Looking for a simple, step-by-step guide on uploading a PDF to WordPress?
Whether you’re offering downloadable resources, sharing important documents, or adding PDF content to your posts, I’ll show you how to upload PDFs to WordPress.
I’ll also show you a bonus method for uploading PDFs using a plugin, plus how to monitor how many people are downloading (or viewing) your PDFs. These are crucial insights that you don’t want to miss out on!
Walkthrough: How To Upload a PDF to WordPress
First, I’ll go over uploading a PDF to the WordPress media library. After that, I’ll show you a cool plugin you could try instead if you want your PDFs embedded in a more visual way.
Step 1: Upload Your PDF to the Media Library
First, open your WordPress admin and hover over Media, then click Add New:
Now, you can choose to either drag your PDF file into the upload box or click the Select Files button to choose the file from your computer:
You’ll know the upload is complete when you see your file below the upload box:
Step 2: Embed Your PDF in a Page or Post
Now that your PDF is added to your media library, you can embed it wherever you want it to go on your site. Whether you’re adding it to a page or post, the instructions are the same.
Did you want to just link to your PDF instead of embed it? You can jump to my instructions for linking to your PDF file.
To get started, open the page or post you want your PDF file to be on. Navigate to the spot where you want it, then click the Plus icon or type a backslash “/” to choose a block:
Then, search for and choose the File block:
Now, you can either upload your file here or choose it from your media library. I’ve already uploaded it, so I’ll choose it from the media library:
In the future, if you want to add your PDF to the library right here in this step, go ahead and use the Upload button.
Choose your PDF and click Select:
Your PDF will appear on your page, and you’ll have some options for how you want it to appear. If you were looking to embed your PDF in WordPress, you can turn on the Show inline embed toggle, and choose how many pixels tall you want your embed to be.
Also in the sidebar, you can choose if you want the PDF to open in a new tab, where the link should go, and if there should be a Download button.
Step 3: Link to Your PDF Anywhere in WordPress
If you want to create a text link or a button that links to your PDF instead, here’s how to do that.
Head back to your Media library and click on your PDF. On the right side, you’ll see the File URL. This is the URL you can link to anywhere on your WordPress site to open your PDF.
You can also search for your PDF whenever you create a link on your site.
For example, here I’m creating a button widget for my site’s sidebar that will let visitors download the PDF. If you start typing the name of your file into the URL bar, you should be able to find it and click on it to insert your PDF URL:
BONUS Step 4: Track PDF Downloads Effortlessly
Now that you have a PDF available for download on your site, wouldn’t it be cool if you could see how many of your visitors are downloading it?
You’re in luck! You can quickly and easily track PDF downloads using MonsterInsights.
MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It allows you to easily connect your WordPress site with Google Analytics so you can view all the data that matters most right in your WordPress dashboard.
Plus, with the click of a button, you can set up sophisticated tracking features such as event tracking, downloads tracking, eCommerce tracking, form tracking, custom dimension tracking, outbound link tracking, media (video) tracking, and more.
All you have to do is install MonsterInsights and the plugin will automatically start tracking your PDF downloads. Use the free Lite version to track your downloads in Google Analytics, or grab the Plus license and up to get a Top Downloads report in your WordPress dashboard:
Get started with MonsterInsights now!
How to Add a PDF in WordPress Using PDF Embedder
As promised, now I’ll show you a plugin that I really like for managing PDFs on WordPress.
PDF Embedder is an awesome WordPress plugin for uploading and embedding PDFs anywhere on your site.
It gives you a lot more control over how your embedded PDF looks and works for your visitors. Even the free Lite version of PDF Embedder provides you with a nice PDF viewer with navigation buttons, zoom functionality, and more so that users can see your PDF without looking at it in a clunky iframe.
Note that you’ll need the Plus license or above if you want viewers to be able to download your document, and if you want to track views and downloads inside the plugin’s dashboard.
Once installed, you can choose the PDF Embedder block inside your WordPress page or post to embed your PDF and choose how it looks and functions using the settings on the right:
Get started with PDF Embedder now.
That’s it!
I hope you found this PDF upload tutorial helpful. Want to learn how to track more than your downloads? Check out How to Track Link Clicks in Google Analytics 4 and WordPress.
Not using MonsterInsights yet? Get started today!
Finally, stay connected with us on YouTube for the latest Google Analytics and WordPress tips and tutorials.