Downloads and Member Only Files
May 6, 2009 ·
The WordPress Downloads Plugin allows you to upload files into categories you specify, then add them to pages and posts for visitors to download. Include product brochures, manuals and other documents on your website for your customers to download, saves you time, adds value to your products and improves customer service.
Why not add your:
- Forms
- Rules and Regulations
- Product Manuals
- Brochures & Flyers
- Vouchers & Specials Sheets
- Tips and Tricks
- Instructions
- Sample Pages
- Certificates and Awards
- Itineraries
This article will cover uploading files, displaying them on your website and turning them into member-only downloads.
Uploading Your Files
- Download the Downloads Plugin
- Activate the plugin inside your WordPress admin
- (You will see a new Downloads section appear on the bottom left of your admin nav bar)
- Setup categories for your download files under Configuration/Download Categories
- Click on Add New to upload a file
- Give your file a title, add the month and year under version, choose your file and select a category from the drop-down
- Click the Upload and Save button at the bottom
Displaying Your Files
- Inside WordPress admin, go to the page or post where you would like your files to display.
- Alternatively Add a new page called “Downloads” or “Media Library” or “Brochures” etc
- To insert an entire category into your page, click on HTML view (see screenshot above).
- Choose the category from the dropdown Downloads box to show a list of all the files in that category.
- Save and publish or update your page.
- You can also add individual downloads and upload files directly from a page using the downwards pointing arrow in the Add media section of a page or post.
Member Only Files
When you add files to your Downloads Manager, you have the option to set them up as member only files just by ticking the Member only files box. This means only registered website users can download them. There are several ways to achieve this…
- Add New Users yourself inside your WordPress admin and email each user with their login username and passwords. (Read my article about adding users…) This option would work well if you were charging for membership.
- Add a generic new user and email details to all your members or include these details on the page people see when they signup to your email newsletter (Read my article about customising your newsletter templates…) This option could also work if you were charging for membership.
- Have a login/register box on your sidebar or a link on your Downloads page so visitors can register themselves. For this option to work, you need to go to Settings inside WordPress and tick the Anyone Can Subscribe box. Set the drop down box to subscriber. The link to your login page will typically look like this http://www.nzroses.org.nz/wp-login.php
Example Downloads Pages
- Creative Web Ideas WordPress Resources page
- Weekend Gardener’s Magazine Supplements page
- NZ Rose Societies Downloads page (Member only files)
- You can view download stats on your WordPress dashboard
- The number in brackets after the file name is the number of times it has been downloaded (this doesn’t include logged in users)
Other Articles You Might Enjoy
- Tabbed Layout to Split Content - August 29th, 2010
- How to Keep WordPress Secure - August 16th, 2010
- My WordPress Plugin Guide - August 7th, 2010
- Survey Your Customers Online - August 5th, 2010
- Online Calendar with Upcoming Events - July 28th, 2010
Categories: Website Ideas, WordPress Plugins, Wordpress Tutorials
Tags: Acrobat files, downloads library, downloads manager, downloads plugin, manage download, media library, member only files
About Jo Couchman
Chief website designer at Creative Web Ideas and author of the Creative Web Ideas blog. If you enjoyed this post - Subscribe to Email Newsletter to receive future posts by email.
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Thanks heaps.
I have implemented this plugin for one of my clients websites. It’s a perfect plugin for managing private files.
This is a fantastic and much needed plugin. Love it. Thanks very much.
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I’m after a plugin that is oh so close to yours! Any chance of making the files uploaded restricted on a per user basis? eg. not just all members, but individual files for individual members.
Cheers,
Joel
Hi Joel,
The only thing you can do to this end is to set a minimum user level on member only downloads using a custom field. There are 5 wordpress user levels so you could set 5 different access levels for your downloads. Not sure if this helps.
Just wrote a post about the latest version of this plugin. Create a dedicated downloads page with thumbnails and detail page – http://www.creative-web-ideas.com/index.php/2009/09/create-an-online-media-library/
I’m with Joe. It would be great if there was a way to upload files that only a specific user would have access to.
It would be really cool if there was a way to have the download’s show up on a login page for a specific user.
You could create a login for a specific person, upload the files that specific person should have access to, and then at some point send an email with the login to the person so he can download the file(s).
Does anyone know of a plugin that can do this?
You could just create a standard wordpress page for each person and password protect it (top right above Publish button). Hide that page from the nav menu and email the link direct to the page and the password.
I’m not sure how secure this is for very sensitive info.
Hi Jo,
great post!
I am looking for a plugin that requires the user to simply enter their email before hitting the download button. So basically, the free download is a means to collect subscribers.
It doesn’t sound like this one does that… do you know of any?
Thanks!
Hi Mary,
I would create a form using the Gravity Forms plugin. If you add the download link to the email confirmation, people will only see it once they’ve entered their email address and submitted the form.
Thanks Jo!
Worked great.