:

    WordPress drag and drop form builder

    Search, sort, and filter data

    Wondering where all the collected data from form entries go? 

    In Formidable, all input data is stored in your WordPress database.

    But don't worry about having to hack the code in your WordPress site to find it. 

    The Formidable Forms plugin has a fully developed user interface where you can manage entries from the back end.

    That creates a WordPress database with an interface that can:

  • search / filter
  • edit
  • hide
  • add
  • show
  • delete
  • sort
  • view data
  • This will be all you need for most WordPress users looking to create a searchable database. The simplicity of a database that’s like having a database in Excel. You can use a search bar and filter the search results

    But what if you're using forms to create posts, pages, or other post types? What happens with the data, then?

    Good news. Formidable Forms hates database duplication as much as you do. This means the entries are stored with regular WordPress posts and custom fields.

     Try Formidable Now

    It also means you can edit the data from wherever you'd like, and it'll be the same no matter how and where you use it.

    The standard admin area in Formidable allows you to quickly view data tables, import data from CSV files, Google Sheets, or Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, and filter search criteria to help you find data.

    And if you are looking for even more customization, you can check out Formidable's tools for advanced data visualization below.

    Learn more: How to create a custom search form in WordPress

    Visualize data & build data relationships when you create a searchable database

    With features like Lookup Fields, Formidable simplifies building dynamic field relationships.

    For example, lookup fields let you create cascading fields for long lists (sometimes called chained-selects or dependent drop-down lists) like an auto dealership form:

    Lookup Year Make Model for searchable database forms

    In addition, every searchable database needs different methods of retrieving and displaying data. You can easily do this with Formidable's Dynamic Fields. 

    Take this example of a student database that filters by class:

    Pass Values Auto Fill in WordPress searchable database plugin

    And there are more ways to make dynamic relationships.

    For starters, you can input data into database forms with dependent fields. Furthermore, you can create a searchable database to access the data and perform calculations. 

    You can also build data relationships between multiple forms.

    Real-time updates and frontend charts and listings

    But one more tool that Formidable has makes it easy to visualize your data. It's called Views.

    This handy feature allows you to take any data and display it visually however you see fit. For example, you can show your data in listings, menus, and charts.

    Formidable listing demo

    Even better, you can update your website's data to users in real time based on form submissions.

    This allows you to create a custom and targeted experience for each user.

    With Formidable's unique Views, you can create a WordPress searchable database better and faster than you thought possible.

    Formidable Views - Your data, your way


    With Views, create relationships that automatically display form data as soon as it enters your database.

    3. Install a WordPress database plugin

    The final option takes us back to the WordPress.org plugin directory. This time, you'll look for a WordPress database plugin. 

    Guess what? There are a lot of them!

    Some honorable mentions include the Participants Database and wpDataTables. If we had to choose, it would be the latter.

    Fortunately, wpDataTables has a Formidable Forms add-on that makes it easy to use the best of both WordPress plugins. 

    The data collection tools in Formidable are great, and wpDataTables has a lot of easy options to display your data.

    For more info, check out this awesome video:

    Subscribe on YouTube

    Wrapping up

    You’ve now learned how to create a database in WordPress.

    Which option will you choose?

    Good luck using WordPress to create a database for your site! If you’d like more database information, we recommend learning how to save form entries to your database easily.

    Last, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for more database tips!

    Learn more about WordPress database possibilities

    • save custom form data to database WordPress How To Save Custom Form Data Into a Database in WordPress
      Read More
      How to Create a Recipe Database in WordPress How to Create a Recipe Database in WordPress
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      The best WordPress custom application plugin Formidable Views: The Best WordPress Custom Application Plugin
      Read More

    It's easy to get started with Formidable Forms. Try our premium form maker risk-free with our 14-day money-back guarantee.

    Using WordPress and want to get Formidable Forms for free?

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    This article may contain affiliate links. Once in a while, we earn commissions from those links. But we only recommend products we like, with or without commissions.

    Comments

    1. Marié Cruywagen says

      February 4, 2021 at 8:49 am

      I can vouch for both Formidable Forms and wpDataTables. A super combination which enables you to build dynamic, flexible systems in no time.

      Reply
    2. Charles Swann says

      February 4, 2021 at 2:00 pm

      I love the idea of searching by car part. I tried using a plugin for this for a customer a while back and it ended up being abandonware. Is there a way to associate say a part with the filter to a woocommerce product? For example you have a headlight that is for a 2006 honda civic. So with the database you filter by year make and model and then it would give you the product you are are looking for assuming you can associate the make with a woocommerce product. There are great databases of car types and makes out there that you can buy and then upload them into WordPress with a csv to build the database.

      Reply
      • stephywells says

        April 30, 2021 at 10:46 am

        Hi Charles,
        Sorry for the very late response! This isn't a setup we have tried exactly. There is almost always a way to do things like this, but it may take a bit of thought and trying out a few different options.

        You could easily add an auto parts form like this into a WooCommerce product. The tricky part would be integrating this with individual WooCommerce products.

        Reply
    3. milkboy31 says

      May 11, 2021 at 7:41 am

      Wow! I've muddled my way through writing custom views before, but that wpDataTables plugin looks like a winner! That's crazy simple and I can share that with some of our less technical staff to build out their data views too. Thanks!

      Reply
    4. David Farr says

      May 11, 2021 at 4:25 pm

      I have made use of Formidable with success but was not aware of the integration with wpDataTables which opens up some interesting options.

      Reply
    5. Jezrel Jane Himbing says

      May 24, 2021 at 9:13 am

      This is an amazing and interesting combination! 😀

      Reply
    6. Jason Earrame says

      May 27, 2021 at 2:38 pm

      I could see how this could be really useful with the right kind of website. I am going to keep it bookmarked.

      Reply
    7. Jermaine Rodriguez says

      May 28, 2021 at 9:05 pm

      wpDatatables for the win, for sure! The wpDatatable Formidable Views plugin is nice, but I get the most leverage out of the program by creating a custom page template that generates a temporary MySQL table for wpDataTables to use, it REALLY flies!!!
      The necessary Formidable to MySQL table was presented in the old community forum a few years ago, and now I can't find it, but I still use it all the time.
      Would love to share the query if interested, not beginner level stuff, but makes you look like a pro with the finished result.

      Reply
    8. Mohamed Benhandil says

      December 7, 2021 at 4:03 pm

      Woow, that's absolutly amazing, but i have a question, for exemple, i have a list of students data, and i create the search form, and one day a student search his name in teh search box and he find it, is there any way to download his information in a Pdf like generating pdf can containt all his information in his column data ?

      Reply
    9. Md. Faisal Sarker says

      November 23, 2022 at 4:46 am

      Useful

      Reply
    10. Patricia García says

      November 23, 2022 at 5:06 am

      WordPress is easy to understand with this articles!
      Thanks

      Reply
    11. Raul says

      November 23, 2022 at 10:24 am

      Glad I found this article. I've been meaning to use this functionality.

      Reply
    12. Marge says

      November 23, 2022 at 7:46 pm

      Always giving the best tips! I’ve bookmarked it to give it a try.

      Reply
    13. sakuhutan says

      November 23, 2022 at 11:35 pm

      Thanks for this! I am looking forward to creating the searchable database using Formidable Forms.

      Reply
    14. Milan Milićev says

      November 25, 2022 at 7:02 am

      Great read. I didn't know that Formidable can do this.

      Reply
    15. Nate says

      June 20, 2023 at 10:58 am

      I need to collect data from users...name, contact info, regional info, and several other fields, and then make that searchable for them. It's easy enough to get a form to collect everything I need. I do need something akin to the car part idea of dropdowns. state/classification/targets, each narrowing to a smaller subset of returned data.

      Will FF do that alone, or do I need the wpDataTables, too?

      Reply
      • srwells says

        June 20, 2023 at 3:55 pm

        Hi Nate,

        It is difficult to say if your setup will work with Formidable Forms alone or if you will also need wpDatatables. If you would like to reach out to our support team we can get the details of your setup and provide a better answer.

        From what you have described, I think you should be able to create a searchable and filtereable database on your site of user data with just Formidable Forms. You can always test it out and if you run into limitations solved by wpDataTables, then add that to complete your setup.

        Reply
    16. Tomáš Polakovič says

      November 13, 2023 at 7:27 am

      Very informative

      Reply
    17. Justin Hayes says

      November 13, 2023 at 9:23 am

      The insights offered in this article are particularly relevant in today's data-driven business environment. Recognizing that the data collected from website users is not just a stream of numbers but a goldmine of potential revenue is a game-changer for many businesses.

      Emphasizing the creation of a searchable database website is a timely suggestion, as it can dramatically improve the user experience by enabling visitors to find the information they need quickly and efficiently. This can be a significant competitive advantage.

      The distinction drawn between a standard WordPress database and a simple searchable database is a crucial one. It appears that while the former could be somewhat opaque and challenging to navigate, the latter is designed with accessibility in mind, ensuring that users can retrieve data without hassle.

      Including a step-by-step guide on setting up a searchable database in WordPress is particularly helpful, as it demystifies the process and provides actionable advice for business owners who might not have technical expertise.

      The offer of a free version of Better Forms is the cherry on top, making this guide not only informative but also immediately actionable. It would be beneficial for readers to learn about the potential scalability options and security aspects of creating such databases, as these are often critical considerations for growing businesses.

      Overall, this article serves as an essential primer for anyone looking to leverage their data more effectively through a searchable database.

      Reply
    18. Michael Murphy says

      November 13, 2023 at 11:25 am

      I really have to step up my game with the visual views feature. But this searchable database is definitely something I already use regularly on the back end. Thanks formidable!!

      Reply
    19. [email protected] says

      November 13, 2023 at 11:45 am

      Really useful article !!!! Thanks Formidable Forms Team

      Reply
    20. Justin Phelan says

      November 13, 2023 at 1:03 pm

      We've done something similar with formidable on a couple of our sites and it works well.

      Reply
    21. Gabriel says

      November 13, 2023 at 2:42 pm

      I've used formidable to build many searchable databases. I even used it to create an entire custom system for time scheduling system for a mid-sized company (about 15 employees). It was better than any plugin that was made for that purpose, and I was able to customize it, make it searchable, and even convert to PDF for client invoices.

      once you get into formidable, you won't use anything else again.

      Reply
    22. Aaron Rittmaster says

      November 13, 2023 at 3:09 pm

      Great article - thank you for the reminder about wpDataTables. I've been a Formidable user for years, and sometimes it's easy to keep using a tool for the same thing we've always used it for. I remember seeing the introduction of wpDataTables and thinking that it could have some cool uses, but I had other things on my mind at the time and didn't follow up. This is a good reminder to look back at wpDataTables and look for opportunities to leverage this newer functionality in one of my favorite tools.

      Reply
    23. SARA says

      November 13, 2023 at 3:27 pm

      Very informative read. Thanks.

      Reply
    24. Arielle Morgane says

      November 13, 2023 at 3:59 pm

      Brilliantly useful info, thanks!

      Reply
    25. David Hollingsworth says

      November 13, 2023 at 8:24 pm

      Very thoughtful and useful information on searching on complex databases.

      Reply
    26. Edlai says

      November 14, 2023 at 5:08 am

      I have very little knowledge in regards to this field but the article is still infromative nonetheless.

      Reply
    27. Pavel says

      November 14, 2023 at 7:14 am

      Very useful info, thanks)

      Reply
    28. Shellie Clark says

      November 14, 2023 at 11:53 am

      Great combination!!!

      Reply
    29. Kyra Kwan says

      November 14, 2023 at 7:30 pm

      Thanks for sharing! Helpful to have a searchable database for both clients and employees for various aspects that are important for the business!

      Reply
    30. Lisa Reid says

      November 15, 2023 at 2:40 pm

      Great info!

      Reply
    31. May says

      November 15, 2023 at 9:23 pm

      This is good to know

      Reply
    32. Ellie says

      November 15, 2023 at 9:31 pm

      Very useful - thank you for the information

      Reply
    33. santosh sendha says

      November 17, 2023 at 8:51 am

      best plugin for wordpress 1

      Reply
    34. Andy says

      November 20, 2023 at 10:53 am

      I've used Formidable to create many searchable databases. I've typically found javascript tools to help with live searching and sorting on the front end, but I'm intrigued by wpDataTables because that might help me streamline things on the front end.

      Reply
    35. Ana-Maria Bordeianu says

      November 20, 2023 at 11:09 am

      helpful and very easy

      Reply
    36. Paul says

      November 21, 2023 at 4:17 pm

      Great feature - I will definitely be checking this one out.

      Reply
    37. eb says

      November 21, 2023 at 7:02 pm

      useful

      Reply
    38. Jeff says

      November 22, 2023 at 5:00 am

      Very informative

      Reply
    39. canerakan says

      November 24, 2023 at 2:42 am

      Excellent guide on creating a searchable database on a WordPress site! The step-by-step instructions were clear and helpful. Excited to implement this feature on my site. Thanks for the valuable information!

      Reply
    40. Beeb Ashcroft says

      November 24, 2023 at 8:44 pm

      This is interesting - I've definitely noticed that searching for content on my WordPress site using the built-in search function on the frontend doesn't always pull up what I'm looking for right away, so I can see how it could be really useful to have more expanded options, especially for filtering the information.

      Reply
    41. Jeff McCauley says

      November 25, 2023 at 7:53 pm

      Sounds like a handy plugin to get more helpful use out of WordPress databases.

      Reply
    42. Qiyaam Adams says

      November 26, 2023 at 11:35 am

      Very informative. Its a powerful feature that if harnessed correctly will increase your sales for sure.

      Reply
    43. Ashley Zabel says

      November 26, 2023 at 11:45 am

      Yet another amazing blog post full of need-to-know information!

      Reply
    44. Dave McCausland says

      November 26, 2023 at 2:03 pm

      Seems very easy, is there way to import information rather than inputting everything?
      Thank you for sharing.

      Reply
    45. adam charpentier says

      November 26, 2023 at 5:38 pm

      Excellent guide and valuable information.

      Reply
    46. Eponine says

      November 26, 2023 at 6:18 pm

      Whilst I haven't needed such a tool yet, I can see how powerful this would be, and it gives me ideas on how to best leverage my formidable form licence. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply

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