Shafat Mahmud Khan

<p>Frontend File Explorer is a modern, Windows Explorer–inspired file manager for WordPress. It gives you a clean admin interface to organize and share files plus a responsive frontend explorer powered by a simple shortcode.</p>
<p>Use it to create download areas for courses, client file portals, or resource libraries — without relying on heavy external file management tools.</p>
<p>The plugin provides a seamless experience for both administrators and frontend users:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Explorer-style UI:</strong> Navigate with breadcrumbs, toolbar actions, pagination, and Material Icons.</li>
<li><strong>Dedicated Directory:</strong> Files are stored in a secured <code>wp-content/uploads/downloads</code> directory.</li>
<li><strong>Admin Management:</strong> Create folders, upload files, delete items, and download ZIPs directly from the admin dashboard.</li>
<li>Frontend Integration: Embed the explorer anywhere using the <code>[frontend_file_explorer]</code> shortcode.</li>
<li><strong>AJAX-Powered:</strong> Fast, smooth navigation and pagination without page reloads.</li>
<li><strong>Translation Ready:</strong> Fully localized with the <code>frontend-file-explorer</code> text domain.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How to use the Explorer:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><strong>Admin Interface:</strong><br />
Navigate to <strong>File Upload</strong> in your WordPress admin sidebar. From this dedicated dashboard, administrators can create nested folders, upload bulk files (featuring multi-select and drag-and-drop), import existing Media Library assets, delete items, and download entire directories as ZIP archives.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Frontend Shortcode:</strong><br />
Embed the user-facing explorer interface on any Page, Post, or Custom Post Type using the following shortcode setup:</p>
<pre><code>[frontend_file_explorer]
</code></pre>
<p><em>(Renders the explorer starting at the root storage directory)</em></p>
<p><strong>Advanced Shortcode Usage:</strong><br />
You can explicitly define the starting folder path relative to the root <code>uploads/downloads</code> directory by using the <code>folder</code> attribute:</p>
<pre><code>[frontend_file_explorer folder="/course-materials"]
[frontend_file_explorer folder="/clients/acme-corp"]
</code></pre>
<ul>
<li><strong>Frontend Capabilities:</strong> Visitors browsing the frontend can view contents, click files to download them, and copy direct sharing links.</li>
<li><strong>Security:</strong> Destructive or mutating actions (like file upload, folder creation, or deletion) remain strictly hidden and blocked from public visitors. They are only accessible to logged-in users who possess the WordPress <code>upload_files</code> capability.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Who is this plugin for?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Course creators who need a simple, branded downloads area.</li>
<li>Agencies and freelancers who share files with clients.</li>
<li>Site owners who want a lightweight, Explorer-like file manager in WordPress.</li>
</ul>


Frontend File Explorer

A modern, Windows Explorer–inspired file manager for WordPress with admin interface and frontend shortcode.

deckerweb

David Decker

wpautobahn

<h4>ADD-ON PLUGIN for “WP Document Revisions” (WPDR)</h4>
<p>Want to offer public file downloads? Just use “WP Document Revisions” plus this little add-on plugin! This <strong>small and lightweight</strong> add-on plugin just adds a few specific additions to the <strong>awesome WPDR base plugin which does all the heavy lifting for you!</strong></p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Simple Download Manager for WP Document Revisions - Live Demo WordPress Plugin" width="750" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NmT1MWFdzUI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>For my own projects I needed a new but robust and future-proof plugin with a custom post type solution to replace an old, unsupported download counter plugin. With its many benefits I wanted WPDR as a base foundation for that. Now, that I’ve finally found my solution, I hope it may help you as well :-).</p>
<h4>What this Add-On does – General Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>All the benefits of “WP Document Revisions” plugin! (see below)</li>
<li>Simple, basic download counter included!</li>
<li>Use “Downloads” wording instead of “Documents” (changeable via options); plus Downloads icon.</li>
<li>2 additional taxonomies for download files: “File Categories” and “File Tags”.</li>
<li><em>3 additional Widgets:</em>
<ul>
<li>Display most popular/ accessed Downloads with “Popular Downloads”.</li>
<li>Simple taxonomy listings with “Download File Categories / Tags”.</li>
<li>To Downloads restricted search with “Search Downloads”.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Own plugin settings page.</li>
<li>Help tabs included.</li>
<li>Fully internationalized!</li>
<li>Fully Multisite compatible!</li>
</ul>
<h4>Special Features of this Add-On</h4>
<ul>
<li>Full German translations included, formal and informal versions – you can choose via options (default is ‘formal’).</li>
</ul>
<h4>Benefits of using “WP Document Revisions” as the base plugin</h4>
<ul>
<li><em>In general: fantastic plugin, awesome developer! 🙂</em></li>
<li>Really simple, yet very effective! Does just one thing, but does it right!</li>
<li>Really secure & robust!</li>
<li>Revision management by default.</li>
<li>Workflow Status management by default.</li>
<li>Uses known WordPress interface – just concentrate on file management :).</li>
<li>Extendable via Hooks & Filters – very developer friendly.</li>
<li>Support for “Edit Flow” plugin already included.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Requirements</h4>
<ul>
<li>WordPress 4.7+ — latest version 5.0.x (or 4.9.8) always recommended!</li>
<li>Already installed plugin <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-document-revisions/" rel="ugc">“WP Document Revisions”</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Recommended Settings & Usage Instructions</h4>
<ul>
<li>See <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpdr-simple-downloads/#installation" rel="ugc">“Installation” section here</a></li>
<li>Plus, see <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpdr-simple-downloads/#faq" rel="ugc">“FAQ” section here</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Third-party compatibility included</h4>
<ul>
<li><em>Genesis Framework:</em> For Child Themes – Display post meta on the frontend for the post type.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Translations</h4>
<ul>
<li>English (United States) – <code>en_US</code> = default, always included</li>
<li><a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/locale/de/default/wp-plugins/wpdr-simple-downloads" rel="nofollow ugc">German (informal, default)</a> – <code>de_DE</code> – always included</li>
<li><a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/locale/de/formal/wp-plugins/wpdr-simple-downloads" rel="nofollow ugc">German (formal)</a> – <code>de_DE_formal</code> – always included</li>
<li><code>.pot</code> file (<code>wpdr-simple-downloads.pot</code>) for translators is always included in the plugin’s ‘languages’ folder 🙂</li>
</ul>
<h4>Be a Contributor</h4>
<p>If you want to translate, <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wpdr-simple-downloads" rel="nofollow ugc">go to the Translation Portal at translate.wordpress.org</a>.</p>
<p>You can also contribute code-wise via our <a href="https://github.com/deckerweb/wpdr-simple-downloads" rel="nofollow ugc">WP Document Revisions Simple Downloads GitHub Repository</a> – and see where you can help.</p>
<h4>Documentation and Support</h4>
<ul>
<li>If you have any more questions, visit our support on the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wpdr-simple-downloads" rel="ugc">Plugin’s Forum</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Liked WP Document Revisions Simple Downloads?</h4>
<ul>
<li>Then please <strong>rate us 5 stars</strong> on <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wpdr-simple-downloads/reviews/?filter=5/#new-post" rel="ugc">WordPress.org</a> 🙂</li>
<li>Join our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/deckerweb.wordpress.plugins/" rel="nofollow ugc"><strong>Facebook User Community Support Group</strong></a></li>
<li>Like our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/deckerweb.wordpress.plugins/" rel="nofollow ugc"><strong>Facebook Info Page for Deckerweb Plugins</strong></a></li>
<li><a href="https://eepurl.com/gbAUUn" rel="nofollow ugc"><strong>Subscribe to my Newsletter for insider info on this plugin</strong></a>, plus tutorials and more stuff on deckerweb WordPress plugins – join a thriving community of site builders!</li>
</ul>
<h4>Recommended Time Saver</h4>
<p>Try <a href="https://toolbarextras.com/" rel="nofollow ugc"><strong>Toolbar Extras</strong></a> my other plugin for Site Builders and admins: Building sites with Elementor? <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/toolbar-extras/" rel="ugc"><strong>Your work will get easier & faster with Toolbar Extras.</strong></a> With extended plugin & theme support baked right in. Of course, “Builder Template Categories” is integrated as well 🙂</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/toolbar-extras/" rel="ugc">Plugin Page here on WordPress.org</a></li>
<li><a href="https://toolbarextras.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Plugin’s own website toolbarextras.com</a></li>
<li>In your WordPress admin dashboard search for <code>toolbar extras</code> in the plugin installer 😉</li>
</ul>
<h4>This Plugin …</h4>
<ul>
<li>… scratches my own itch!</li>
<li>… is <em>Quality Made in Germany</em></li>
<li>… was created with love (plus some coffee) 🙂 – <a href="https://www.paypal.me/deckerweb" rel="nofollow ugc">if you like it consider donating</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Plugin Links</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wpdr-simple-downloads" rel="nofollow ugc">Translations (GlotPress)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wpdr-simple-downloads" rel="ugc">User support forums</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gist.github.com/4395899" rel="nofollow ugc">Code snippets archive for customizing, GitHub Gist</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Donate</h3>
<p>Enjoy using <em>WP Document Revisions Simple Downloads</em>? Please consider <a href="https://www.paypal.me/deckerweb" rel="nofollow ugc">making a small donation</a> to support the project’s continued development.</p>
<h3>Additional Info</h3>
<p><strong>Idea Behind / Philosophy:</strong> I just needed a simple downloads/ file manager plugin that used a custom post type for management. Since there are no such good download managers out there yet, but with the “WP Document Revisions” plugin there was an awesome solution. It only had few things missing in my opinion if used for public downloads/ file management. So finally, this add-on plugin was born. I hope you also find it useful somehow… 🙂</p>
<h3>Credits</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://ben.balter.com/" rel="nofollow ugc"><strong>Ben Balter</strong></a> for an amazing plugin with <a href="https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-document-revisions/" rel="ugc"><strong>WP Document Revisions</strong> – see WP.org plugin page</a> — <a href="https://github.com/benbalter/WP-Document-Revisions/" rel="nofollow ugc">see GitHub plugin development page</a>!</li>
<li><a href="http://iconmonstr.com/" rel="nofollow ugc"><strong>iconmonstr</strong>®</a> for their amazing free icons. (This was used for version 1.0 – since then we switched to Dashicons.)</li>
</ul>
<h3>My Other Plugins</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/toolbar-extras/" rel="ugc"><strong>Toolbar Extras for Elementor – WordPress Admin Bar Enhanced</strong></a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/builder-template-categories/" rel="ugc"><strong>Builder Template Categories – for WordPress Page Builders</strong></a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/connect-polylang-elementor/" rel="ugc"><strong>Polylang Connect for Elementor – Language Switcher & Template Tweaks</strong></a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/genesis-whats-new-info/" rel="ugc">Genesis What’s New Info</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/genesis-layout-extras/" rel="ugc">Genesis Layout Extras</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/genesis-widgetized-notfound/" rel="ugc">Genesis Widgetized Not Found & 404</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/genesis-widgetized-footer/" rel="ugc">Genesis Widgetized Footer</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/genesis-widgetized-archive/" rel="ugc">Genesis Widgetized Archive</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/multisite-toolbar-additions/" rel="ugc">Multisite Toolbar Additions</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/cleaner-plugin-installer/" rel="ugc">Cleaner Plugin Installer</a></li>
<li><a href="https://eepurl.com/gbAUUn" rel="nofollow ugc"><em>My plugins newsletter</em></a></li>
</ul>


Simple Download Manager for WP Document Revisions

Use the WP Document Revisions plugin as very basic & simple download manager with this additional add-on plugin.

Frontend File Explorer vs Simple Download Manager for WP Document Revisions