Use files from your AWS S3

The „External files in the media library“ plugin allows you to use files from various external sources, e.g. from AWS S3 and several compatible platforms. How to do this is described below.

Preparation

For licensing reasons, support for AWS is not available in the „External files in the media library“ is included. You have to install another plugin once, which contains the necessary libraries for the connection:

1. Go to Media library > Add external files.
2. Click on „Install plugin“ under „AWS S3 compatible“.
3. You will now be informed that the plugin from GitHubGitHub Software development platform is downloaded, installed and activated. I agree with this.
4. The plugin is then downloaded, installed and activated.
5. You will then be forwarded directly to the form for establishing the connection.

Establish connection

Proceed as follows:

1. Go to Media library > Add external files > AWS S3 compatible.
2. Enter the connection data in the form. These are:
   • Access Key
   • Secret Key
   • Bucket
3. You can find the details of these in your AWS S3 Console. Amazon offers documentation on this here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/security-iam.html
4. Establish the connection. The plugin will then list the files from the bucket you specified.

If you want to connect to a platform other than AWS S3, you will also find this displayed for selection under Media library > Add external files:

• Backplaze S3
• DigitalOcean Spaces

Connect and view files

As soon as you have established the connection as described above, you can see the files in the bucket you have selected and select them for import into your media library.

Importing and using files

You can also import the listed files into the media library. If the plugin recognizes from information from the selected platform that the files are publicly accessible, they are actually linked externally. Otherwise, they are imported locally, but are still treated as external files due to the external source.

Synchronize and export

The AWS S3-compatible platforms can also be used for synchronization and export. For example, you can store files in your bucket and WordPress will automatically retrieve them. Or newly added files in WordPress can be automatically exported to your bucket. The procedure is entirely up to you.