Install DeckDesh on your WordPress site, check the storage setup, upload a PDF, and share the generated private link. This guide is checked against the downloadable DeckDesh 1.5.0 package.
Requirements: WordPress 6.0 or later and PHP 7.4 or later. The 1.5.0 readme reports testing up to WordPress 7.1. Classic and block themes are supported. Your hosting’s upload limits also apply.
1. Install the plugin ZIP
- Download the current DeckDesh ZIP from this website.
- Sign in to the WordPress administration of the site where you want to share documents.
- Open Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the ZIP and select Install Now.
- Activate DeckDesh. Its one-time Setup screen shows the configuration checks. You can reopen it from DeckDesh → Setup.
You need permission to install plugins on that WordPress site. These are instructions for your own installation; viewing this documentation does not install or change anything.
2. Check setup before sending a confidential file
Read the document-link, storage, caching and theme checks in DeckDesh → Setup. DeckDesh creates its storage and link settings during activation. Plain permalinks are supported through query-string links; you do not need to change permalink settings simply to use the plugin.
Pay attention to the storage result. The default private directory is under WordPress uploads, and direct access must be blocked by the web server. If the setup check reports that files are directly reachable, ask your hosting administrator to apply the server-specific protection shown on that screen and recheck it. An outside-the-web-root storage location is an optional configuration for hosts that support it.
DeckDesh marks document routes as uncacheable. If your host or CDN applies its own caching rules, test a private link, expiry and revocation on that setup before using it for sensitive material. A plugin’s cache headers cannot establish that every external cache honours them.
3. Upload a PDF and copy its link
- Open DeckDesh → Documents in WordPress administration.
- Upload a PDF and add its document title, recipient label and version. Set an expiry date if appropriate.
- Copy the full link generated by DeckDesh and paste it into your email.
- Test that link in a separate signed-out browser session. Confirm the correct document and theme are shown and that the download/share actions match your settings.
The generated share link contains the access credential. After opening it, the browser exchanges it for a viewing-session cookie and shows a clean address. Send the original generated share link, not a copy of that cleaned address.
You can also manage documents at your site’s /deckdesh/ address after configuring the separate manage-page password in DeckDesh → Settings. Until that password is set, the manage page shows an unavailable response. Do not share that management password with document recipients.
4. Configure access, recipient actions and retention
- Expiry: set an end date for a document. Access stops when it expires.
- Revocation: move a document to Trash to stop its link. You have seven days to restore a trashed document.
- Allow download: in DeckDesh Settings, turn the PDF download action on or off. This is a site-wide setting in version 1.5.0.
- Allow share: turn the viewer’s copy-link/email sharing controls on or off. This is also site-wide; it cannot stop someone forwarding a link outside the viewer.
- Keep engagement events for: choose Forever, 30 days, 90 days or 1 year. Older individual events are purged daily; document totals are retained.
- Maximum upload size: set the plugin limit within what your web server accepts. A higher plugin setting cannot override a lower hosting limit.
Optional appearance settings let you use your theme’s button and container classes. The Powered by DeckDesh credit is off by default. Document files and tracking data are preserved on uninstall unless you explicitly enable their deletion in Settings.
5. Read engagement counts accurately
A view is recorded when JavaScript runs and the document viewer has been in a visible tab for three seconds. Known automated clients and email scanners are filtered on a best-effort basis. Repeat views for the same document and hashed IP within five minutes count once.
A download count records the plugin’s download action; a share count records a viewer share action. Neither reveals every copy or forward made elsewhere. Counts belong to the document link, not to a verified individual. Browser restrictions, blocked scripts or filters can affect what is counted.
Document delivery and tracking run on your WordPress installation. Review the plugin’s privacy information and event-retention settings for your own site. Your hosting, theme and other plugins remain part of the environment that handles document access.
6. Troubleshoot common problems
A recipient sees “link unavailable”
Check that the complete original share link was copied, that the document is active rather than trashed, that it has not expired and that its file is still present. The same generic failure response is used for different access failures, so it does not disclose which check failed.
The manage page will not open
Check the manage-page configuration in DeckDesh Settings. The manage password is separate from a recipient’s share link. If it is configured and you have forgotten it, use its email recovery flow; do not send a WordPress administrator password to a recipient.
An upload fails
Use a PDF and compare its size with both the plugin’s maximum-upload setting and the server limit shown in Settings. If storage is not writable or the server rejects the request, ask your hosting administrator to check the relevant server logs.
Views do not rise after every refresh
Keep the viewer visible for at least three seconds with JavaScript enabled. Rapid repeats may be deduplicated, and recognised automated clients are filtered. A count is not a record of every page request.
The viewer looks different from the screenshots
Your own theme supplies its surrounding design. Check the actual viewer on your site’s active theme and review the optional theme-fit classes in Settings. The screenshots show an example installation, not a required theme.
For more answers, see the FAQ and feature overview. For product questions, email hello@deckdesh.com. Include the plugin version, WordPress/PHP versions and the visible error; do not email confidential deck files, private share tokens or passwords.