How to update a media file in WordPress

If you’ve got documents, like a PDF or Word document on your WordPress website, at some point you may wish to update the document with a new version.

If you’re just looking to insert a new file on a page or post, check out this guide instead.

However, when you go to upload the new document, you’ll find that you are creating a whole new document in the media library, leaving the old one in place, meaning you then need to find all links pointing to the old document and update them with the new link! So how do we solve this?

Enter: the “Enable Media Replace” plugin.

Install the WordPress plugin, then head to “Media” in WordPress and search for your existing document in the library. Once found, click on it, and on the right side look for the “Replace” button and click that.

You will now be presented with the option to upload your replacement document. Once you’ve uploaded your document, you’ll find that the old document has been removed, and the new one put in its place with the same filename as before. This means all of your links to the old document will now automatically link to the new one.

Enjoy!