DeckDesh is a free WordPress plugin for sharing investor pitch decks as private PDF links on your own domain, with a viewer that uses your website’s design and document engagement counts you can check on your own server.
Built for startup founders who send decks to investors, it also handles PDF one-pagers and other documents you want to share from your WordPress site. You install and maintain the plugin on your own hosting; there is no separate DeckDesh account or document-hosting subscription.
DeckDesh at a glance
| Product category | Self-hosted WordPress document-sharing plugin |
|---|---|
| Primary use case | Private investor pitch deck sharing and view tracking |
| Price and licence | Free, no licence fee |
| Supported files | PDF documents |
| Requirements | WordPress 6.0+ and PHP 7.4+; readme tested up to WordPress 7.1 |
| Viewer | Your domain, with your active classic or block theme’s header and footer |
| Engagement | Qualifying views, downloads and viewer share actions |
| Link controls | Expiry dates and revocation by moving a document to Trash |
| Download and share controls | Site-wide settings in DeckDesh 1.5.0 |
| Third-party account | Not required |
Share a PDF through a private link
Upload your PDF, add a document title, recipient label and version, then copy the generated link into your email. The file opens through DeckDesh on your own website instead of sending the reader to a separate file-sharing service.
New document links use a random document ID and a random access token. Keep the complete generated link when you send it: the clean address shown after a recipient opens the viewer is not a replacement for the original share link.
Keep the investor on your website
The viewer is rendered inside your active WordPress theme. Its header, navigation and footer come from your site, so investors can move from the deck to your product, team and contact pages. Both classic and block themes are supported.
Recipients can zoom and fit the PDF. Version 1.5.0 also adds a Present button for full-screen, one-slide-at-a-time viewing with keyboard controls.
Check engagement without mistaking a page load for a reader
DeckDesh records a view after the viewer has spent three seconds in a visible browser tab. It filters known bots and email-security scanners, and deduplicates rapid repeat views for the same document and hashed IP for five minutes. The document list shows view, download and share counts.
These are engagement signals associated with the document link. They do not verify the identity of the person reading it, prove that every slide was read, or reveal every manual forward. A recipient label helps you organise the document; it is not an identity check.
Choose when access ends
Set a document expiry date, or move it to Trash to stop the link working. Trashed documents can be restored within seven days. In DeckDesh Settings, Allow download and Allow share control the recipient actions across the installation.
Private links can be passed to other people. Turning off downloads removes the plugin’s download action; it cannot prevent screenshots or revoke copies a recipient already saved.
Useful ways to use DeckDesh
- Fundraising: send an investor pitch deck from your company’s domain and check qualifying views before following up.
- Versioned outreach: label a PDF with its recipient and version so the manage list stays organised.
- One-pagers: share a short PDF in the same branded viewer rather than attaching it to every email.
- Time-limited access: expire a document when it is no longer relevant, or revoke a link that has been forwarded too widely.
What the current release does not do
PDF is the current supported document format. Interactive HTML, more file types, multiple links for one deck and open-notification emails appear on the homepage roadmap; they are not advertised here as shipping features. DeckDesh is not a hosted service, an identity-verification system or a guarantee against copying.
Read the installation and configuration guide, browse the FAQ, or get the free plugin.