How to Upload PDFs to WordPress

Are you having trouble uploading a PDF file to your WordPress website? Worry less; this guide provides numerous ways to upload PDFs to WordPress.

Option 1: Upload PDFs via the Media Library

One way to upload a PDF file on your WordPress website is through the WordPress media library. However, you first need to upload the PDF file to the WordPress media library before displaying the file on your website.

Hence, the first sub-section below will teach you how to upload a PDF file to the WordPress media library. Then, in the second sub-section, you will learn how to display the uploaded PDF file on your WordPress posts/pages.

Step 1: Upload PDFs to the Media Library

1. Firstly, log in to your WordPress website backend using an administrator account. Next, hover your mouse cursor on Media on the left pane, then select Add New from the displayed options.

2. Following that, click the Select Files button on the Upload New Media page. Consequently, the Open window should open.

3. In the Open window, navigate to the location where your preferred PDF file is saved and double-click it to upload. For instance, I want to upload the “1. Quick Intro to Content Writing” PDF file to my WordPress media library.

Step 2: Display PDFs Uploaded to Media Library in Posts/Pages

1. After logging in to your WordPress backend with admin access, open the page or post to which you want to display the PDF. To do that, click Posts or Pages on the left pane of the WordPress backend, then select the title of your preferred post or page.

2. When the post/page opens, click the Add block icon in the area of the page/post you want to display the PDF. Then, input “file” in the search field and select File from the search result.

3. When the File block activates, click the Media Library button.

4. Then, on the Select or Upload Media window, select the PDF that you wish to display on the page/post in the Media Library tab. For this illustration, I want to display the “1-Quick-Intro-to-Content-Writing” PDF.

5. Finally, click the blue Select button at the bottom right of the page to display the PDF.

Option 2: Upload PDFs Using the File Block

Do you know you can also upload a PDF file directly to a WordPress page or post using the File block? To accomplish that, observe the step-by-step procedures and screenshot images below.

1. Access your WordPress backend with an admin account, then open the page/post to which you want to upload the PDF. Basically, click Pages or Posts on the left pane of the WordPress backend and select the title of your preferred post or page.

2. After that, click the Add block icon in the area of the page/post you want to upload the PDF file. Next, type “file” in the search field that appears and select File from the search result.

3. Following that, click the blue Upload button in the File block. By doing that, the Open window should launch.

4. Finally, in the Open window, navigate to the location the PDF file you want to upload is saved, select the file, and click Open. For example, I want to upload the “1. Quick Intro to Content Writing” PDF file, as shown in the screenshot below.

Option 3: Upload PDFs Using a Plugin

Interestingly, you can also upload a PDF file to WordPress using a plugin. Although there are various plugins for uploading a PDF file, I recommend the PDF Embedder plugin.

Unlike the traditional way of uploading PDF files to WordPress, this plugin gives you complete control of how the PDF looks on your site. So, follow the subsequent sub-sections to learn how to install this plugin on WordPress and use it to upload PDFs.

Step 1: Install the PDF Embedder Plugin

1. Log into your WordPress website backend with an administrator account. Then, hover the mouse cursor on Plugins on the left pane and click Add New.

2. Following that, input “pdf embedder” in the search field.

3. After doing that, click the Install Now button under the PDF Embedder plugin from the search result.

4. When the PDF Embedder plugin has been installed, click the blue Activate button to activate the plugin.

Step 2: Upload PDFs With the PDF Embedder Plugin

1. Log into your WordPress backend with an admin account and open the page/post to which you wish to upload a PDF file. Practically, click Pages or Posts on the left pane of the WordPress backend and select the post or page title.

2. Next, click the Add block icon in the area on the post or page you wish to upload the PDF file. Then, type “pdf embedder” in the search field and select PDF Embedder from the search result.

3. Consequently, the PDF Embedder block should appear on your WordPress page or post. Hence, click the Click here to Open Media Library to select PDF button in the PDF Embedder block.

4. After doing that, select the PDF file you want to upload on the Select or Upload Media page.

5. Then, click the Select button at the bottom right corner of the page to upload the selected PDF file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

PDF is one of the many file formats that WordPress supports. However, not every WordPress website owner knows how to upload a PDF file.

Gladly, this comprehensive guide provided various methods to upload this type of file in WordPress. Essentially, we learned how to perform this task through the WordPress media library.

This guide also taught us how to upload a PDF file directly to a post/page on WordPress using the File block. Not just that, I also provided a method that involves using a plugin to upload a PDF file in WordPress.

Honestly, with this guide, uploading a PDF file to WordPress has never been easier.

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