Easy Digital Downloads Table PluginEasy Digital Downloads is one of the top WordPress e-commerce plugins. Designed specifically for selling digital products, it's perfect for selling downloadable documents, ebooks, audiobooks, and music. The free Easy Digital Downloads plugin has a grid-based layout for displaying downloadable products.

Today, I'll introduce you to our Easy Digital Downloads Table plugin - Posts Table Pro. It provides a flexible shortcode to list Easy Digital Downloads products in a searchable, filterable table layout.

Easy Digital Downloads Product Table Plugin

Buy Plugin

Keep reading to learn how an EDD table plugin can help you to sell more digital products in WP. I'll provide step-by-step setup instructions, with everything you need to create an Easy Digital Downloads product grid. Plus, I'll introduce you to some premium add-ons and functionality that can take your EDD product tables to the next level. There's even a video where you can follow exactly what I'm doing. Let's get started!

Why do I need an Easy Digital Downloads table plugin?

Easy Digital Downloads table and grid layout plugins

The Easy Digital Downloads grid layout includes information such as a large product image, product name, star rating, short description, and link to the single download page. It's fine for many types of Easy Digital Downloads stores, whereas others can make more sales by adding an Easy Digital Downloads table plugin.

Some WordPress websites are better off with the standard Easy Digital Downloads product grid layout, while others benefit from an EDD table view. Think about the best way to list the type of digital products that you sell.

Benefits of an EDD table layout

  • Ideal for WooCommerce stores with lots of downloadsThe search box, column sorting, and filters make it easier for customers to find the downloadable products they want.
    • Create a one-page Easy Digital Downloads order form

    The default Easy Download Downloads product grid layout doesn't include the 'Add to Cart' buttons. Instead, customers must click through to the single download page before they can buy. You can speed up the buying process - and increase your sales - by creating a one-page order form. Customers can add as many downloads as they like to the shopping cart from the product table page, and complete their purchase using popular payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe, with the option for recurring payments for subscriptions and other premium add-ons.

  • Supports embedded audio and video Customers are more likely to buy your downloads if they can view audio and video sample tracks. You can add embedded audio and video players directly in the Easy Digital Downloads product table.
  • Add extra product data about your downloads The great thing about the Posts Table Pro table plugin is that it supports extra data such as Easy Digital Downloads custom fields and taxonomies. This lets you display extra product data in the Easy Digital Downloads table view. For example, you might create a custom taxonomy for 'Artist' and list it as a column in the table and/or as a filter dropdown. You could also store information in Easy Digital Downloads custom fields, such as an ebook's ISBN number or barcode. Again, this can be displayed as a column in the EDD table layout.

And there's more!

  • More digital products per page A table-based Easy Digital Downloads product list can include far more products per page. This makes it easier for customers to make buying decisions at a glance. They don't have to scroll through multiple pages of products. The standard layout includes big images, with no option to change the image size. The EDD table view can show or hide the physical products image, and you can also choose the image size.
  • Support for variable product prices As well as Add to Cart/Buy buttons, the Easy Digital Downloads product table automatically supports price variations in EDD. Customers can select a price option before adding to the cart.

What types of stores need an EDD table view?

Next, we'll look at some use cases. These will help you decide whether an Easy Digital Downloads table plugin is the best way to list your own products.

Digital music catalog

WordPress Audio PluginAn Easy Digital Downloads shop with hundreds or thousands of products can benefit from an EDD table plugin. Instead of listing the products from each category in a long grid layout, an EDD table makes it easier and quicker for customers to find music they like.

For example, they can type a keyword in the search box or click on any column header to sort and find an artist they like. They can use the filter dropdowns above the Easy Digital Downloads table to refine the list and view the specific music products they're interested in.

You can embed actual music players directly in the Easy Digital Downloads table view. Just add the WordPress audio shortcode to any field in the table and it will appear as an embedded audio player. Customers can listen to a sample music track or playlist to check if they like it before buying. This is a fantastic way to increase your music sales.

Easy Digital Downloads product comparison tables

An EDD table view lets customers compare products side-by-side and make easy buying decisions. Customers can use the search box and filter dropdowns to instantly filter out the downloadable products they don't want. They're just left with the products they're interested in.

The extra data in the Easy Digital Downloads table columns makes it easy to compare products. For example, the EDD product comparison table might include columns for price or extra product data such as genre. Customers can filter the EDD table to find products that meet their criteria. They can then buy directly from the table, without having to visit the single product page.

Now you know why you need an Easy Digital Downloads product grid. Next, I'll give you a real-life case study so that you see it in action on a genuine ecommerce platform. After that, I'll show you how to set it up on your own ecommerce store.

Case study - An Easy Digital Downloads table plugin for Fascinated Sound

Easy Digital Downloads Audio Store Plugin

Fascinated Sound sell sound effects and music via their EDD website. They use Posts Table Pro to list 600+ downloadable audio products in an Easy Digital Downloads table view.

You can learn more about how they did it in our separate tutorial about WordPress audio plugins. Alternatively, read on to learn how to list Easy Digital Downloads products in a table on your own online store.

How to create an Easy Digital Downloads product table

  1. First, get the Posts Table Pro plugin. It lets you create all sorts of tables in WordPress, but we'll be using it as our EDD product table plugin.
  2. Use the instructions in the confirmation email to install and activate the plugin.
  3. After activation, the Posts Table Pro setup wizard will automatically open. It will guide you through entering your software licensing key and creating your first table.
  4. Follow the table wizard and customize the table that works best for your EDD store. Some tips:
    • Choose 'downloads' on the content type page. This tells Posts Table Pro to list Easy Digital Downloads products in the table.
    • DO NOT enable the lazy load option if you want to have the Buy buttons in the table, as these only work when the lazy load is inactive.
  5. Once you've completed creating your table with the Post Table Pro plugin, the setup wizard will confirm that you're finished and provide instructions for inserting the table onto your WordPress site. You can choose to use the "Post Table" block in the Gutenberg editor or copy the EDD advanced shortcodes from the table builder and paste it anywhere on your site, giving you the flexibility to place the table on any page regardless of its content.
Easy Digital Downloads Product Table Plugin

Available columns in the Easy Digital Downloads table view

To create a custom product table for Easy Digital Downloads, users can take advantage of Post Table Pro's table builder, which allows for easy customization with a drag-and-drop column editor. The generator offers a variety of column options to choose from, eliminating the need to know the correct syntax or use code-style column names. This intuitive approach makes it simple for users to create custom product tables without having to have technical expertise.

Recommended EDD table columns

  • Image: displays the primary product image, and you can select the image size.
  • Title: shows the name or title of the downloadable product.
  • Content: displays the main content of the product, which can be the full content or a set number of characters. However, if you're using a custom layout or page builder, this column may not look good in the EDD table. In that case, you can use the Excerpt column instead.
  • Excerpt: shows a brief description summarizing the product, which is recommended over the full content for the Easy Digital Downloads table.
  • Price: displays the main price for the product, including variable prices if you've added them. The table will show the default price for variable products.
  • Download Category: displays the category or categories of the download, which you can click on to filter the EDD table by category. You can also disable these links or set them to link to the download category page.
  • Download Tag: similar to the Download Category column, this displays tags instead and is another useful way to group and filter download products in the table.

The Easy Digital Downloads table can also list any custom field or taxonomy as a column. For example, you can create custom fields with a plugin such as Easy Post Types and Fields. This is ideal if you want to show Easy Digital Downloads custom fields or taxonomies on the front end of your website.

Other possible EDD product table columns

  • Product notes: If you've added special notes or instructions to appear on the purchase receipt for the product, then they will appear in this column of the table. For example, you might want to mention delivery timescales or methods here. (E.g. "You will receive the download via email within 1 hour of purchase.")
  • Author: The WordPress user who created the downloadable product. Not relevant for most Easy Digital Downloads tables, but I've included it just in case.
  • Date: The Publish date of the downloadable product. Again, you probably don't need this but it's there if you do. Change the date by editing the Publish date in the 'Downloads' list within WordPress.
  • Variable prices: This lists the different prices for any downloads in the tabDisplay Easy Digital Downloads Variable Pricesle with variable pricing. As you can see from the screenshot, this isn't formatted in a very user-friendly way. The data comes straight from Easy Digital Downloads and there are no options for configuring it. You're probably better off displaying the variation prices in a button column, or just showing the default price in the cf:edd_price column.
  • Download sales: Total number of sales you've had of each download in the table.
  • Download earnings: Total earnings. This isn't presented in an ideal format. For example, if a product has had $27,200.54 worth of sales then this will be displayed as '27200.540000'. There are no options to change this, other than custom coding - but you probably don't need this column anyway.
  • Download files: This column shows the link of the download file(s) in plain text. (If you want to add a clickable link then you'll need to add this manually as a custom field column instead.)

How to add a 'Buy' button to the Easy Digital Downloads table

You might notice that the list of EDD table columns doesn't include a 'Buy' or 'Download' button.

It is possible to add a Buy button to the Easy Digital Downloads product table. This doesn't happen automatically, but is pretty easy to set up yourself:

  1. Use a plugin such as Advanced Custom Fields (free) to add an extra field to the 'download' post type. Call it whatever you like - I called mine 'edd_button'.
  2. Now go to the Add/Edit Download screen for the download that you want to add a Buy button for. You'll see the field that you just created lower down the page.
  3. In the right-hand column, you'll see a 'Purchase Shortcode' field where you can copy an EDD advanced shortcodes for the Buy button. This will look something like: [purchase_link id="8381" text="Add to Cart" style="button" color=""]
  4. Copy the EDD Purchase Shortcode into the custom field you just created and Save the download.
Add EDD buy button to product table
  1. Now, you need to add the new custom field as a column in your Easy Digital Downloads table. To do this, go to Post Tables → Tables, click to edit the table, go to the columns page, and add a custom field column. This will prompt you to enter the name of the custom field.
  2. You must also go to Post Tables → Settings and enable the 'Shortcodes' option to display the button correctly in the table.

Warning: The EDD 'Buy' buttons do not work with the lazy load option in Posts Table Pro, so make sure you disable this on the plugin settings page. If you need to list a very large number of downloads and have to use lazy load, then you may need to remove the Buy column and allow people to purchase on the single download page instead.

Simplifying digital product purchases with Easy Digital Downloads

Now view your Easy Digital Downloads product table. You'll see the extra column, complete with a button to add the download product option to the checkout page. If you're using EDD product variations then the variable pricing options will appear before the Buy button. Nice!

Easy Digital Downloads Table Order Form Plugin

Note: The wording and styling of the buttons in the Easy Digital Downloads table are inherited from EDD and your theme. They looked fantastic straight away in the WordPress themes we tested with, e.g. Storefront. If you want to change how they look then you'll need to add some custom CSS.

Related reading: If you're creating a WordPress eBook store with Easy Digital Downloads, check out our Ultimate Guide to WordPress eBook Plugins & How to Use Them.

Selling the EDD All Access Pass

Easy Digital Downloads has an All Access extension which you can use to sell all your downloads for a fixed discounted price. There are a couple of ways to sell this from your Easy Digital Downloads product table. You can even sweeten the deal by offering additional discounts with the use of discount codes and coupons, which can be easily applied on the product table page.

Easy Digital Downloads extensions let customers choose whether to buy individual downloads, or whether to upgrade to the All Access Pass (which means more revenue for you)!edd table

  1. You could manually add a link to the All Access Pass product page or a 'Buy' button for the All Access Pass underneath the main add to cart button for each product in the EDD table.
  2. Alternatively, you could add a right-hand column to the page with your Easy Digital Downloads table. Use it to display a widget promoting the All Access Pass.

Personally, I would recommend option 2 because the All Access Pass applies equally to all your digital downloads, so you don't need to repeat it for each one individually.

Listing EDD downloads from a specific category

If you want to display download products from specific categories in your Easy Digital Downloads table, it's easy to do so. By setting your table to show products from one or more specific categories, you can filter out irrelevant products and display only the ones that are relevant to your audience.

Additionally, with Post Table Pro's table builder, you can easily select specific downloads to include in your table. This allows you to curate a table that showcases only the products you want your audience to see, making it easier for them to find what they're looking for and ultimately leading to more conversions.

Adding filters to your Easy Digital Downloads tables

While customers can use the search box or sort columns by default in Easy Digital Downloads tables, they don't have the option to filter results. However, with Post Table Pro's table builder, adding filters is easy. The filter dropdowns can be added above the table and customized to fit your needs. With the ability to add as many filters as you like, you can make it simple for customers to narrow down their search to find exactly what they're looking for.

The filters available are extensive and can include categories, tags, authors, and any custom taxonomy that you've created. With the use of filters in Easy Digital Downloads extensions, you can improve the user experience for your customers and help them easily find and purchase the products they need.

Here's an example of an Easy Digital Downloads table with category and tag filters:

Easy Digital Downloads filter plugin

By default, the EDD product image and name will link to the single download sales page. This is where customers can see full details of the downloadable products, such as the full description and reviews.

If you don't want to link to the product detail page, then you can disable links in the Easy Digital Downloads table layout. Do this by going to Posts Tables → Settings, finding the Links option, and typing "none" in the box.

EDD table view plugin

Giving away free downloads

So far, we've talked about how to sell downloadable products in a table layout.

However, some Easy Digital Downloads sites like to give away free downloads. You can do this by adding Free Downloads of Easy Digital Downloads extensions. This will work with the instructions in this tutorial.

Can I hide my EDD products or make them private?

Posts Table Pro lists your Easy Digital Downloads products in a table and doesn't affect their visibility. To discover an easy way to password protect EDD download categories or hide them from public view, check out our other tutorial:

How to Password Protect Easy Digital Downloads Categories: 3 Easy Ways

Meet EU tax law

Easy Digital Downloads EU VAT trimmed

When you sell digital products online, it's important to make sure you meet European tax rules. This applies if you sell to customers in the EU - even if you're not based in the EU yourself.

You can easily do this with the Easy Digital Downloads EU VAT plugin. This is designed to help any EDD store to charge the correct VAT to each customer and provide all the evidence you need.

Get EDD EU VAT

Where to get the plugin

As you can see, an Easy Digital Downloads table is an ideal way to list EDD products. It's really flexible and you can choose which columns of product data to include, add filters, and more.

To create your own EDD tables, get Posts Table Pro today. Follow the steps in this tutorial and start increasing your download sales.

Protect Easy Digital Downloads Plugin

With over 60,000 active users, Easy Digital Downloads is the third most popular WordPress e-commerce plugin. It has all the features that most e-commerce websites need to sell digital downloads online. However, it not obvious how to password protect parts of your downloads store or make it private.

This is the ultimate guide on how to do just that. I'll show you how to protect parts of your Easy Digital Downloads store or even your whole shop. There are written instructions and video tutorials to help you set it up.

Why would I want to make Easy Digital Downloads private?

Most e-commerce stores selling digital products are available to the public so that anyone can buy the downloadable files. However, many stores need to be partly or completely private and hidden from public view. This might seem strange, as the whole purpose of an e-commerce website is to make as many sales as possible! But there are many reasons why an Easy Digital Downloads store might need password protected categories.

For example:

  • Public Easy Digital Downloads store with password-protected members area Lots of e-commerce websites have public and private areas. Perhaps you have a public store selling downloads that are available to anyone, and a private area for wholesale or trade users.
  • Client-specific products If you sell downloadable products which are unique to each customer then you could create a hidden password protected category for each client. This might be useful for a photographer selling digital prints of their images online after a photoshoot.
  • Members-only Easy Digital Downloads store You might want to create a completely hidden downloads store which is only available to your members.
  • Temporarily hide downloads from public view There are lots of occasions when you want to temporarily hide products from public view. For example, on the Barn2 EDD site, we use a password protected category to pre-launch certain products to specific people, before launching them to the wider public. We simply give the password to each pre-approved customer and then can buy the download before it's officially launched.
Excellent product/Excellent Customer Support
I have a website selling digital music downloads for primary education. I needed a private category for this which can only be accessed by users who have paid to download the educational material (song videos and worksheets). I am delighted to have been able to achieve this aim using this simple and effective plug-in. Simple as it may be, I am completely new to WP and support to help me achieve my goal was vital. I am delighted to say that help was at hand, quickly and was most professional. I highly recommend this plug-in to you.

Case study - How Lemony Fizz restrict downloads to their subscribers

Lemony Fizz is a craft company providing paper crafts, planners and printables. They use Easy Digital Downloads with the Free Downloads extension to provide free project downloads to their subscribers. The Password Protected Categories plugin restricts the downloads so that only registered subscribers can download them.

It works like this:

  1. People visit the Lemony Fizz printables library which lists all the downloads.
  2. If they are a subscriber then they can click on any download and enter a password to unlock it. Once they have done this, the entire library is unlocked for them.
  3. Non-subscribers can sign up using the form at the top of the page, which integrates with their mailing list software. After confirming their subscription via email, they receive a welcome letter containing the password to the downloads library.

Note: Lemony Fizz has chosen to list their protected downloads in public parts of their site, but require a password to access the single download page. If you prefer, then you can hide the protected downloads from public view so they are invisible until you unlock the protected area. 

As you can see, there are lots of reasons to password protect Easy Digital Downloads. Next, I'll talk you through 3 ways to make downloadable products private. I'm assuming that you already have an Easy Digital Downloads site with downloadable products and categories set up.

3 ways to protect Easy Digital Downloads

Here's a summary of the 3 methods described in this article. You can jump straight to the type of password protection best suited to your website:

  1. Password protect Easy Digital Downloads categories
  2. Create private EDD categories only visible to logged in customers, or specific users or roles
  3. Password protect an entire Easy Digital Downloads store

How to password protect categories in Easy Digital Downloads

Password protecting Easy Digital Downloads categories is a more user-friendly solution. Adding password protection to specific categories locks down the category page and all its downloads with a single password. (Or multiple passwords, if you'd rather have a unique password for each customer.) Once the customer has entered a correct password, they will have access to that category, its sub-categories and all the downloads within it.

You can achieve this with the Password Protected Categories WordPress plugin. This is a simple plugin that lets you password protect Easy Digital Downloads categories in just a few minutes.

1. Set up the Password Protected Categories plugin

  1. Install and activate the Password Protected Categories plugin.
  2. Go to Settings → Protected Categories in the WordPress admin and enter your license key. (Get this from the confirmation page or email after you buy the plugin.)
  3. Select a page for customers to log into the protected categories.
  4. Choose what text will appear on the 'Submit' button on the password login page.
  5. Add a custom message which will appear above the password entry form on the login page.
  6. Decide whether to tick the 'Show password protected categories and posts to visitors' box. If you leave the box unticked then your protected categories and their downloads will appear on the main Downloads page. They can also appear in your navigation menus, widgets and search results if you're using these. Ticking this box hides the protected categories from your public-facing website.
  7. Choose how many days will pass before a customer has to re-enter the password. For example, if you choose '3' days then when a customer logs into a password protected category, they won't have to re-enter the password again for 3 days. The aim is to get the right balance between user experience and security.
  8. Click 'Save Changes'.
Easy Digital Downloads Password Protected Categories Plugin

2. Create your password-protected EDD categories

  1. Once you've installed and activated the plugin, go to Downloads > Categories in the WordPress admin.
  2. Go to create a new category or edit an existing one.
  3. You'll see a new 'Visibility' option that wasn't there before. Choose 'Password Protected' and enter a password for your category. If you want multiple passwords, click the + icon to add more.
  4. Click 'Add New Download Category' or 'Update' (depending on whether you're adding or editing a category).
  5. If you want to add sub-categories, add these now. Choose your password-protected category as the 'Parent' and leave these set to 'Public'. They will automatically be protected with the same password as the parent category.
  6. Repeat steps 1-6 to create any other password-protected categories for your Easy Digital Downloads store.
How to password protect Easy Digital Downloads category

3. Add downloads to your protected categories

  1. Next, go to the Downloads page in the WP admin, where you'll see a list of all your downloadable products. If you don't have any yet, add them now.
  2. Tick the relevant boxes to put some of your downloads within your password-protected categories. You can either do this on the Add/Edit Download screen or use Quick Edit on the main Downloads page.
  3. Click 'Update'.
Add EDD product to protected Easy Digital Downloads category

4. Link to your password-protected categories (optional)

If you want, you can add links to your protected categories in the usual way. For example, you might want to link to your login page from the menu. This is completely optional and you can choose how to incorporate your protected categories into the overall structure of your website.

And that's it! You've password-protected your Easy Digital Downloads categories and protected the downloadable products within them! For more information, please see the plugin knowledge base.

Get Password Protected Categories


User and role protected categories in Easy Digital Downloads

WooCommerce Protected Categories User Role Protection

The Password Protected Categories WordPress plugin also includes options to restrict Easy Digital Downloads categories to specific users or user roles.

You probably noticed this when I showed you how to password protect categories in the previous section.

Private categories are different from password-protected categories because they only appear for logged in users with the right permissions. In contrast, password-protected categories are separate from WordPress users - anyone can enter the password, regardless of whether they have a user account on your website.

User and role protected Easy Digital Downloads categories are completely invisible and hidden from public view. They automatically appear to logged in customers depending on their role.

How to create user role and role restricted categories

Follow the steps in the previous section on creating password-protected categories in Easy Digital Downloads. The only difference is that instead of choosing 'Password Protected' when you add or edit a download category, select 'User' or 'Role'.

Easy!


Password protect an entire Easy Digital Downloads store

So far, we've covered the options to protect specific categories in Easy Digital Downloads. Finally, I'll tell you how to use these techniques to create a completely private or hidden Easy Digital Downloads store.

You can make your whole WP downloads store private using password-protected or role protected categories. The trick is to create one password-protected category and structure your entire e-commerce store within this category.

The simplest option is to put all your downloadable products within the hidden EDD category. Or if you like, you can use sub-categories to divide up your EDD store. If you choose your password-protected category as the 'parent', all the sub-categories and their downloads will automatically be protected with the same password. (Don't password protect your sub-categories - leave them set to 'Public' as this will happen automatically.)

Once you've done this, anyone who clicks on a link to your main store category or any of its downloads or sub-categories will be prompted for the password or login details. The rest of your WordPress website will remain public as usual.

Linking to your hidden Easy Digital Downloads shop

Once you've password protected Easy Digital Downloads, you need to decide how people will access it.

You can either keep it completely hidden and give the link to authorised customers, along with the password. Or if you prefer, you can add a link to your Easy Digital Downloads customer login page. You can call this 'Store Login' or similar and can add the link to your website header, footer, navigation menu or wherever you like.


How can I password protect other WordPress e-commerce plugins?

The techniques described in this article will work for Easy Digital Downloads or any other WordPress e-commerce plugin. The Password Protected Categories plugin is compatible with any plugin that uses categories.

There's also a dedicated WooCommerce version of the plugin - WooCommerce Protected Categories. This works in a very similar way to Password Protected Categories but is specifically designed for WooCommerce.

Want a better layout for your EDD product lists?

Easy Digital Downloads Table PluginIf you like Password Protected Categories then you'll love our plugin to list your Easy Digital Downloads inventory in a product table.

Posts Table Pro takes your downloads and creates an instant table or one-page order form, complete with AJAX search form and quick filtering.

Meet European VAT laws

Easy Digital Downloads EU VAT trimmed

If you sell any sort of digital products to people in the EU, then you're legally required to charge them the tax rate for their local country. You have to do this even if your EDD store isn't based in the EU!

The Easy Digital Downloads EU VAT plugin makes this easy. It automatically charges the correct VAT to each customer and provides everything you need for your EU VAT returns.

Get EDD EU VAT

How do you protect your Easy Digital Downloads store?

Now it's your turn. Do you have hidden areas within an Easy Digital Downloads store, and what do you use them for? Do you use Password Protected Categories or are there other solutions you'd recommend? Please leave your comments below.