How does the WordPress document library plugin work?
Document Library Pro is a plugin which you can install on any WordPress website - either as a standalone website or intranet, or as part of your wider company website.
It adds a 'Documents' section to the WordPress admin area. You can easily add documents one at a time, or bulk-upload them via drag and drop or CSV import. You can also convert files which are already in the Media Library into documents. Alternatively, people without access to the WordPress admin can submit documents using the front end upload form.
Documents can be stored in the WordPress Media Library or on any third party service such as Dropbox or YouTube.
Once you have added your documents, the plugin displays them as a professional-looking document library on the front end of your website. The main document library page is created for you automatically, and you can list specific documents elsewhere using a simple shortcode. You can choose between a searchable, filterable table layout; or a searchable grid layout that showcases each document individually.
What information can I show in the document library?
Document Library Pro is better than a WordPress Media Library plugin because it lets you store extra information about each document. This gives you complete flexibility.
You can include any or all of the following fields in your document libraries:
- Document title
- Featured image
- Excerpt/summary
- Description (which you can use to add a summary, the full content of the document, or even embed content such as a video player, audio player, or content added using other plugins such as Google Drive embedded or flipbook app)
- Date (both the published and the modified date)
- Author
- Document categories
- Document tags
- Document count (generated automatically)
- File size (generated automatically)
- File type (generated automatically)
- A link to the downloadable document, or any URL if the document is stored externally
- And if that's not enough, you can add extra fields too! Document Library Pro has a feature to add your own custom fields, and you can add more advanced fields and taxonomies with our free Easy Post Types and Fields plugin.
Once you have added the data, you can choose which information to include in your document libraries.
Can I create a private document library?
By default, the document library is public and available to everyone who visits your website.
You can easily restrict access to some of your all documents. For example, you can use Document Library Pro with our Password Protected Categories plugin to restrict access to any or all of your document categories. Restrict a category so that only specific users, roles, or people with the password can see the documents. When people visit your document library pages, they will only see the documents that they have access to.
Can people submit documents from the front end?
Yes - Document Library Pro comes with a form which lets users submit documents from the front end of your website. This is useful for team members who don't have access to the WordPress admin. It's also useful if you want public visitors to your website to be able to submit documents.
Choose between auto-publishing newly submitted documents to the library, or holding them for moderation by an administrator.
You can either leave the document library submission form open to the public, or restrict it to authorized people only.
How many document libraries can I have?
You can add as many document libraries as you like. To create multiple document libraries, simply structure your documents into categories and list them on different parts of your site.
It's completely flexible and you have full control over which documents to list where. For example, you can:
- Generate one big list of all your documents, with search box and filter dropdowns above.
- Create a one-page document library structured into categories, with unlimited levels of nested folders.
- List documents in different parts of your website based on their category, tag, status, date, and more.
Is there a maximum number of documents?
Absolutely not! Your WordPress document library can list an unlimited number of documents.
We recommend using the table layout for large document libraries. It has a lazy load option which loads the document library one page at a time. This allows you to have thousands of documents without any performance problems.
Can I sell documents in the library?
Our WordPress document library plugin is designed to help you manage and display documents. It is not an e-commerce plugin and is not designed for selling documents.
If you want to sell documents then we have a tutorial on how to sell documents with our other plugins. There are two options depending on whether you want to use Easy Digital Downloads or WooCommerce to provide the e-commerce features that you need for selling online. Either way, you can then display your documents in a searchable table similar to the one in Document Library Pro.
Can I track the number of document downloads?
Absolutely. The WordPress document library plugin tracks the number of times that each document has been downloaded. This analytics information appears in the WordPress admin. You can choose whether to display it on the front end of your website.
For more advanced document library analytics, you can use the plugin with Google Analytics. We have provided guidance on how to do this in our knowledge base article.
Will it work with my theme & other plugins?
We have tested Document Library Pro with a range of free and premium themes and are confident it will look great with your theme. Our plugin support includes helping with theme-related conflicts.
By default, the WordPress document library uses styling from your theme such as the font size and color. There are built-in styling options which you can use to customize it to your heart's content.
What are the purchase options?
Clicking the Buy button above will take you to the purchase options. You can choose either a Lifetime or Annual software license.
- Lifetime licenses never expire. It's a one-time payment which includes all future plugin updates, new features and support, forever.
- Annual licenses are renewed once a year. As long as you have an active license, you will receive support, plugin updates and new features. If your license ever expires then you can continue using the plugin, but won't receive any further updates or support.
You can also choose the number of sites that you can use the plugin on.
Does the document library plugin work in my language?
DLP is designed to work with any WordPress translation plugin such as WPML, WeGlot and TranslatePress. This makes it easy for you to translate the document library into any language and use it on multilingual websites.
What are the minimum requirements for running the plugin?
Document Library Pro is fully tested with the latest versions of WordPress and WooCommerce. We always recommend running the most up-to-date version, but we also support older installations:
WooCommerce 6.5 or greater (tested to 8.1.1)
WordPress 6.0 or greater (tested to 6.3.1)
PHP 7.4 or greater (tested to 8.1.22)
MySQL 5.7.8 or greater / MariaDB 10.3 or greater
Great plugin & support
By Christos Kartsioulis on
The plugin worked as described and the company had great support in everything we asked.