If you want to upload PDF files to your site but don’t know how to proceed, just keep reading this article. You will find the best way to go.

1. Upload PDF files in WordPress posts and pages.

It is such a simple method to upload a PDF file without using any plugin. If you are a WordPress user, you must be familiar with “Add Media” function. The way you upload a PDF file via this function is same as uploading an image to your posts and pages.

add media function

• Firstly, you open the post or page in which you want to upload the PDF file. Then, you can easily find the “Add Media” button and click on it to open a popup.

• Moving on, you just choose to “Select Files” or drag your PDF file to this popup. In this step, you can enter detail information such as Title, description, etc.

• Select “Insert into post” to add the PDF file to your post/page. And you’ve just finished uploading your PDF file to your site. It is as easy as a pie, right?

2. Using plugins

If you want to have nicer appearance of how your PDF files look like after uploading, you can use a plugin. There are lots of plugins can help you to do that.

Upload PDF files as attachments

To attach your PDF files to your site, why don’t you try using Custom Post Type Attachment plugin?

This plugin provides you with shortcodes in order to show your PDF files in any position on your post or page. Before using these shortcodes, you need to upload your PDF files to your post.

After activating this plugin, you go to Post section and open the post where PDF file is added to. In this post, you can easily find out “PDF Attachment” part in which you can upload more than one (up to 10 files) PDF files here.

custom pdf attachment

Next, you just add the shortcode to any position in your site. Here are 2 shortcodes you can use:

• Display all attachments with a single shortcode [pdf_all_attachments]

• Display Single attachment [pdf_attachment file=”file_number” name=”optional file_name”]

And then, just enjoy the fruit of your labor ;) With this plugin, you can attach your PDF to sidebar easily.

Upload and view PDF files

In case you want to show your PDF file in your post or page, using PDF Embedder will be the way you go. This plugin allows you to embed your PDF files straight into your site, just like adding images. Your PDFs will be automatically sized to their natural size and shape or you can specify width and the correct height will be generated.

To use this plugin, click "Add Media" from any page or post, just like adding an image, but drag and drop a PDF file instead.

When you insert into your post, it will appear in the editor as a ‘shortcode’ as follows:

[pdf-embedder url=”https://mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Plan-Summary.pdf”]

For more options, you can go to Settings -> PDF Embedder.

That’s 2 ways you can use to upload PDFs to your WordPress site. If you find this article useful, don’t hesitate to share it or leave your message in comment part.