Simple File List Pro

Seeing, uploading and deleting are three different permissions

A shared folder usually starts with a single decision: who gets in. You give a client access to drop off their plans, a member access to download minutes, or the team access to keep forms at hand. Weeks later someone has deleted a file another person needed, and you find out that opening the door also handed over the keys to the cabinet.

Simple File List Pro shows a file list on a WordPress page, with an upload form, and separates those decisions. Who sees the list, who uploads and who manages are set independently, and the same list can behave differently on each page where you place it.

The Pro version adds what the free one lacks: unlimited folders and sub-folders, bulk editing and showing a specific folder on a specific page.

The list, the upload and the notice email

• Three list styles: Table, Tiles and Flex, with a Light, Dark or None theme.
• Per-file actions: open, download, copy the link, and download whole folders as a ZIP.
• Upload limits: number of files per submission, maximum size and accepted extensions.
• Uploader details: optional description, plus name and email, taken from the account if the person is logged in.
• Email notices: a notification for each front-side upload, with your own recipients, copies, subject and text.
• Storage: files go to a special folder inside uploads, or wherever you specify, outside the Media Library.

How to split permissions on each page

The [eeSFL] shortcode places the list on a page, post or widget, and its attributes change behavior only in that spot:

• See: showlist accepts YES, ADMIN, USER or NO.
• Upload: allowuploads accepts the same four options.
• Manage: frontmanage gives the front side the same editing and deletion as the dashboard.
• Folder: folder points to a path inside the main list.

Combined, they let you set up a drop box where users upload without seeing what is there, or a library everyone reads and only you feed. Try the combination with a user account before opening it up. Take care with front-end management: with it on, anyone with access to the list can also create folders, and a deleted file is gone forever.

A hidden list does not make the file secret

Restricting the list controls who sees it, but a file's individual link may still work. Blocking direct access only works on Apache; other servers, such as Nginx or IIS, need their own configuration. Test a direct link before uploading sensitive documents.

Public lists, with their descriptions, can appear in search engines. To avoid that, block the page in robots.txt or limit the list to logged-in users.

Three functions are separate Pro extensions, not the base plugin: File Access Manager (multiple lists with permissions by role, group or user), Search & Pagination and File Sending. That extension's search looks at names, descriptions and uploader details, not inside files.

Your first shared folder

Install the plugin, open its list in the dashboard and follow this order:

1. Plan the folders before creating them and keep few files in the main list.
2. Create the folders and upload files inside them, or use Move to place them.
3. Check in the settings who sees, who uploads and which extensions are accepted.
4. Open the folder and copy its shortcode to the page where it should appear.
5. If you add files by FTP, click Re-Scan Files: the plugin will rename them so they work as URLs.

When you need something other than a list

To present documents in a searchable collection, Document Library Pro shows them in a table, grid or folders, with download and preview buttons.

If what you want is to work on the site's files from the dashboard, without FTP, rather than publish them for your users, File Manager Pro puts a manager with a code editor inside WordPress.

Overwriting, opening and downloading files

Can an upload overwrite a file?

That behavior is set in the settings. Check yours before opening uploads to more people.

Why does a file open instead of downloading?

With the Open action it depends on the browser. The Download action forces the download.