How to insert a link to a file in WordPress

This guide will show you how to upload a file to WordPress, then insert a link to the file into a page or post. Since images are automatically handled simply by uploading and inserting them into the page or post, this guide focuses on other file types like PDFs.

What you will need

1. Your file
2. To be logged in to your WordPress admin panel with the admin menu visible to the left

1. Basics of file uploading

To get started with uploading your file, head to the page or post on which you wish to place a link to the file. This is done by going to Pages or Posts in the admin menu on the left, then selecting the page or post from the list.

Place your cursor in the main text editor wherever you would like the link to appear, then press the Add Media button that is found to the upper left of the text editing toolbar (just below the title of the page).

Either drag and drop your new file from your computer to the Insert Media pop-up window or press the blue “Upload Files” link in the upper left corner, then click the Select Files button to be prompted with a file browser for your computer.

If you’ve previously uploaded this file, then you don’t need to upload it again! To the right of the Upload Files link is Media Library which contains all previously uploaded files. Find your file by scrolling through or by using the Search box in the upper right and click on it to select it.

2. Adjust file info

Once your file has been uploaded you will see it in the Media Library. Click on it to select it and it will be outlined in blue and have a check mark in the upper right corner.

On the right side, look for the section that says ATTACHMENT DETAILS. To the right of Title is the name of the file you uploaded. WordPress will use this text to create the link, so be sure to put whatever text you want the link to use in here. 

Below Attachment Details is ATTACHMENT DISPLAY SETTINGS. You may need to scroll down to see it. It should default to “Link to: Media File” but if that’s not the case, be sure to click on the drop down menu and select “Media File”.

3. Insert the file & save the page or post

Press the blue “Insert into page” button in the lower right corner to complete the process of inserting the file.

Don’t forget to Update the page when you’re done, by pressing the blue Update button normally found in the upper right under the “Publish” box.