How to Use the New WP Easy Uploader Plugin

July 16, 2008

By Cory Miller

By Jesse Petersen…

Are any of you tired of logging into FireFTP or your host’s admin panel to put a new plugin on your site or add a document for download? I sure am, and now there is a solution in the form of a plugin called WP Easy Uploader. Just in the last week alone on all of sites i manage, it has shaved about 45 minutes of logging in and archive extraction time. Before I get into the actual how-to, here is what I think is so great about this new plugin:

• no need to navigate to the correct folder within your installation(s)
• no need to extract every archive that has an acceptable folder structure – it does it for you
• simple updating tool for plugins or themes

Once you upload and activate the uploader (hopefully the last manually installed plugin you do), a new option appears under the Manage tab, Upload Files. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect for the layout and function of it, but I difiniitely think that it is as streamlined and functional as I could have hoped for.

Almost without saying, the first area of the plugin screen prompts you to enter where the file being uploaded currently resides: online or locally. One very nice advantage to this is to avoid clutter on your computer by copying the theme or plugin shortcut directly from the source.

The Destination area allows you to install the file or archive to your WordPress Upload (default /uploads), Plugin, Theme, or manual folder. The manual folder is from the level containing your first level WP files above the wp-admin, wp-content, etc. (e.g., images). As for the Plugin and Theme options, they are the absolute easiest way to install new themes and plugins, made even more powerful from the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin.

At the bottom of the uploader screen, the ultimate options about file handling are modified, such as how to handle duplicate file names and archives. The settings default to the view shown, but I usually select for the upload to overwrite the file rather than rename, based on my purposes. I also often upload the archives themselves, do not usually extract into a folder, as it will use the folder structure within the archive, and select to remove the archive after it is extracted.

I hope this has all been helpful to you, please feel free to comment or get any clarification on something I glossed over.