WP File Download Review – Powerful WordPress File Manager Plugin

If you’re looking for a better way to handle files in WordPress, then the WP File Download plugin should be of interest. Designed by the JoomUnited team, this powerful plugin makes it very easy to upload, store, and share files on your WordPress website. In this WP File Download review, we’ll explore the features of this plugin to help you decide if it’s the right tool for you.

We’ll also walk through the process of adding a downloadable file to your site. This will then give you a clear understanding of how this premium WordPress file manager plugin works.

So if you want to improve your WordPress website’s file downloading capabilities, read on for our WP File Download review.

About WP File Download WordPress File Manager Plugin

As mentioned, this plugin was built to improve the way files can be uploaded into WordPress. As well as how those files can be made available for download on a WordPress blog or website.

WordPress does let you upload files and display them in your posts, pages, and other areas of your site. However, the functionality is limited, to say the least.

But with this plugin installed, you can add a powerful file manager to WordPress. This WP File Download review will cover the best features of this plugin in detail. But to give you a quick idea of what this tool can do, some of its key functionality includes drag-and-drop file uploads, connections to cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox, access to download statistics, and an interesting way to gain more social shares and likes.

WP File Download Plugin Best Features

If the above description sounds interesting, but you still want to know more, this section of the WP File Download review will highlight its best features to really break down what this tool can do. After that, we’ll check out the user experience to see how easy (or difficult) this plugin is to use.

WordPress File Manager

The main purpose of the WP File Download plugin is, of course, to add a powerful file manager to WordPress. Thanks to the way this plugin works, you can easily upload files to your computer or access content from your Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive accounts.

Then once those files are in your WordPress dashboard, you can control how they are organized. You can also control who can access them, and as we’ll cover in this WP File Download review, a whole lot more.

Advanced File Access Management

With WP File Download, you needn’t worry about unauthorized users accessing your files. Thanks to the File Access Manager features, you can limit access to your files and the plugin dashboard. The native WordPress user roles can be used to restrict access to individual files as well as all files assigned to a particular category.

Through the User Roles section of the plugin dashboard, you can customize the permissions of the default WordPress user roles. This allows you to control, for example, what a user with the WordPress Contributor role can do, in relation to the WP File Download plugin.

Powerful File Search Engine

The search engine tool is another useful way that WP File Download enhances the file management abilities of WordPress. Now it’s very easy for anyone to search the files that you and your team have uploaded to your WordPress website.

Simply enter a keyword into the search field and the plugin will quickly display the relevant results. You can also use the category and tag filters to refine the results. The dates field filters, which cover the created and updated file dates, can help you narrow your results further. This should all increase your chances of finding what you’re looking for.

Built-in File Previewer

Depending on which types of files you upload to your WordPress website, your visitors could be able to preview them in their browser, before deciding whether to download them or not. Supported file types include PDFs and Word files to name just a few.

You’re free to disable or enable the file preview feature as you see fit.

WP File Download Themes

The user interface of the WP File Download WordPress file manager plugin has a professional appearance that’s easy to use. However, this doesn’t mean that you’re stuck with the default design. Thanks to the selection of WP File Download themes, you can quickly change the appearance of this plugin.

As well as using the included themes, you can also create your own custom theme that matches your requirements. Through the theme interface, you can quickly clone an existing theme, rename it, and then start modifying it. This gives you a good amount of control over the appearance of the WP File Download interface.

Detailed Plugin Configuration Settings

Through the WP File Download Configuration section of the plugin dashboard, you can take full control over how this WordPress file manager works. Some of the options and settings available to you include choosing which file extensions are allowed, the maximum file upload size, and the ability to enable Google Analytics file download tracking.

If you’ve installed the social locker and cloud integration add-ons (more on those later) then you can configure these tools from the dashboard too. It’s also possible to customize the appearance of the file manager themes through the configuration area as well.

If you have multiple users uploading files to your WordPress website, it’s good to know that you can control what type and size of files they can upload as well as many other aspects of how this file manager plugin works.

WP File Download Plugin Add-ons

As well as the core WP File Download features, this WordPress file manager plugin can be enhanced by installing the add-ons that are available for it.

We’ll cover the pricing details later in this WP File Download review, but depending on which license option you choose, you could get access to a selection of add-ons that make this WordPress file manager plugin even more useful. Here’s a quick overview of those add-ons to help you decide whether they can help you with your project.

WP File Download Social Locker Add-on

This add-on for WP File Download will lock the specified file behind a set of social share buttons. Your visitors will then have to click on the share button to access the downloadable file. As this add-on works with the popular Facebook and Twitter social networks, you can use this feature to encourage your audience to like, share, or tweet your website in exchange for a file download.

If you’re looking for a way to promote your site on Facebook and Twitter, then this Social Locker add-on is sure to be of interest. Providing the files you are locking access to are something your audience is looking for, there’s a good chance they will choose to share your content with their followers in exchange for a download opportunity.  Getting traffic to your website can be difficult. Therefore it’s good to see a feature that can help included in this plugin.

The other WP File Download add-on will integrate your site with your Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive accounts. This gives you easy access to any files stored with those services.

Other Useful Features of WP File Download

The above are the main highlights from the WP File Download plugin feature list. However, there’s also more you can do with this tool, including:

• Easy file updates – simply drag and drop new versions of files into the appropriate area to update the file in one click.
• File versioning functionality – previous versions of files are stored for easy access, with the ability to restore the file in one click.
• File importer tool – easily browse your server and import files into the WP File Download manager.
• View download statistics – view total downloads or downloads by category or individual files, over custom time periods.
• Compatible with page builder plugins – use WP File Download to incorporate file downloads in Visual Composer, Beaver Builder, Divi, and other supported page builder plugins.
• Works with all WordPress themes – if your theme has been designed following theme developer standards, it will integrate seamlessly with WP File Download.
• Translations available – a selection of community translations are available for using WP File Download in other languages.
• Documentation and FAQs – full set of online documentation and plugin FAQs to help you get the most from WP File Download.

With the features and functionality covered, let’s move onto our evaluation of the user experience.

WP File Download Plugin User Experience

If you’re looking for the best WordPress file manager plugin, then thanks to a great selection of features, WP File Download should definitely be on your shortlist. However, before you make a decision on which plugin to choose, check out the walkthrough to see how easy this tool is to use in this section of our WP File Download review.

WP File Download User Interface

The file manager is activated after uploading the plugin files to your WordPress dashboard. Once up and running, the plugin allows you to upload files to your WordPress website through its drag-and-drop interface.

Whether you click on the Select files button to locate the files on your computer you want to upload or you simply drag and drop the files onto the plugin interface, the process for adding one or many files to your site is very straightforward.

Once you’ve added some files to the manager, you can start configuring how they will function on your WordPress website. Doing so is simply a case of selecting a file, then using the sidebar panel to control the parameters.

You can set the publish status of the file, controlling whether it’s available to your visitors or not. You can also give the file a description, and choose whether to use the social locker feature – if you’ve enabled this add-on – to restrict access to the file. The parameters panel also displays a direct link to the file. You can then use this link to share the file or insert it into your website content. A handy shortcode is generated too. This can also be used to insert a link to the downloadable file into your posts and pages.

When it comes to publishing the downloadable files on your website, WP File Download makes it very easy. Simply open a post or page for editing, then click the button that the plugin has added to the menu.

Inserting File Downloads into WordPress

Once you’ve pressed the button, you can then select the file from the lightbox window. You also get the chance to edit the parameters again before inserting the file. This gives you another opportunity to configure how the file is made available to your visitors.

After selecting the files and pressing the Insert button, the necessary widget code will be added to your post or page. To experience the page as your visitors will, hit the Preview button.

Now your visitors can preview or download the file. Or if you’ve enabled the social sharing requirements, promote your website on Facebook or Twitter to unlock the download.

As well as making it easy for your visitors to preview and download files from your website, you can also use the features highlighted earlier in this WP File Download review to view download stats, organize your files more efficiently, and everything else that this WordPress file manager plugin can do.

WP File Download Pricing Information

WP File Download is a premium plugin that’s available for purchase directly from its creator’s website, JoomUnited.com.

When it comes to buying this powerful WordPress file manager plugin, there are four options:

• 6 months of support and updates: $29.
• 1 year of support and updates: $39.
• All add-ons with 1 year of support and updates: $59.
• WordPress Developer Bundle including all JoomUnited plugins and add-ons, with 1 year of support and updates: $169.

The $59 and $169 options that include the WP File Download add-ons give you access to the extensions. This includes the cloud services integration add-on for Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive as well as the Facebook and Twitter social locker add-on.

WP File Download Review Conclusion

WordPress does have basic built-in file management capabilities. However, a plugin like WP File Download can greatly increase your options for working with file downloads.

As we’ve just seen in this WP File Download review, this plugin from JoomUnited is easy to use, without compromising on features. Thanks to the optional add-ons you can quickly integrate your website with the most popular cloud storage services. You can also use the social lock feature to help with your social media marketing efforts.

However, even if you just stick to the core version of this plugin, you’ll have implemented a much more efficient way of working with file downloads in WordPress.

Click here to find out more about the WP File Download plugin today.