Pixalty Media Explorer

Description

Pixalty Media Explorer adds a virtual folder layer to the WordPress media library. It keeps files in their normal WordPress upload locations while giving administrators a faster way to organize, search, move, and reuse media.

Current features:

  • Hierarchical virtual folders for media attachments.
  • Dedicated manager under the WordPress Media menu.
  • Drag files into folders.
  • Drag local files into the manager to upload them into the current folder.
  • Drag one or many folders into another folder.
  • Folder colors.
  • Create, rename, delete, and move folders.
  • Folders-first explorer view, with subfolders shown in the main file area.
  • Back and forward folder navigation.
  • Gallery view and list view.
  • Click and Ctrl-click selection in the sidebar and main window.
  • Sort folders and files inside the manager.
  • Filter the manager by file type.
  • Right-click context menu in the sidebar and main window with New Folder, Rename, Cut, Paste, Delete, Change color, and Download.
  • Built-in attachment editor for title, alt text, caption, description, and folder assignment.
  • Assign files through the WordPress media modal.
  • Media Library list filter and folder column.
  • Media modal folder filter for WooCommerce product editors and page builders that use the WordPress media modal.
  • Folder selector on attachment edit screens.
  • Download a folder as a ZIP file when ZipArchive is available.
  • SVG upload support for administrators with in-place sanitization.
  • Front-end gallery shortcode with local lightbox: [pixalty_gallery folder=”123″ columns=”3″].
  • Front-end document library shortcode: [pixalty_document_library folder=”123″].
  • Best-effort folder sync for translated media attachments in WPML and Polylang.

Pixalty Media Explorer is an original implementation by Pixalty. It is designed to solve the same broad media-organization problem as popular folder plugins while avoiding proprietary code, copied assets, copied UI artwork, or third-party branding.

Shortcode

Use this shortcode to display image files from a folder:

[pixalty_gallery folder="123" columns="3" size="medium_large" link="file" limit="60"]

Attributes:

  • folder: Required folder term ID.
  • columns: Number of columns from 1 to 8.
  • size: WordPress image size.
  • link: file or attachment.
  • limit: Maximum number of images, up to 100.

Use this shortcode to display a browsable document library:

[pixalty_document_library folder="123" limit="100" include_children="yes" show_images="no" order="title_asc"]

Attributes:

  • folder: Required folder term ID.
  • limit: Maximum number of documents, up to 300.
  • include_children: yes or no.
  • show_images: yes or no.
  • order: title_asc, title_desc, date_asc, or date_desc.

Compatibility

Pixalty Media Explorer stores folders as a private attachment taxonomy and does not move physical upload files. Existing URLs, WooCommerce product images, Elementor media selections, Divi media selections, and normal WordPress content references continue to use the standard WordPress attachment system.

The plugin adds a media folder filter to the WordPress media modal. Page builders and WooCommerce screens that use the standard media modal can browse by folder.

For multilingual sites, Pixalty Media Explorer attempts to sync folder assignment across translated attachment records when WPML or Polylang APIs are available.

Privacy

Pixalty Media Explorer does not contact external services, load third-party assets, or track users. All folder, gallery, document library, SVG sanitization, and ZIP download features run locally inside WordPress.

Notes

Folders are virtual. Moving files between folders does not move files on disk and does not change existing media URLs.

ZIP export requires PHP’s ZipArchive extension.

SVG uploads are restricted to administrators by default and are sanitized before storage. Sites can change the capability with the pixalty_media_explorer_svg_upload_capability filter.

Screenshots

Installation

  1. Upload the plugin folder to /wp-content/plugins/.
  2. Activate Pixalty Media Explorer from the Plugins screen.
  3. Open Media Explorer from the WordPress Media menu.

Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

Contributors & Developers

“Pixalty Media Explorer” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Changelog

1.1.0

  • Added the Pixalty icon to the admin manager header.
  • Added flat two-tone SVG folder icons with darker same-color tabs across sidebar, grid, and list views.

1.0.0

  • Renamed the public plugin branding to Pixalty Media Explorer.
  • Renamed the root manager view to Files & Folders.
  • Improved folder icons with a more recognizable tabbed folder shape.
  • Enabled toolbar Rename for a single selected folder or file in the root view.
  • Moved the manager under the WordPress Media menu and compacted the explorer toolbar with icon-only actions.

0.3.9

  • Made Files & Folders the default manager home view.
  • Removed the separate catch-all explorer view.
  • Show root folders inside the Files & Folders view for a more file-explorer-like layout.

0.3.8

  • Improved file explorer drag-and-drop reliability with mouse, touch, and pointer fallback handling.
  • Added small multi-select checkboxes to explorer grid and list items.

0.3.7

  • Removed colored folder row borders from list view.

0.3.6

  • Fixed drag-and-drop uploads so files are assigned to the selected media folder during upload.

0.3.5

  • Removed folder card top color strips from gallery view.

0.3.4

  • Added a delete mode choice for folders, allowing files to be kept or deleted with the folder.
  • Preserved original filenames inside downloaded folder ZIP files unless duplicate names require a suffix.
  • Added file-type filtering to the manager toolbar.
  • Added drag-and-drop uploads into the current folder or dropped-on folder.
  • Added active folder color to the main window top border.

0.3.3

  • Tightened list view spacing and enlarged list thumbnails.
  • Improved folder icons in the sidebar, grid view, and list view.
  • Added folder-colored top borders in the main pane.

0.3.2

  • Fixed folder file counts for attachment folders by calculating counts from media relationships instead of relying on WordPress term counts.

0.3.1

  • Improved context menu positioning and compact styling.
  • Added thumbnails to list view rows.
  • Replaced the native browser color input with an in-app palette and hex color picker.

0.3.0

  • Added folders-first explorer rendering in the main pane.
  • Added back and forward navigation.
  • Added gallery/list view switching with file details in list view.
  • Added click and Ctrl-click selection across sidebar and main pane.
  • Added main-window context menus.
  • Replaced native WordPress edit links with the built-in attachment editor.
  • Removed raster image processing tools from the manager.

0.2.0

  • Added SVG upload sanitization.
  • Added local gallery lightbox.
  • Added bulk folder moving, context menu actions, and folder sorting.
  • Added document library shortcode.
  • Added media modal folder filtering for broader WooCommerce and page-builder compatibility.
  • Added WPML and Polylang attachment folder sync hooks.

0.1.0

  • Initial development build.