Forms provide an excellent means of collecting user feedback from your website visitors. However, there are scenarios where more than just feedback is needed, and this is where a WordPress File Upload Plugins proves valuable. There are various reasons why you might want to allow file uploads from your visitors, and the most straightforward way to implement this functionality is by installing a dedicated WordPress plugin. Some plugins function as form builders with a designated file upload field, while others go beyond, offering capabilities like handling larger uploads and easing restrictions on accepted file types.
Best WordPress File Upload Plugins
In this post, we’ll explore 10 WordPress plugins, both free and premium, that enable you to seamlessly incorporate user-submitted file uploads into your website.
1. WPForms-WordPress File Upload Plugins
WPForms stands as a widely-used WordPress form plugin employed by numerous websites to gather visitor information. With its user-friendly drag-and-drop building approach, incorporating a submission field for file uploads into your form is effortlessly achieved. The plugin supports common file types while implementing security measures by restricting certain file types — for those looking to bypass these restrictions, the File Upload Types plugin is recommended. Additionally, WPForms enforces a file size limit, either determined by your hosting provider or one you can manually set to a smaller size.
The uploaded files can be conveniently viewed from your WordPress dashboard, or you have the option to direct file uploads to your media library using the plugin’s advanced settings. The flexibility and simplicity of WPForms make it an ideal choice for new site owners seeking a quick and efficient way to implement forms on their websites.
2. Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms emerges as a powerful WordPress form plugin tailored for lead capture, feedback, and support forms. Featuring a user-friendly drag-and-drop builder tool, it facilitates the seamless creation of website forms. With a versatile array of over 30 custom fields, you can effortlessly gather diverse types of data. Notably, Gravity Forms incorporates an upload field, allowing users to submit file attachments such as photos and text documents.
This upload field supports both single and multiple file uploads, offering the flexibility to specify acceptable file extensions and set the maximum file size per upload. Gravity Forms automatically stores all user submissions on your server, and a convenient overview of uploads is available within your WordPress dashboard.
Beyond its prowess in file uploading capabilities, Gravity Forms serves as a comprehensive form-building solution for various requirements on your site. For an in-depth exploration of its features and usage, consult our Ultimate Guide To Using Gravity Forms in WordPress.
3. File Upload Types by WPForms
The WPForms plugin inherently places restrictions on the file types permitted for user file uploads to WordPress through a form. The File Upload Types plugin, created by the same reputable team responsible for WPForms, offers a free solution to alleviate these restrictions. This additional plugin empowers you to specify additional permitted file formats, such as ZIP, XML, and SVG.
Notably, File Upload Types by WPForms is entirely free to use, ensuring that the installation of this plugin won’t compromise security or cause performance issues. While it may be a bit inconvenient to add an extra plugin for this specific purpose, it’s a minor tradeoff considering the quality and reliability associated with a plugin like WPForms.
4. Forminator- WordPress File Upload Plugins
Forminator, crafted by WPMU DEV, stands as a versatile form builder plugin, catering to a variety of form types, including contact forms, payment forms, email forms, feedback forms, registrations, and file uploads. The upload field within Forminator’s forms supports both single and multiple files, offering customization options for file types, the number of files, and file sizes. Visitors benefit from a user-friendly experience, as uploading files is as simple as dragging and dropping them onto the page.
While Forminator excels in facilitating WordPress file uploads, it extends its functionality with robust integrations with popular CRMs and payment processors, making it a comprehensive tool for your checkout process. Furthermore, the plugin provides the option to enhance site engagement by seamlessly incorporating polls or quizzes.
5. WordPress File Upload
For a dedicated file upload tool that diverges from general form plugins, consider exploring the WordPress File Upload plugin. True to its name, this plugin empowers visitors to seamlessly upload files directly from the front end of your website. It provides a shortcode for a file upload field, allowing flexible placement anywhere on the page, and it also features a sidebar widget with the same functionality. Once files are uploaded, they can be conveniently accessed through your WordPress dashboard.
Despite its user-friendly interface, this plugin boasts a range of valuable features. To gather additional information from visitors, you can incorporate extra fields such as email, dropdowns, and checkboxes. The plugin offers the option to enable email notifications for each submitted file and allows you to specify the destination folder for uploaded files. Additionally, you can choose to redirect users to a new page after completing the upload.
All these features are available in the free version of the plugin. For enhanced capabilities, including unlimited file size uploads, a dedicated Gutenberg block, support for multiple file uploads, drag-and-drop functionality, and the ability to visually customize the field display, you may opt for the premium version, WordPress File Upload Pro.
Also Read: 10 Best Essential Website Plugins: Elevate Your Online Presence
6. File Manager
Boasting over 900,000 downloads, File Manager has become a highly favored tool for enhancing the WordPress back end. This robust solution empowers WordPress administrators with a plethora of file and folder management capabilities, including uploading, downloading, copying and pasting, editing, and removing server files and folders—all conveniently accessible from within the WordPress CMS. This eliminates the need for administrators to resort to external tools like FTP for server file modifications.
One notable feature of File Manager is its adept handling of file uploads to the WordPress back end. By default, there are no size restrictions for uploaded files, offering administrators the flexibility to set size limits and govern the types of files permitted for uploads and downloads.
Tailored for administrators seeking a seamless and powerful interface for managing server files within WordPress, File Manager comes with the added benefit of being free. Furthermore, developers provide paid add-ons for expanded functionalities, such as uploading files from WordPress to cloud storage. For those desiring advanced features, a premium version is available, offering a code editor and syntax checker, user permissions, and a built-in database manager.
7. Big File Uploads- WordPress File Upload Plugins
Is the file size of your media surpassing the limitations set by WordPress? Big File Uploads provides a solution with its free and straightforward plugin designed to elevate the file size upload limit within the WordPress media uploader. Upon activation, you can effortlessly upload your media files as usual, enjoying the freedom to handle files of larger sizes, limited only by your server’s capabilities.
Big File Uploads operate discreetly in the background of your site, ensuring it doesn’t consume unnecessary server space with superfluous features. In terms of settings, you have the flexibility to set a maximum upload size limit, maintaining the plugin’s focus on its primary function. This plugin excels at its designated task with simplicity and effectiveness.
Noteworthy features: Big File Uploads serves as an uncomplicated solution for administrators seeking to upload larger-than-usual media files to their website, and it offers the additional advantage of being entirely free to use.
8. Customer Upload Files for WooCommerce
For WooCommerce stores that accommodate custom requests from customers, providing a mechanism for clients to specify their preferences through file uploads is crucial. Customer Upload Files for WooCommerce offers a paid WooCommerce extension that facilitates this process, allowing customers to seamlessly upload photos and various file types along with their orders. Clients can preview their file uploads and have the flexibility to remove them at any stage during the checkout process.
Setting up this extension requires minimal effort on your part, but it provides customizable options to align with your specific requirements. These configurable settings include determining the pages or products where upload fields are applicable, defining limits on upload file size, specifying acceptable file types, enabling the upload of multiple files as an album, and incorporating a charge for clients opting to submit a file attachment.
Also Read: Unleash the Power of Communication: A Guide to the Best WordPress Email Plugins
9. Ninja Forms- WordPress File Upload Plugins
Ninja Forms stands as a prominent player in the WordPress ecosystem, boasting over a million downloads. This free drag-and-drop form builder empowers users to effortlessly create and position sophisticated contact forms on their websites without the need for coding expertise.
While the free version of Ninja Forms itself does not support file uploads, it offers a paid extension that introduces this capability. Priced starting at $49 for a single website, this add-on allows users to upload files, which can be directed to WordPress (with the option to send uploads to the media library), Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3.
Similar to other alternatives, this add-on provides customizable settings that enable users to define parameters such as the number of uploads allowed, acceptable file types, and maximum file size. Additionally, it features a convenient progress bar, offering visitors a visual representation of their upload status from initiation to completion.
Also Read: What is Headless WordPress CMS? | Decoupling for Enhanced Flexibility and Performance
10. Drag and Drop Multiple File Upload – Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 stands out as a well-established form plugin often bundled with WordPress themes, making it a prevalent choice for many WordPress websites. However, similar to Ninja Forms, the core plugin lacks built-in support for file uploads.
To address this limitation, the Drag and Drop Multiple File Upload plugin for Contact Form 7 comes into play, providing a free solution by incorporating a file upload field into your form builder. Visitors on your site can easily attach one or more files, adhering to the specifications you set. Moreover, the plugin allows you to enable email notifications for file submissions.
For users seeking advanced functionalities, upgrading to the Pro version of this plugin offers additional features such as image previews during uploads, visual customization options for the upload field, performance optimizations, the flexibility to alter your uploads folder, automatic image optimization, and a host of other enhancements.
Verify with your hosting provider if they support file uploads.
Utilizing any of these trustworthy plugins will facilitate the swift and efficient submission of files by visitors. However, it’s prudent to consult with your hosting provider regarding the acceptable file types users are allowed to submit.
A few of these plugins may make alterations to your WordPress core files to adjust storage limits and eliminate restrictions on file types. Some WordPress hosts may have limitations on such modifications, considering them potential liabilities and security risks.
Therefore, if you plan to modify the limits set by the WordPress core, it’s advisable to check your host’s documentation or contact their support team to ensure adherence to their guidelines
Interesting Reads:
WordPress File Management: A Guide to Top Plugins and Building Your Own on Your Website
Simplify File Storage and Sharing on BuddyPress with The BuddyDrive Plugin
