Organize your Media Library into folders

Once the plugin is active, open Media → Library. A folder sidebar now sits on the left of the grid - this is where you create folders and click to filter your files.

1. Go to Media → Library and switch to grid view if you are not already there.
2. The sidebar shows All files and Uncategorized at the top, with your folder tree below. The same sidebar also appears in the media picker when you insert an image while editing a post or page.
3. Hide/show the sidebar with its toggle button, and drag its right or bottom edge to resize it. Your width and collapsed state are remembered.

Build a tree that matches how you think about your media - by project, by client, by month, however you like.

1. Click New Folder (or right-click empty space in the sidebar) and type a name.
2. Nest a folder by dragging it onto another; reorder siblings by dragging them up or down.
3. Right-click any folder for its menu: New Folder, Rename, Cut, Paste, Delete, and Change Color.

Every one of these has a keyboard equivalent. See Keyboard & mouse shortcuts.

Click a folder in the sidebar and the Media Library instantly filters to show only that folder’s files. The count next to each folder tells you how many files it holds.

• All files - everything in your library, the default view.
• Uncategorized - files that aren’t in any folder yet.
• A folder - just that folder’s files. WordPress’s own search and type/date filters still apply on top. Turn on Include subfolders in counts in Settings to make a folder show everything in its subfolders too.

Filing media is drag-and-drop. By default a file lives in exactly one folder, so dragging moves it.

1. In the grid, drag a thumbnail onto a folder in the sidebar. The target folder highlights as you hover it.
2. To move several at once, ⌘/Ctrl-click (or Shift-click for a range) to select multiple files first, then drag any one of them.
3. Let go. A toast confirms “Moved N items” and the files appear in that folder.

The folder sidebar is fully usable from the keyboard. Once a folder has the keyboard cursor you can move through the whole tree, open and close folders, and rename, cut, paste or delete without reaching for the mouse. These are core features: they work the same in Free and Pro.

Rename a folder, three ways

• Click again. Click a folder to select it, then click it a second time as a slow, separate click (not a double-click). The name turns into a text box, the way renaming works in Finder and File Explorer.
• Press F2 with a folder selected to jump straight into the name box.
• Right-click → Rename from the folder’s menu.

Enter (or clicking away) saves; Esc cancels. Renaming to an empty or unchanged name does nothing. The same inline box appears when you create a folder, with the name preselected so you can type straight over it.

Moving around

Click any folder once, or press Tab until the sidebar is highlighted, to put the cursor on a folder. As the cursor moves, the highlighted folder is selected, so the library filters to it exactly as clicking would.

Folder actions

The Folders tab in Settings is a flat table of every folder on the site, built for cleaning up or reorganizing at scale rather than one folder at a time. Pick a post type at the top to switch between the media tree and any content tree.

Tick any row and the action bar appears:

• Move - reparent the whole selection under one folder, or to the top level. Moves that would create a loop are rejected.
• Recolor - apply one palette color, or clear the color, across the selection.
• Delete - requires typing DELETE to confirm. Each selected folder goes with its subfolders; the files inside are unfiled, never deleted.

Already organized your library with another folder plugin? The Import tab reads that plugin’s folder tree and recreates it here, with your media filed into the matching folders. It is free, non-destructive, and safe to run twice.

1. Open Content Explorer → Settings → Import. Each plugin it can read is listed with the number of folders and files it found.
2. Choose a destination: import at the top level, or nest the whole imported tree under a folder you already have.
3. Click Import next to a source. The summary reports how many folders were created, how many existing ones were reused, and how many files were filed.

Open Content Explorer in the wp-admin sidebar for the settings screen. It is organized into tabs down the left; the Pro-only ones stay visible with a lock until a license is active. Changing settings needs administrator access, while the folder sidebar itself is available to anyone who can upload files.

The General tab in detail

WordPress blocks SVG uploads by default because an SVG can contain scripts. Content Explorer lets you turn SVG uploads on cleans every file automatically, so you get scalable logos and icons without the security risk. Safe upload is free; advanced controls are Pro.

1. Go to Settings → General and switch on Allow SVG uploads. (Off by default.)
2. Upload .svg / .svgz files like any other image. Each one is sanitized as it uploads - scripts, event handlers, and remote references are stripped.
3. If a file can’t be made safe, the upload is rejected and nothing is stored.

Uploaded SVGs render their actual artwork (not a generic file icon) everywhere images appear - the grid, the media picker, featured images, your theme, and the Folder Gallery block.

A smart folder is a saved filter, not a real folder. Give it a rule - like “all SVGs”, “PDFs uploaded by me”, “all drafts tagged news”, or “posts published this month” - and it automatically collects every matching item. Works in the Media Library, Posts, Pages, and any custom post type you’ve opted into folders. Pro

1. Turn it on at Settings → General → Smart Folders. A Smart Folders section appears above your normal folders in the sidebar - on the Media Library and on every CPT list screen (Posts, Pages, Products, …).
2. Click the + next to the Smart Folders heading on the tree you’re currently in. Give it a Name, pick Match: All (AND) or Any (OR), and add one or more rules.
3. Each rule has a Field, an operator, and a value. The available fields depend on the tree: Media Library: File type, Author, Filename; Posts / Pages / CPT: Author, Taxonomy (taxonomy + term picker), Date (before / after / between). A live “Matches N” count updates as you edit.
4. Click Create smart folder. Click it in the sidebar any time to filter the current list to its matches. A Post smart folder lives only in the Post tree; a Page smart folder only in the Page tree, etc.

Normally a file lives in one folder. Turn this on and a file can belong to several folders at once - dragging adds it without removing it from the others, like tagging. One copy of the file, many folders. Pro

1. Switch on Settings → General → Multiple folders per file.
2. Drag a file onto a folder - a toast confirms “Added N items” and the file stays in any folder it was already in. (Dropping on Uncategorized still removes from all.)
3. Open a file’s details and use the folder checklist: tick to add, untick to remove. Sidebar counts update immediately.
4. While viewing a folder, select files and click Remove from “{folder}” to take them out of just that folder.

Keep the folders you open most at your fingertips. Pin a folder and it jumps to a Pinned group at the very top of the sidebar - one click away no matter how deep it lives in the tree. Pins are saved per user, so your shortcuts are yours alone. Pro

1. Right-click a folder in the sidebar and choose Pin to top.
2. It appears in the Pinned group above your folder tree. Clicking a pinned row filters the library to that same folder.
3. To remove a shortcut, right-click the pinned folder and choose Unpin. The folder itself is untouched - only your shortcut goes away.

On a site with several contributors, give each person their own private corner of the library. With per-user folders on, everyone except administrators sees only the folders they created and only their own uploads. Pro

1. Switch on Settings → General → Per-user folders.
2. Each non-admin user now sees a sidebar containing just their own folders. Other people’s folders are invisible everywhere: the tree, the media modal, the Manage Folders table.
3. Uncategorized changes meaning slightly: it now means “my uploads that are not in any of my folders”.

Two tabs shape how the sidebar looks. Appearance is free and controls sizing; Display is Pro and swaps the whole palette.

Appearance (free)

Settings → Appearance tunes the sidebar to your taste: folder icon size and folder text size for a denser or roomier tree, and four corner-radius controls (search box, buttons, row hover, and the sidebar box itself) for anything from fully square to pill shaped.

Display themes Pro

Settings → Display picks the sidebar’s visual style. Each card shows a live preview tile, so you can see the difference before saving.

Hand a whole folder to someone in one file. Right-click a folder → Download packages its files into a ZIP, keeping the subfolder structure inside the archive. Pro

1. Right-click a folder in the sidebar and choose Download.
2. Confirm what to include. Small folders stream straight to your browser; bigger ones are built in the background so nothing times out.
3. Background builds show a progress tray in the bottom-right corner. When it finishes, the tray offers the download link.

Two files with the same name in the same folder are kept apart in the archive as photo.jpg and photo (2).jpg, so nothing is silently overwritten.

A share link turns a folder into a public download URL. Send it to a client and they download the whole folder as a ZIP - no login needed. You control expiry, password, and can revoke any time. Pro

1. Right-click a folder and choose Share link.
2. Set an optional Label, an Expiry (1 / 7 / 30 days or Never), and an optional Password.
3. Click Create link and use the Copy button to grab the URL.

Recipients see a clean, branded download page (not your theme, not wp-admin). The ZIP is built on first open and cached; if you change the folder’s contents it rebuilds automatically next time. Manage every link you’ve made under Settings → Shared links (status, downloads, revoke, delete).

The Folder Gallery block puts a folder’s images on any page or post. Pick a folder once; the block stays in sync - add a file to the folder later and it appears in the gallery automatically, no editing the page. Pro

1. In the block editor, click + and search for Folder Gallery.
2. In the block’s Source panel, pick a folder (regular, smart, or one used for multi-folder targets) and optionally Include subfolders.
3. Tune Layout (Grid / Masonry / Justified, columns, gap), Images (size, caption, order), and Links & lightbox, then publish.

The post-side companion to the gallery. Where Folder Gallery shows a media folder’s images, Folder Posts shows a post, page or product folder’s published items as a grid or list of cards. File a post into the folder later and its card appears on its own, with no need to edit the page again. Pro

1. In the block editor, click + and search for Folder Posts.
2. In the Source panel, pick a folder. The list groups folders under their post-type label (Posts, Pages, Products) and indents them to match your tree. Turn on Include subfolders to pull in nested folders too.
3. Choose Grid (1 to 6 columns) or List (image beside text), set the gap, and pick which parts of each card to show.

The Document Library block shows a folder’s files as a tidy front-end list - file-type icon, size, date and a download button per row - and lets visitors browse into subfolders right on the page, with a breadcrumb to climb back up. Ideal for resource hubs, downloads pages and product documentation. Pro

1. In the block editor, click + and search for Document Library.
2. In the Source panel pick the folder to show, and choose which columns (icon, size, date, download) to display.
3. Set the order and the pagination style - numbered pages, a Load more button, or show everything - then publish.

No block editor? Use the shortcode

On classic-editor posts, in a text widget, or anywhere a page builder accepts shortcodes, drop in the [content_explorer_document_library] shortcode instead. It renders the exact same library as the block. The only required attribute is the folder’s ID (hover a folder in the sidebar - it shows in the tooltip, or read it from the URL when the folder is selected).

[content_explorer_document_library folder="123"]

[content_explorer_document_library folder="123"
    layout="grid" per_page="24" pagination="loadmore"
    orderby="date" order="desc"
    subfolders="no" download="no"]

The same folder tree can organize your other content. Turn it on for Posts, Pages, WooCommerce Products, or any public post type, and that type’s list screen grows a folder sidebar. Pro

1. Go to Settings → Integrations and tick the post types you want folders for under Folders for post types.
2. Open that type’s list (e.g. Posts → All Posts). A folder sidebar appears; click a folder to filter the list.
3. File content by dragging a row onto a folder, or tick rows and use the Move to folder bulk action.

If your site uses Advanced Custom Fields, Content Explorer adds a Folder field type so editors can pick one of your folders inside a field group - on a post, page, product, term, or options page. Your template then reads that choice. Pro

1. In Custom Fields → Field Groups, add a field and set its type to Folder (Content Explorer) (under Relational).
2. Configure Folder type, Return value (Folder ID or Folder object), multiple, and allow null.
3. Editors pick a folder wherever the group appears; read it in your template with get_field().

Show every image in the chosen folder (return value Folder ID):

$folder_id = get_field( 'gallery_folder' );

if ( $folder_id && function_exists( 'content_explorer_get_attachments_in_folder' ) ) {
    foreach ( content_explorer_get_attachments_in_folder( $folder_id ) as $image ) {
        echo wp_get_attachment_image( $image->ID, 'large' );
    }
}

See the template helpers reference for content_explorer_get_attachments_in_folder().

Hours of filing is worth protecting. The Backups tab takes snapshots of your folder organization, on a schedule or on demand, and can put any of them back. Pro

1. Open Settings → Backups. Turn on automatic backups and pick a cadence (every 6, 12 or 24 hours, or weekly). The card shows a countdown to the next run.
2. Use Back up now any time you are about to reorganize something big.
3. Set Keep last N snapshots (up to 100) and older ones are pruned for you after each new write.
4. To go back, pick a row and click Restore. You type restore snapshot to confirm.

Each row is labelled Auto, Manual or Pre-restore so the history is easy to scan, and Download .json saves a copy off-site.

Pro features unlock once this site is activated with the key from your purchase. One key covers a set number of sites, depending on the plan you bought.

1. Open Content Explorer → Settings → License.
2. Paste your license key and click Activate. The panel then shows the plan, whether it is a yearly or lifetime license, and when it renews.
3. Moving the site, or retiring it? Click Deactivate first to free the seat for another site.

On a WordPress multisite network every site gets its own independent folder tree. Folders, smart folders, share links, backups and settings created on one site are invisible on the next, the same way each site has its own posts and media.

• Network-activate the plugin and every existing site is set up in one pass. Any site added later is set up automatically when it is created.
• Or activate per site, and only that site gets a folder tree. The rest of the network stays untouched.
• Settings are per site too, so one site can run Smart Folders while the next has them off.
• Deleting a site cleans up its folder data with it; nothing is left behind.

Need the technical details (REST API, hooks, database schema)? See the technical documentation.