Download Shortcode

Allows you to wrap file links in a shortcode that will force a download when clicked

Author:Drew Jaynes (DrewAPicture) (profile at wordpress.org)
WordPress version required:3.0
WordPress version tested:4.2.0
Plugin version:1.1
Added to WordPress repository:29-07-2012
Last updated:21-04-2015
Warning! This plugin has not been updated in over 2 years. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.
Rating, %:90
Rated by:11
Plugin URI:http://www.werdswords.com
Total downloads:17 330
plugin download
Click to start download

Have you ever linked a PDF, an mp3, image, or other kind of file because you wanted to let people download it but instead it just loads in the browser? This plugin introduces a [download] shortcode which allows you to output links that will tell the browser to download those files!

Usage

WITH 'pretty permalinks' enabled in Settings > Permalinks:

The following example would display as:

[download label="My Link"]http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/my_song.mp3[/download]

The following example would display as:

[download]http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/my_song.mp3[/download]

WITHOUT 'pretty permalinks' enabled in Settings > Permalinks:

The following example would display as:

[download label="My Other Link"]http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/my_other_song.mp3[/download]

The following example would display as:

[download]http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/my_other_song.mp3[/download]

Other Uses

If you wanted to use this in a php template, you could call something like:

<?php echo do_shortcode( '[download label="My Label"]http://example.com/wp-content/uploads/my_song.mp3[/download]' ); ?>

Important notes:

  1. If your server permissions allow it, the plugin will automatically attempt to copy force-download.php to your /wp-content/ directory.
  2. If your server permissions DO NOT allow it, you will need to manually upload the file located in /download-shortcode/wp-content/force-download.php to your /wp-content/ directory.
  3. By default, forced-download links only support files located in your uploads directory. More about this in Other Notes.