Many websites need to showcase different information in various formats, one of them being PDFs. But how do you add a PDF to WordPress and how do you link to it so other people can read or download it? In this guide we will teach you how to add a pdf to WordPress, so let’s get started.

Adding PDF to WordPress media folder

If you have a PDF file you would like to add to your WordPress site you first need to head to “Media > Add New” from your WordPress admin dashboard.

To upload the PDF simply drag the PDF file to the upload media area or select and upload it to your WordPress. Once it’s done you can see it in your media and link it anywhere on your page or share a direct link to it.

Linking to the PDF

To link the PDF so users can access the file and download it or read it on their browser, click the PDF in the Media area and then click the “Copy to clipboard”. This will copy the direct URL of the file so users can access it once you either share or link to it somewhere on your page.

How to Embed PDF to WordPress page or post

If you wish to embed the PDF to your WordPress page or a post so it can be read directly on your site you can do it by first creating a new page or post, or by updating an old page or post. Then select and add the “File” block from WordPress Gutenberg blocks on your page or post.

After that simply load the PDF from your PC or from the media library and you should see the PDF as an embed on your page or post.

Don’t forget to publish or update your page or post to finish the job.

Making PDF to a purchasable product with WooCommerce

To sell your PDFs on your WordPress site, you are going to need WooCommerce installed and activated on your WordPress site. If you are not familiar with WooCommerce, you can follow our guide on “How To Set Up WooCommerce (Step-By-Step Guide)“.

If you have WooCommerce installed you can follow these steps:

1. Create a new product
2. Select the “Virtual” and “Downloadable” select boxes from the top
3. Give the product a price and name for the file that users are able to download.
4. Add the link to the file(s)
5. Update the product

Note – You can add as many downloadable files as you want to the same product. This is great when you are selling for example an album or a group of photos.

…and you are done. Now the PDF will be a simple product that users can add to their shopping cart and once they have finished the purchase with the confirmed payment they will be automatically emailed a link to their downloadable product. Which in this case is the PDF file.

Below you can see an example email with the link in the “Download” cell which the user can use to download the file.

Note – Direct link to the product is hidden so users can’t access and download it without this link. You can also limit the number of times the file can be downloaded in WooCommerce product settings.

Conclusion

Adding PDF files is a great way to share them with your users and thanks to the Media -gallery built-in WordPress you need no extra plugins to use it. To sell PDFs you can simply add WooCommerce to your WordPress to sell PDFs or other files.

Comment below if you liked this beginners guide and don’t forget to share it with others who might need help with adding PDF files to their WordPress sites.