I’m really happy to be able to review WP Media Folder.
Why’s that?
Because it solves something that annoys me so much about WordPress…
The incredibly cluttered and disorganized media library of an active WordPress site.
When you have hundreds, or even thousands, of files in your WordPress media library, it’s mindbogglingly difficult to find individual files. I have a site that’s almost ten years old – it’s dang near impossible to find something I uploaded that long ago if I don’t remember the exact file name.
WP Media Folder fixes this by letting you create folders inside your media library. Think of it like your very own Google Drive interface dropped inside your WordPress media library.
With folders and subfolders, you can add a much-needed dose of order to the chaos of the media library.
WP Media Folder also offers other features like filters, WooCommerce compatibility, styled files, and more.
Let’s dig in…
Setting up WP Media Folder
After you install WP Media Folder, the first thing you can do is automatically import your categories as folders. This is a pretty logical way of dividing things and it’s nice that you can automatically implement it with a single click:
After that first import option, you can head to the WP Media Folder settings page to configure all the plugin options:
The options are pretty self-explanatory. One important feature to set is if you want to search in just the specified folder or your entire media library.
It’s nice that you can configure the filter options – this makes it easy to filter by the most relevant criteria for your specific site. You also should consider enabling the replace file function – it can be pretty handy (more on that later).
In the next tab, you can set up the included media gallery:
The settings aren’t super heavy-duty, but it should be more than enough for a basic media gallery.
Another nice feature is the “Media rename” setting:
It lets you automatically rename files when you upload them. For example – you could name all the files “Folder Name” + Number. This makes it a lot easier to implement SEO-friendly image names. You can save some manual work. I like this feature a lot.
WP Media Folder also lets you configure an automatic sync with your server – this ensures that your folders inside your media library match with folders on your server:
Finally, WP Media Folder supports image compression through Image Recycle.
Compressing your images is good for optimizing site speed, so I’m glad that WP Media Folder included this feature.
There are a few other minor settings/features, but I think the ones I listed are the most relevant for the majority of WordPress users.
WP Media Folder in Action
So now that we’ve configured WP Media Folder, let’s actually see it in action…
Adding Files and Folders
Here’s what the main page for your media library looks like:
You just click the button to create a folder:
Then the folder shows up in your library:
The process is super simple. If you can comprehend folders on your operating system, you’ll be able to understand them in WP Media Folder
Let’s upload a file now. Because I enabled automatic file renaming, the file names should follow the structure of “Folder name” + number. Here’s what happens…
When I expand the file details to see the filename…
As you can see, it successfully renamed the file to follow the structure I specified.
One thing I didn’t like is that it doesn’t touch the default image title – that’s still based on the original file name. I wish there were an option to update both. As it stands now, you still have to manually set some file names or edit the title to avoid having gibberish there. Not a huge deal, but something to note.
Moving/Organizing Files and Folders
Moving files between folders is simple – just drag and drop like you would on your operating system. Very fluid. I didn’t experience any lag or glitching when doing this. Nice and easy:
You can drag folders in the same way to create sub-folders.
Another nice feature is replacing files. When enabled, you can upload a new file to replace an existing one. Why is this nice? It won’t cause any broken links if you’ve used that file in posts or pages. Because the link to the file stays the same, you don’t need to update anything in your posts or pages. WP Media Folder has a safety feature that requires the file type to be the same so that you can’t accidentally mess up.
WP Media Folder also includes a nice folder tree that makes navigating to nested folders easy:
Filtering Files/Folders
You have lots of filter options. Currently, you can filter by:
- File type
- Upload date
- Folder
- Image dimensions
- File size
These filters should make it super easy to find files, especially when combined with folders.
Adding Galleries
WP Media Folder also gives you new options when creating galleries with the standard WordPress interface. You can automatically add all images in a folder, choose custom themes, set up lightbox, and more:
To be honest, this feature doesn’t blow me away. I think if you want detailed gallery options, you still might need a custom plugin for that. But, it does give you some added features, and being able to automatically insert all images in a specific folder is a nice option to have.
It’s a nice throw-in, but the main value driver is definitely the folder and media organization.
WP Media Folder Compatibility
WP Media Folder is compatible with:
- WooCommerce
- Visual Composer
- DIVI Builder
- Beaver Builder
- Other major page builders
Basically, because it’s lightweight and built on the native WordPress media library, it should be compatible with most themes and plugins.
Pricing and Documentation
WP Media Folder is available for a one-time payment of $24.00. That gets you permanent use on unlimited websites and 6 months of upgrades
You can also pay $29 for 6 months of support or $39 for a year of support (and a full year of updates).
Final Thoughts
WP Media Folder definitely delivers on its core value:
A much more organized WordPress media library.
The gallery feature didn’t impress me that much. If you need full-featured galleries, I think there are superior gallery specific plugins that let you do more.
But I liked everything else about the plugin. It seriously feels like you have Google Drive implemented inside your WordPress media library. Dragging and dropping files to folders is such a nicer way to keep things organized. Now, if you ever need to go back and find something, it’s actually possible.
It’s also nice that you can sync with your server, so you can bulk upload by FTP and still have everything organized.
If you’re like me and hate staring at a mishmash of thousands of files in your library, declutter your WordPress site by trying WP Media Folder.
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