As a WordPress enthusiast, I look at how versatile the platform is and think that no other solution can match what it offers when publishing a website. Of course, millions of others also feel this way. However, there are some aspects of WordPress—such as document management—that don’t have the same adaptability. Plugins can help with much of this functionality.
Join me, as I share my insights into document management within WordPress. I’ll walk you through some of the benefits, why WordPress falls short in this area by default, and more. It won’t be a dedicated tutorial though. It’s more of a look at the experience of document management, and how to tailor it to your own needs.
A (Small) History of Document Management
A typical WordPress installation lets you manage a multitude of different document formats already through the Media Library. I’ll talk about using the Media Library later, although you can customize this aspect in ways beyond the scope of this post.
In fact, managing files is a huge aspect of building websites, apps, and other ‘developer-level’ jobs. It can even have an impact on the User Experience (UX), as I’ll show you. For most of the history of computing, the User Interface (UI) would be a direct reflection of how the system organizes files.
Windows, for example, uses a hierarchical structure that offers physical separation between system and user files on the disk. The File Explorer shows you the exact organization of files and directories on the hard drive:
In contrast, macOS does away with this hierarchical structure—it essentially ‘dumps’ everything onto the drive without any strict grouping of files or folders.
On the front-end though, you have whatever organization the Operating System (OS) or app chooses to provide:
When it comes to system files, macOS hides them wherever they are, which can prove to be a frustrating experience in some cases.
I personally remember tearing my hair out trying to work with Apple’s file management after switching from Windows, because files didn’t ‘live’ where I’d expect them to. Even now, I can struggle to find specific files within my photography or music software, due to there being a few locations where macOS stores them.
This shows the pros and cons of both approaches. In short, a structured and hierarchical system gives you less flexibility but an arguably greater UX on the back-end. An unstructured approach without a hierarchy also works, as it gives you more flexibility, while the UX can be as good as the developer wishes to make it.
Why WordPress Needs Better Document Management
Why does any of this matter for WordPress though? It’s because WordPress current approach to document management ‘under the hood’ is adequate enough, but arguably poor on the front-end for certain file types.
The platform places all uploads into an eponymous folder (wp-content/uploads), and organizes them by year and month:
I like this approach, and while I do appreciate an unstructured model, organizing media and documents needs structure. In fact, this could go even further to give you a better document management model with greater scope to organize your files. Consider this foreshadowing.
However, with a default installation of WordPress, you only have the Media Library to work with. There are no dedicated options relating to the various types of media, and little in the way of presenting those documents to your users.
In my opinion, the UX/UI seems to be opposite to Apple’s model of an unstructured back-end, structured front-end. The Media Library presents your files as a dump of content, for which you need to pick through and use as you wish. Recent updates do give us some way to work with documents on the front end of your site though.
Implementing Document Management Using WordPress’ Built-In Functionality
It seems as though WordPress neglects file management in general. For example, there’s a list of supported file types on the old WordPress Codex, but this is incomplete. As a typical case, you can upload SVG and BMP files, but the Codex doesn’t mention these.
A better option is through checking the WordPress Site Health screen:
The Info > Media Handling screen includes a helpful list of file types WordPress supports—unfortunately, this only relates to images and video (as you’d expect). I’d also recommend you check out and potentially increase WordPress’ maximum upload size, in order to stop any errors ruining the UX.
The best approach for document uploads is simple trial and error. If you do try to upload a file without support, it will show you a soft error:
You’ll use the Media Library to upload any files within ‘vanilla’ WordPress, and from there, use the File Block, which lets you display a download link on the front-end for the file you specify:
This is a welcome addition to WordPress, as it will embed a viewer for certain files (such as PDFs), and give you a smattering of options to customize its appearance. You’re able to remove the preview altogether if you wish, change its height, customize the download button, and more.
In some cases, you may want to use the Embed Block for certain third-party files. For example, you can embed Issuu, Scribd, and Imgur links into your site, which might help you keep tabs on site file sizes.
This may be enough for you to work with a handful of basic files and deliver a decent experience. For more advanced tasks though, a WordPress plugin will make for a better option.
The Advantages of Using Third-Party Document Management Solutions
As with many WordPress tasks, plugins make up the functionality deficit of the default installation. This is (of course) by design, and makes it so that you can customize your site to your liking and make it unique.
When it comes to document management, there are lots of reasons why you will want to use a plugin:
- WordPress clearly doesn’t give us the right functionality to manage files and documents out of the box.
- A plugin will give us even greater dedicated functionality than simple file management, which should make the setup easier to implement.
- We can swap out solutions as our needs change, hopefully with minimal downtime or changes.
For your users, they get a greater UX and UI thanks to all of that dedicated functionality. Many plugins will give you front end templates for grids, tables, and more.
WordPress’ default options work only with singular files, but plugins will let you handle files in bulk. You’ll be able to display and view more information about each download for your visitors too.
In a nutshell, if you want to implement document management within WordPress, a plugin will be your approach to do so. Fortunately for us, there are a lot of quality choices.
Choosing a Plugin to Assist With Your Document Management Strategy
As I said at the start of the article: this isn’t a document management tutorial, because WP Mayor covers that across a number of posts. This also isn’t a plugin roundup, because we have plenty of content on choosing a document management plugin—sometimes with slightly different names for those solutions:
However, two popular plugins that we talk about a lot are Document Library Pro and GravityView. They both approach the functionality in a different way:
- Document Library Pro. This is a dedicated document management plugin that provides a slick interface, robust and thoughtful functionality, and a front-end display that looks great.
- GravityView. Leverages the feature set of Gravity Forms to let you build rich web apps— including document management sites.
It could be that neither of these solutions suit your needs. As such, you have to know what to look for when it comes to finding the right plugin. I’d always want to choose solutions that other users like, which means checking out ratings and reviews. I also like to browse the support pages over at WordPress.org to understand how the developers treat pressing concerns.
If they are proactive when it comes to user issues, I prefer to use their plugin over others simply for reasons of trust and support.
For functionality, this will be a subjective decision based on what you need a plugin to achieve. Most give you ways to present lists of downloads in a neat table, but I recommend you read the documentation—even in brief—for a plugin to see how you’d achieve the things you want.
If there’s a demo or free version of the plugin, even better. I much prefer to use a plugin, even with a limited feature set, to understand how my days will go using it. You might find that a plugin feels better ‘under your hands’ than another, which is again a subjective decision you have to make.
Tricks and Tips to Turbocharge Your WordPress Document Management
To finish off this chat about document management in WordPress, I’d like to pass on some quickfire tips to help make your own setup a breeze to implement. Given how I start the post, looking at your folder structure is a big part of the implementation.
My approach involves creating main, broad categories such as information, fiction, non-fiction, etc. Of course, this will depend on what downloads your site will offer. Subcategories can help to refine your lists, as can consistent naming conventions for files and directories.
I always have scalability and intuition at the forefront of my mind. If a user can find a document without asking for help, that’s a good system. This is where built-in search can be essential. WordPress’s native search is decent, although plugins such as Ivory Search and Relevanssi can supercharge the experience.
For larger teams or more complex document management, you might want to consider your workflow. There are lots of plugin options for this, and the right one can help you set up approval processes, notifications, task assignments, and more.
Speaking of internal processes, your site security has a greater impact when running a document management system. File permissions can be a headache if you don’t set them up correctly, so ensuring this works as you’d expect is a vital step.
User management is crucial here too, and leveraging WordPress’s built-in user roles is a good start. For more granular control, consider a plugin such as Members or User Role Editor.
Still on the subject of security, make sure your site runs an SSL certificate, and that you already have robust site security in place. Regular site maintenance will also contribute here. The good news is a quality plugin such as GravityView or Document Library Pro will come with security options as standard—one less worry that makes a purchase worth it.
With the Right Plugin, Document Management in WordPress Is a Breeze
Your goal when it comes to document management is not simply to store files, but to create a system that makes your visitors more productive, collaborative, and gives them added value to their own workflows. The best way to do this is to start with a quality WordPress plugin.
From there, take some time to think about what you want to achieve, and find the right blend of features and functionality to realize it. However, don’t forget about the other aspects of your site, as they can contribute to your management setup. For instance, security should be a prime concern, as such your front-end UX and UI.
Do you have any questions about document management within WordPress? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below!
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons.
