WordPress File Manager Plugin (CMDM) - Getting Started - Free Version Tutorial

WordPress File Manager Plugin - Free Version Tutorial

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This article covers only features presented in the free version of WordPress File Manager Plugin.

This documentation article shows you how to use the WordPress File Manager Plugin Free to set up an index of downloads with unique pages where users can upload and download files.

Example

Table of Contents

• Installation guide
• Setup Wizard
• List of Features
• Using the Free Plugin - Overview
• Managing Downloads
• Managing Download Categories
• Plugin Settings
  • General Settings
  • Index Page Settings
  • Download Page Settings
  • Upload Page Settings
  • Access and Moderation Settings
  • Notifications Settings
  • Labels Settings
• Shortcodes

Installation guide

Here are the steps needed to install the plugin:

1. Download - To manually install the plugin, you must first download it from WordPress.org to your computer.

2. Navigate to the Plugins tab in the WordPress Admin Panel to install the plugin.

3. Activate the plugin.

Setup Wizard

Once you install and activate the plugin, you will see a setup wizard. It will help you to configure the basic settings step by step - just follow the instructions. Optionally, you can skip it.

List of Features

Using the Free Plugin - Overview

Links to Index and Dashboard pages

The plugin automatically creates download index and user dashboard pages. These pages can be changed, but links to both pages can always be found at the top of the plugin settings:

Index Page

The Downloads Index Page contains the following elements:

1. Search.
2. Navigation links to: index page, dashboard page and upload form.
3. Categories.
4. Downloads list, linking to each page.

User Dashboard

Logged-in users can access the dashboard with their downloads by clicking the navigation link My Downloads. The user can use the Search bar for searching his downloads. Also, for each download the user can see its details: ID, Title, Status, amount of Downloads and Download Date.

For each download the user can commit the following Actions:

• Publish/Unpublish
• Edit
• Delete

The admin can see and manage downloads of all user on that page. Additionally the admin can filter downloads by titles and date range:

Adding Downloads

User can add new downloads by clicking the navigation link Add new.

The form for adding new downloads includes the following:

• Version - The download author can specify the download version in case of editing it.
• Title - Add a download name.
• Description - Add description for the download. The editor supports HTML formatting and adding media files.
• Category - Choose relevant category (3 maximum).
• File - Upload a file. The admin can define the list of allowed file extensions in the plugin settings.
• Screenshots - Upload screenshots if needed.
• Thumbnail - Choose a featured image for the download.
• Admin Recommended - This option is available for admins only. It allows to mark specific downloads as "Recommended".
• Notify me on new support topics - If checked, the download author will be notified when someone asks questions related to his download.

Some of the fields can be disabled in the plugin settings.

Download Page

Below is an example of the download page. The user can download the file and see its information.

If the support feature enabled in the plugin settings, users can ask questions related to the download under the Support tab:

Other user can answer questions:

Managing Downloads

The admin can manage all downloads on the back-end. To do it, navigate to Admin Dashboard → CM Downloads → CM Downloads.

Here the admin can see all basic information for each download. Clicking on the download will redirect the admin to the front-end form for editing download.

Managing Download Categories

The plugin allows to group downloads by assinging them do different categories. To manage categories, navigate to Admin Dashboard → CM Downloads → Categories.

On the left side you can see a form for creating new category, and on the right side there's a table with all created categories:

Plugin Settings

To configure the plugin settings, navigate to Admin Dashboard → CM Downloads → Settings.

The settings page shows options available in the Free version of the plugin and also showcases the options that are available in the Pro version only. You can show or hide Pro options by clicking the relevant button at the top right:

In this guide we will consider only options available in the Free version.

General Settings

Navigation: permalinks, menus, searching

The options in this section are:

• Add "Downloads" index page to the site menu - Enable this option to display a link to the index download page in your site menu. Have a note that you need to have "wp_nav_menu_items" filter in your theme template.
• Add "My Downloads" index page to the site menu - Enable this option to display a link to the user dashboard page in your site menu. Have a note that you need to have "wp_nav_menu_items" filter in your theme template.
• Display "Setup Wizard" in plugin menu - Disable this option if you want to remove the Setup Wizard from the plugin menu.

Appearance general settings

The option in this section is:

• Max-width of the CMDM container (in %) - Set the maximum width of the Download Manager content area as a percentage of the page width. Applies to index, user dashboard, upload, and download pages. Valid range: from 40% to 80%.

Index Page Settings

Index page general settings

The options in this section are:

• Disable index page - The admin can completely disable the index page. This is essential when using the download manager using shortcodes only.
• Downloads Index Page ID - Define here the ID of the custom index page created by you. This option works only when the option above is turned on, which allows you to override the default index page. The custom page should contain a relevant shortcode.
• Downloads listing title - Define the title of the downloads index page.

Layout

The options in this section are:

• Default downloads list view - The downloads index page can show the download list in a few available formats. The free version allows you to choose between two of them:
  • tiles 
  • list

Appearance

The options in this section are:

• Show dashboard links on the index page - If enabled, navigation links to the index page, user dashboard, and upload page will be displayed on all three of these pages.
• Display search bar - Allows to show/hide the search bar for the downloads.
• Display search bar submit button - Allows to show/hide the search bar submit button for the downloads.

Download Page Settings

Layout

The option in this section is:

• Download button position - This option allows you to choose where to display the download button on the download page. Choose between:
  • aside
  • top
  • below screenshots
  • bottom

Download sections

The option in this section is:

• Show description - If disabled, the upload form will not contain a field for adding description, and the description will not be displayed on download pages.

Appearance

The options in this section are:

• Enabled version parameter for downloads - If enabled, the download author will be able to specify the version number of the download.
• Show "Back to All Downloads" link - If enabled, the download page will display a link that leads to the index page.
• Enable rating - If enabled, users will be able to rate downloads.
• Show author - If enabled, the download page will display the download author name.
• Show downloads number - If enabled, the download page will display how many times the file was downloaded.

Frontend media/Screenshots

The options in this section are:

• Enable screenshots - If enabled, the download author will be able to add screenshots for his download.
• First screenshot as the featured image - The first uploaded screenshot will be automatically chosen as a featured image. If the download author uploaded a few screenshots, he will be able to choose which screenshot should be presented as a featured image.
• Hide featured image in screenshots - If enabled, the screenshot that is chosen as a featured image, will not be presented in the set of screenshots on the download page.
• "No screenshot" image - If the download author hasn't uploaded any screenshots for his download, the default image will be displayed instead.

Support forum

The option in this section is:

• Enable support tab for downloads - If enabled, the download pages will contain a tab with support forum.

Miscellaneous: downloading, counting

The option in this section is:

• Force browser to download files - If disabled, browser will open some file types for viewing instead of downloading it, for example PDF files and images.

Upload Page Settings

Appearance

The options in this section are:

• Disable front-end Dashboard - The admin can completely disable the dashboardndex page. This is essential when using the download manager using shortcodes only.
• Downloads Dashboard Page ID - Define here the ID of the custom dashboard page created by you. This option works only when the option above is turned on, which allows you to override the default dashboard page. The custom page should contain a relevant shortcode.

Features

The option in this section is:

• Allowed file extensions - Define here the list of file extensions that users will be allowed to upload.

Categories

The options in this section are:

• Show child categories in dropdown - If enabled, the child categories will be displayed not the same as regular categories, but in dropdowns under relevant parent categories.
• Categories required - If enabled, choosing a category for the download will be required.

Access and Moderation Settings

Access

The options in this section are:

• Who can add new downloads - Admin can define which users are able to upload files. He can choose between:
  • Logged-in users - Choosing this option means that all users that are logged-in on your site are able to create downloads.

  • Users from specific WP roles - When this option is chosen, a new option appears - Which WP roles can add new downloads. Here the admin can choose specific user roles that are allowed to create downloads:

    

• Who can view downloads - Admin can define which users are able to view downloads. He can choose between:
  • All users (including guests) - Choosing this option means that all your site visitors, even those that are not logged-in, are able to view downloads.
  • Logged-in users - Choosing this option means that only logged-in users are able to view downloads.

  • Users from specific WP roles - When this option is chosen, a new option appears - Which WP roles can view downloads. Here the admin can choose specific user roles that are allowed to view downloads:

    

• Who can download files - Admin can define which users are able to download files. He can choose between:
  • All users (including guests) - Choosing this option means that all your site visitors, even those that are not logged-in, are able to download files.
  • Logged-in users - Choosing this option means that only logged-in users are able to download files.

Notifications Settings

Support forum

The options in this section are:

• New topic notification title - Define the email subject when someone creates new topic on the support forum.
• New topic notification message - Define the email notification message when someone creates new topic on the support forum. The template supports the following shortcodes for adding dynamic content:
  • [addon_title] - Download name.
  • [thread_title] - Support topic title.
  • [comment_link] - Link to support topic.
• Topic comment notification title - Define the email subject when someone leaves a comment under the topic on the support forum.
• Topic comment notification message - Define the email notification message when someone leaves a comment under the topic on the support forum. The template supports the following shortcodes for adding dynamic content:
  • [addon_title] - Download name.
  • [thread_title] - Support topic title.
  • [comment_link] - Link to support topic.

Labels Settings

This tab contains dozens of front-end labels which you can edit:

Shortcodes

The free version of the plugin supports 2 shortcodes that are useful for overriding default index and dashboard pages:

• [cmdm-index] - Allows to display downloads index page.
• [cmdm-my-downloads] - Allows to display downloads dashboard page.

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