How to create a file upload form in WordPress

By default, WordPress doesn’t come with support for frontend file uploads or forms out of the box. This is because, most people use WordPress for uploading their own content to the web and not collecting information, especially files from their website visitors.

But since WordPress is extensible, you can easily add these features to your website by using a simple form builder plugin – although you should keep in mind that adding a feature like this can make or break your site if the plugin is not properly coded. That’s why you should always go for plugins offered by trusted developers – who have a considerable user base and offer the best support experience out there.

With that in mind, I would suggest you go with WPForms, the best WordPress forms plugin out there. WPForms comes from the same stable as OptinMonster and MonsterInsights. So, you know that you’re in trusted hands.

Using WPForms, you can easily create a file upload form by adding a form upload field to your WordPress forms. Apart from this, WPForms comes with a whole lot of features that can improve your website’s functionality. I have covered everything about it in detail in my WPForms review. Be sure to check it out!

Why create a file upload form in WordPress

Now, there can be one or many reasons why you might want to create a file upload form on your WordPress site. Whether it’s for allowing people to submit their resume for a job application (Word documents and PDFs), spreadsheets or presentations for your business requirements (Excel sheets and PPTs), or screenshots/screen recordings for support requests (images/videos), you can easily collect them all on your site using WPForms’s modern file upload interface.

NOTE: You need a WPForms Pro license to take advantage of WPForm’s file upload feature. So, make sure you go through their features page and evaluate if it is the right choice for you before making a purchase. And if you’re not satisfied with WPForms Pro after purchasing it, you can always get a full refund – thanks to their 14-days money-back guarantee.

How to create a file upload form in WordPress

Install and activate WPForms

Download the WPForms Pro zip file from your WPForms account and upload it manually to your WordPress site. Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you need to verify your license key by navigating to the WPForms Settings page inside your WordPress dashboard and pasting your license key in the provided box.

Create new form

Now, it’s time to create your first file upload form on WordPress. Go to WPForms –> Add New page to create a new form using WPForms and give your form a recognizable name.

Choose file upload form template

Then, scroll down to the Additional Templates section, search for ‘File Upload Form’ and click on the template to import it directly to your new form. If you’re not able to find it, make sure you have installed the Form Templates Pack add-on. It’s as simple as going to your WPForms Addons page, searching for the addon and installing it.

Add/remove required fields

Now that you have imported the file upload form template, you can add or remove fields from your form as per your requirements. Adding a new field to your form is as simple as dragging it from the available fields (Standard/Fancy) and dropping it into your form. You can also click on the existing form fields to make changes if you like.

Configure file upload field options

To configure the file upload field options, just click on the file upload field and you will be provided with a number of options to change the label, description, allowed file extensions, maximum allowed file size, style, etc. Over here, you can also change the file upload style to Classic and choose whether you want to save the uploaded files to your WPForms folder or to your WordPress media library. Once you are done customizing the form, click on the Save button in the top right corner of the form editor.

Add form to website

You can now add the file upload form to your website. Just go to the page where you want the form to be displayed using the WordPress editor, insert the WPForms block and select the form which you just created in the above step. Don’t forget to update/publish the page.

View the files

To view the uploaded files, go to the WPForms Entries page and select the file upload form from the dropdown menu. From there, you can just click on the file names to view it or download it to your computer. But if you want to store and organize it in a better way, you can use their Zapier add-on to save the files automatically to Google Drive, Dropbox or any of the other cloud storage providers supported by Zapier.

You have now successfully created a file upload form on WordPress. If you found this post helpful, please do share it with your friends and followers on Facebook & Twitter! Also, let me know in the comments section below! 👇