Explore Media Library in WordPress

Welcome back to WordPress

We've now learned how to embed video and add images to our site but you can also upload other file types such as PDFs or even Word documents. When creating a new page or post, you can use the drag and drop multi file uploader to add a new image, video file, audio file, or other types of media. But you can also use the Media Library to edit, delete, or view media files that have previously been uploaded to your site.

You can view your Media Library in list view as shown here or in grid view, and you can filter media by type or by date. I'd like to upload a PDF version of the Stellar Widgets catalog which I can use later in a post or a page. I'll click Add New to open the drag and drop uploader. Now if the drag and drop uploader doesn't work for you, click the Select Files button to open the standard upload screen and then navigate to the files you want to upload.

WordPress will upload the PDF file, adding it to our Media Library. We can edit the title, caption and description of the file and now our file is ready for use in a future page or post. In the list view the new file indicates that it is unattached, which means that it has not yet been used in a page or post. When a file has been used in a particular page or post, we'll see that listed here with a link so that we can view the file in place. Now to attach this file to a post, click the Attach link, and then choose the page or post you wish to attach the file to. Now, we can simply click the link to this page to open it in the editor. Next, place the cursor where you'd like the new file to appear, and click the Add Media button. From the Media Library tab you can filter the list to only show files that have been attached to this page. Select the file you wish to insert and if you like, you can further edit the details in the Attachment Details pane on the right. When you're happy with your settings, click Insert Into Page and as you can see, WordPress has created a text link that our visitors can click to download the PDF file. You can also perform minor edits to images you've uploaded to your Media Library. Click the Edit Image button to crop, rotate, or flip an image, or access the scaling and crop tools we covered in an earlier video. You can also edit the Caption, Alternative Text, and Description for the file. Click the Update button to save your changes and now this image is ready for use in a page or post. Most often, you'll add images and files while you're creating a new page or post, but the Media Library provides a quick way to view and edit all the files you've uploaded to your site so far.