How to Use WordPress Media Library Folders Plugin
Below, you will learn how to use this WordPress media folders plugin on your website. The whole process is pretty straightforward; however, you may be interested in taking a look at it step by step.
1. Plugin settings
You can find the plugin settings page in Settings > Media Folders:
On this page, you can configure the following:
- Show Count – with this option, you can decide whether you want to display the total number of media files in a specific folder near its name and how to calculate the count number.
- Show Search – this option allows you to display a search field in the folders sidebar and perform an instant search.
- Show In List View – by default, the folders are only displayed when you’re viewing your media library in grid view. In list view, only “Filter by folder” is available; it is designed this way to keep the media library page nice and clean. However, if you also need media library folders in list view, all you need to do is activate this option.
- Show in Media Modals – by default, when you’re working with media files via the post/page editor, you can filter them by folder using a simple dropdown filter added by the plugin. However, if this option is not enough for you, you can display the entire folder sidebar there instead of a simple filter; see it in action below.
- Delete Media Files with a Folder – with this option activated, when you delete a folder, all the media files in this folder will be deleted automatically as well.
- Default Folder – with this option, you can choose any specific media library folder (or a previously selected folder, individually for every user) that should be opened by default.
The “Capabilities” tab allows you to configure which user roles have access to folders:
The following capabilities are available:
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
view_folders | Allows a specific user role to view the folders sidebar and navigate between folders in the first place. Other capabilities without this one do not matter. |
edit_folders | With this capability, users can rename folders or change a specific folder’s settings. |
delete_folders | With this capability, users can delete folders. |
assign_folders | Allows a specific user role to add a media (or a post) to a folder. |
Since the 4.0 version of the plugin, folders can be used for custom post types as well. You can decide for which ones in the “Post Types” tab.
There is also the “Import” tab, which will appear only if you previously used another media library folders plugin and you still have its data in the database.
2. Create folders in WordPress media library
You can easily create a new folder by clicking the “Add folder” button when viewing the media library page in the admin dashboard.
Changing (renaming or moving to another parent folder) and removing folders is a pretty straightforward process as well – you just need to select a specific folder and click a button with an icon above.
3. Add media files to a folder
To add a specific media file to a folder, you can simply drag and drop it. You can do it with one image only or select multiple images using the “Bulk select” option:
Folders can also be assigned to an attachment when viewing it in the media modal:
4. Filter media files by folder when inserting into posts
Filtering by a media library folder is available in every scenario of inserting files, for example:
- selecting a featured image for posts,
- selecting a product image or gallery images for WooCommerce products,
- inserting media files in widgets in page builder plugins (like Elementor, Bricks Builder, etc),
- adding media files to custom fields (created with ACF or any other plugin).
By default, the “Filter by folder” will look just like a standard “Filter by type” or “Filter by date” dropdown; however, with the “Show in Media Modals” option activated, you can display the full folder tree as well:
Import Media Library Folders Created with Other Plugins
If you’ve decided to migrate from any other WordPress media folders plugin, and the only thing that stops you is that you need to re-create the entire folder structure and organize media files again, I have good news for you – you can import folders and their connections with media files with just one click.
It can be easily done in the plugin settings page with the importer tool; you can see an example in the screenshot below:
Importing from the following WordPress media folders plugins is supported at this moment: “Filebird”, “HappyFiles”, “Real Media Library”, “Wicked Folders”, “WP Media Folder” (by Joomunited), and “Folders” (by Premio).
The “Import” tab in the settings is only displayed when the folders created with other plugins are found in the database. If you have never used other plugins for this purpose, the “Import” tab won’t bother you.