Display a folder of public downloads on your website without creating each link by hand. This lightweight WordPress plugin from Seven Creative turns files in your uploads folder into a linked list, a table or an image grid. It is useful for brochures, forms, reports, meeting minutes and other downloadable resources.
Add or remove files in the folder and the list updates when the page is regenerated. Files do not need to be imported into the WordPress Media Library. There are no settings screens, subscriptions, accounts or external services.
Using your hosting file manager or SFTP, create a folder inside your WordPress uploads directory. For example:
wp-content/uploads/downloads/
Upload the files you want to share into that folder. The plugin only reads files; it does not upload, move or delete them.
Use this plugin for public files only. It does not provide password protection or members-only downloads. Restricting access to the page does not, by itself, protect the linked files.
[sevencreative_files folder="downloads"]
In the Classic Editor, put the shortcode on its own line. In a page builder, use a shortcode widget.
The folder is always relative to your uploads directory. To list files in wp-content/uploads/reports/annual/, use folder="reports/annual". To list an existing monthly uploads folder, use its actual path, such as folder="2026/10". Do not include a full URL, server path or ../.
A table of PDF files, including file sizes and modified dates:
[sevencreative_files folder="downloads" types="pdf" format="table" show_date="true"]
A grid of linked images:
[sevencreative_files folder="gallery" format="images" show_size="false" prettyname="true"]
Image grids automatically exclude non-image formats. Use suitably sized images: the plugin does not generate smaller thumbnails.
Show the ten most recently modified PDF or Word documents:
[sevencreative_files folder="reports" types="pdf,docx" orderby="date" order="desc" limit="10"]
Only show filenames containing “annual”, excluding those containing “draft” or “internal”:
[sevencreative_files folder="reports" contains="annual" exclude="draft,internal"]
Text filters are case-insensitive and use the original filenames. You can sort by name, date or size, with order="asc" or order="desc". Date means the file's modification date.
title="Useful downloads" adds a title above the list.prettyname="true" replaces underscores and hyphens with spaces and removes the extension from displayed labels.removeextension="true" removes only the extension.show_size="false" hides file sizes.show_date="true" shows modified dates using your WordPress date settings.target="_blank" opens links in a new tab.empty_text="No downloads yet." sets the message for an empty list. Use empty_text="" to hide that message.limit="50" sets the maximum displayed results. The default is 100 and the maximum is 1,000.For example:
[sevencreative_files folder="downloads" types="pdf" title="Useful downloads" prettyname="true" show_size="false"]
The plugin supports common document, archive, image, audio and video extensions. The full list is in the included readme. Script files, hidden files, symbolic links and unsupported extensions are excluded. An image layout only shows image formats.
It lists one folder at a time without scanning subfolders. Folders with more than 10,000 entries are rejected, and no more than 1,000 results can be displayed. Use separate folders and pages for larger collections.
Files must exist locally on your web server. The plugin cannot list remote-only cloud storage. If a page cache or CDN is enabled, clear it after changing files so visitors see the updated list.
Install this plugin, then update your pages to use the new [sevencreative_files] shortcode and the options described above. Existing shortcodes are not converted automatically. Check each page before deactivating the previous plugin.
Folder paths must be relative to uploads. Use format="list" for a normal list or format="images" for an image grid. Regex filters, arbitrary server folders and custom HTML templates are not supported; use the simpler filename filters and provided layouts instead.
Provided by Seven Creative under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later. You may use, modify and redistribute it under those terms, preserving the applicable copyright and licence notices. There is no usage tracking or reporting.