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Column Actions Feature Guide

By default, Material React Table renders a column actions button for each column header. It contains a drop-down menu to help your users use the other features of the table. All of these actions can be triggered in some other way other than from this drop-down menu, so this serves as a UI/UX alternative to make sure your users can find many of the table features easily.

Relevant Table Options

#
Prop Name
0
Type
0
Default Value
0
More Info Links
0
1
boolean
true
MRT Column Actions Docs
2
IconButtonProps | (({table, column}) => IconButtonProps);
Material UI IconButton Props
3
({ closeMenu, column, internalColumnMenuItems, table }) => ReactNode[]

Relevant Column Options

#
Column Option
0
Type
0
Default Value
0
More Info Links
0
1
boolean
MRT Column Actions Docs
2
IconButtonProps | ({ column, table }) => IconButtonProps
Material UI IconButton API
3
({ closeMenu, column, internalColumnMenuItems, table }) => ReactNode[]

Disable or Hide Column Actions Buttons

You can set the enableColumnActions table option to false in the table to disable this feature and hide the button in each column header completely.

const table = useMaterialReactTable({
  data,
  columns,
  enableColumnActions: false,
});


return <MaterialReactTable table={table} />;

Alternatively, if you only want to hide the column actions button in specific columns, you can set the enableColumnActions option for the desired column definition to false instead.

In this demo, we disable the column actions button for the 'ID' column.

Demo

Open StackblitzOpen Code SandboxOpen on GitHub
ID
0
First Name
0
Last Name
0
1DylanMurray
2RaquelKohler
1-2 of 2

Source Code 

1import { useMemo } from 'react';
2import {
3  MaterialReactTable,
4  useMaterialReactTable,
5  type MRT_ColumnDef,
6} from 'material-react-table';
7import { data, type Person } from './makeData';
8

9const Example = () => {
10  const columns = useMemo<MRT_ColumnDef<Person>[]>(
11    () => [
12      {
13        accessorKey: 'id',
14        enableColumnActions: false,
15        header: 'ID',
16      },
17      {
18        accessorKey: 'firstName',
19        header: 'First Name',
20      },
21      {
22        accessorKey: 'lastName',
23        header: 'Last Name',
24      },
25    ],
26    [],
27  );
28

29  const table = useMaterialReactTable({
30    columns,
31    data,
32  });
33

34  return <MaterialReactTable table={table} />;
35};
36

37export default Example;
38

Custom Column Actions Menu

If you do not like the default column actions menu items that Material React Table generates, you can provide your own custom menu items with the renderColumnActionsMenuItems table or column option. You can choose whether or not to include the internal menu items by using the internalColumnMenuItems parameter.

const table = useMaterialReactTable({
  data,
  columns,
  renderColumnActionsMenuItems: ({ internalColumnMenuItems }) => {
    return [
      ...internalColumnMenuItems, //optionally include the internal menu items above or below your custom menu items
      <MenuItem key="custom-menu-item-1">Custom Menu Item 1</MenuItem>,
      <MenuItem key="custom-menu-item-2">Custom Menu Item 2</MenuItem>,
    ];
  },
});


return <MaterialReactTable table={table} />;

Demo

Open StackblitzOpen Code SandboxOpen on GitHub
ID
0
First Name
0
Last Name
0
1DylanMurray
2RaquelKohler
1-2 of 2

Source Code 

1import { useMemo } from 'react';
2import {
3  MaterialReactTable,
4  useMaterialReactTable,
5  type MRT_ColumnDef,
6} from 'material-react-table';
7import { Divider, MenuItem } from '@mui/material';
8import { data, type Person } from './makeData';
9

10const Example = () => {
11  const columns = useMemo<MRT_ColumnDef<Person>[]>(
12    () => [
13      {
14        accessorKey: 'id',
15        header: 'ID',
16        renderColumnActionsMenuItems: ({ closeMenu }) => [
17          <MenuItem
18            key={1}
19            onClick={() => {
20              console.log('Item 1 clicked');
21              closeMenu();
22            }}
23          >
24            Item 1
25          </MenuItem>,
26          <MenuItem
27            key={2}
28            onClick={() => {
29              console.log('Item 2 clicked');
30              closeMenu();
31            }}
32          >
33            Item 2
34          </MenuItem>,
35        ],
36      },
37      {
38        accessorKey: 'firstName',
39        header: 'First Name',
40        renderColumnActionsMenuItems: ({
41          closeMenu,
42          internalColumnMenuItems,
43        }) => [
44          ...internalColumnMenuItems,
45          <Divider key="divider-1" />,
46          <MenuItem
47            key={'item-1'}
48            onClick={() => {
49              console.log('Item 1 clicked');
50              closeMenu();
51            }}
52          >
53            Item 1
54          </MenuItem>,
55          <MenuItem
56            key={'item-2'}
57            onClick={() => {
58              console.log('Item 2 clicked');
59              closeMenu();
60            }}
61          >
62            Item 2
63          </MenuItem>,
64        ],
65      },
66      {
67        accessorKey: 'lastName',
68        header: 'Last Name',
69        renderColumnActionsMenuItems: ({
70          closeMenu,
71          internalColumnMenuItems,
72        }) => [
73          <MenuItem
74            key={'item-1'}
75            onClick={() => {
76              console.log('Item 1 clicked');
77              closeMenu();
78            }}
79          >
80            Item 1
81          </MenuItem>,
82          <MenuItem
83            key={'item-2'}
84            onClick={() => {
85              console.log('Item 2 clicked');
86              closeMenu();
87            }}
88          >
89            Item 2
90          </MenuItem>,
91          <Divider key="divider-1" />,
92          ...internalColumnMenuItems.splice(0, 3),
93        ],
94      },
95    ],
96    [],
97  );
98

99  const table = useMaterialReactTable({
100    columns,
101    data,
102    //or you could define the menu items here for all columns
103    // renderColumnActionsMenuItems: ({ closeMenu }) => [],
104  });
105

106  return <MaterialReactTable table={table} />;
107};
108

109export default Example;
110

Justify Column Actions Button

By default, the column actions button is left aligned directly after the column header text and any sort or filter labels that may be present. If you want to change this, you can use a CSS selector in muiTableHeadCellProps to change the justify-content property of the column header container.

Demo

Open StackblitzOpen Code SandboxOpen on GitHub
ID
0
First Name
0
Last Name
0
1DylanMurray
2RaquelKohler
1-2 of 2

Source Code 

1import { useMemo } from 'react';
2import {
3  MaterialReactTable,
4  useMaterialReactTable,
5  type MRT_ColumnDef,
6} from 'material-react-table';
7import { data, type Person } from './makeData';
8

9const Example = () => {
10  const columns = useMemo<MRT_ColumnDef<Person>[]>(
11    //column definitions...
27  );
28

29  const table = useMaterialReactTable({
30    columns,
31    data,
32    muiTableHeadCellProps: {
33      sx: {
34        '& .Mui-TableHeadCell-Content': {
35          justifyContent: 'space-between',
36        },
37      },
38    },
39  });
40

41  return <MaterialReactTable table={table} />;
42};
43

44export default Example;
45

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