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Running a WordPress site can be full of uncertainty at times, but one thing you know you’ll always need is a good way to add and manage media.
Every WordPress user needs to frequently insert images, videos, audio files, gifs, charts, and graphs from the Media Library.
By default, WordPress provides sufficient functionality for personal blogging use. However, when your site grows and requires teamwork, you’ll need more than the basic options.
So in this article, I’ve curated the best WordPress media manager plugins to help you handle many aspects such as media file organization, import/export, sort/filter, SEO boost, collaborated galleries, and more.
Media management plugins
The Media Library works fine for basic usage, but these plugins will supercharge it with new features.
The addition of a feature like categories and hierarchy make the Media Library so much easier to use. For photographers or prolific bloggers, this will massively improve your workflow.
Let’s dive in.
1. FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders & File Manager
Plugin Description
FileBird is a WordPress media library plugin to help you organize thousands of files in folders and subfolders.
Upon activation, this plugin adds a new left sidebar to your media library dashboard with two default folders: All Files and Uncategorized. Then you’re free to create new folders, give them descriptive names, and drag and drop files into these folders.
FileBird is a set-and-forget plugin, which means there are no further settings to configure. Everything has its own place. That’s what drives FileBird to bring such a professional environment to WordPress.
You won’t have to spend too much time looking for a specific image because you now have many ordering options to sort files and folders.
This plugin also offers a Gutenberg block for inserting a media folder in the FileBird gallery block. And if you want to publish a list of PDF files or other document formats, check out FileBird document library free plugin.
Features:
- Smart context menu
- Drag and drop folders from PC to WordPress
- Upload files directly to a selected folder
- Advanced sorting and filter
- Bulk select and move files fast
- Elegant drag-and-drop interface
- Each user role can have their own folders
Price:
FileBird offers a free version of FileBird Lite and a premium version with 6-month support for $25.
2. CatFolders
Plugin Description
If you are looking for a good media organizer plugin to look through what’s grown into your massive WordPress media library folders over the years, check out the CatFolders plugin. It helps you better manage your media attachments and clean them up when needed.
This file manager plugin allows WordPress admins to control folder access permissions. You can set the folder structure as global, where everyone sees and accesses the same folder organization. Or set it as personal, where everyone can have their private folder structure.
Key features:
- Fully drag and drop to categorize files and folders.
- 10+ advanced methods of sorting files and folders.
- Folder access permissions: View, add new, and edit folders.
- Quick import from other media folders and categories plugins.
- Smooth and modern user interface.
- Lightweight and fast performance.
CatFolders offers unlimited-site licenses and pricing plans suitable for freelancers and web development agencies.
3. Filester – File Manager Pro
Plugin Description
Filester comes in a super clean ad-free interface yet offers premium features.
This plugin is a file manager built right inside your WordPress dashboard that operates like FTP. If you’re managing multiple sites, you will find it so convenient to make changes and save code tweaks without switching among different windows/apps.
Editing images with advanced editors makes it very easy for you to enhance media files right on WP dashboard.
But wait, there’s more.
Filester adds more user role options for those websites which rely heavily on teamwork or collaboration partnership. With this file manager pro, you can set critical files hidden to specific user roles, set maximum upload file size to ensure all uploaded media to be properly compressed and optimized, set allowed file extensions, etc.
Features:
- Set the root path for each user role
- Edit media and save changes without having to download files
- Built-in media editors
- Download your entire media library for a full backup
Price:
Filester is free of charge.
4. WP File Download
Plugin Description
WP File Download is a file manager addon to handle another aspect of WordPress media files. This plugin is built for those sites which offer file download, giveaway ebooks, and other clickbait products.
With WP File Download, it’ll be easier for subscribers to download the file or non-subscribers to access the materials. There are many options to help you smoothen the process such as File preview, Remote file download, File versioning, Statistics, Bulk download, User file repository, etc.
Features:
- Quick configuration wizard
- Category section: create a new category, rename or delete it
- Drag and drop to upload files
- Filter: Modified date, Version, Hits, etc.
- Add Download block to page/post
5. Media File Renamer
Plugin Description
This plugin helps make the process of optimizing your file names completely automatic. You have many options for renaming media files based on their file titles, attached post title, or ALT text.
File Renamer pro version is the most powerful plugin in the market for all SEO-driven WordPress webmasters. It’s very easy to enable/disable bulk rename, auto-renaming, or manual rename.
Additional features:
- Advanced transliteration
- Numbered filenames
- SQL logging
- Sync metadata with the title of the filename
6. Enable Media Replace
Plugin Description
This is a useful code script to allow media file replacing right in WordPress Media Library so that you don’t need to locate the page/post that the media is attached to.
With this media replacement plugin enabled, the name and type of the file you are about to upload will replace the old file. All links pointing to the current file will be substituted with the newly uploaded file. This is a big time-saver for larger websites that rely heavily on media content. And if your website has many media files which need to be updated once in a while such as screenshots, screencasts, new designs, infographic, statistics chart, etc. this plugin is a must for you.
7. WordPress Media Library Folders
Plugin Description
Media Library Folders for WordPress add options to label and organize media files with a drag-and-drop interface. This plugin replaces the default WordPress hierarchy of year- and month-based categorization.
There are also several powerful add-ons around this plugin to help you upgrade to more advanced settings or offload your Media Library to Amazon S3 or DigitalOcean Spaces object storage.
Features:
- Button bar under breadcrumb navigation
- MaxGalleria gallery available
- Enable overriding the image SEO default settings
- Hidden folder
8. WordPress Multisite Shared Media
Plugin Description
This plugin provides a simple way to share media files among different network sites for multisite administrators. This helps make all file uploads available across the network so you don’t have to store the same files on a multilingual WordPress resource.
It also works magic for featured images and WooCommerce product image galleries.
Features:
- Reduce disk space usage
- Files delivered from their own site’s domain/subdomain
- Automatic cleanup of deleted media files
- Filter for WooCommerce Multistore compatibility function
- Auto sync media like images, documents, music, videos, etc.
Which media manager is best?
The above are my most useful plugins to enhance WordPress Media Library uploads. Each plugin is beneficial in distinctive tasks, and when using them, you won’t have to do everything manually.
I hope you can find from this list your favourite media manager plugin to make WordPress admin’s work a much more enjoyable one.
If you want a great theme for displaying your images and videos, check these multimedia templates:
The 5 Best Multimedia WordPress Themes
If we’ve missed any quality plugin, please share it with us in the comments box below.
