The "External files in the media library" plugin allows you to use files from various external sources, such as Google Cloud Storage.

The "External files in the media library" plugin allows you to use files from various external sources, such as Google Cloud Storage. How to do this is described below. Establish connection First, you need to establish a connection to your Google Cloud Storage. Depending on the settings in the plugin, this connection is saved for all WordPress users in the project or only for your profile. For all users Go to Settings > External files for the media library > Services > Google Cloud Storage. Click on the link here to access the credentials in your Google Cloud Console: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials Find the service account you want to use for the connection. Create a new key for this account and download its JSON file. Open the downloaded JSON file in a text editor of your choice and copy the content. Paste the content in the WordPress backend where you went in point 1. Add below the name of the bucket you want to open. Save, done. Just for you Open your WordPress profile, usually via the user icon at the top right. Search there for "Google Cloud Storage". Click on the link here to go to the credentials in your Google Cloud Console: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials Find the service account you want to use for the connection. Create a new key for this account and download its JSON file. Open the downloaded JSON file in a text editor of your choice and copy the content. Paste the content in the WordPress backend where you went in point 2. Add below the name of the bucket you want to open. Save, done. Don't have a service account in your Google Cloud Console yet? Then create one as follows: Go to your Google Cloud Console: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials Click here on Create credentials > Create service account. Give the service account a name under which you want to find it again and click on "Create and continue". Under Permissions, select "Storage Bucket Viewer" and click on "Done". Then set up a key as described above and transfer its JSON details to the plugin settings. Your existing service account has no access rights? Check the following in your Google Cloud Console: The service account requires at least "Storage Bucket Viewer" as an authorization so that the "External files for the media library" plugin can access the data. You can find the permissions in the Google Cloud Console when editing the service account under "Permissions". Manage permissions on a service account in the Google Cloud Console Connect and view files As soon as the connection is established, you can list the files in your Google Cloud Storage under Media > External files > Google Cloud Storage. Importing and using files You can then also import the listed files into the media library. Please note that although these are saved here as external files, they are actually integrated into the media library. This is because files in external sources that are access-protected cannot be made available to website visitors.

WordPress Plugins from Thomas Zwirner

External files in the media library

WordPress plugin

free of charge

media library

Add one or more files via their URLs under „Media → Add new media file“. This way, you can use external files wherever the media library is available.

Plugin page:

https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/external-files-in-media-library/

Support forum: https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/external-files-in-media-library/

GitHub repository: https://github.com/threadi/external-files-in-media-library

Articles

Use files from a Google Cloud Storage
The „External files in the media library“ plugin allows you to use files from various external sources, such as Google Cloud Storage. Read more
feature
Can I embed PDF files stored on AWS S3 without their URL being public?
Yes, this is possible under the following conditions: Once this is fulfilled, every file hosted on AWS S3 would be recognized as an external file and delivered via the proxy. The URL behind the proxy is not publicly visible. Read more
Frequently Asked Questions
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. Read more
feature
How can I import files from a public Google Drive?
With the External files in the media library plugin, it is possible to store files available in a public Google Drive in your media library as external files. The best way to do this is described here. Read more
Frequently Asked Questions
Integrate files via WordPress REST API
The „External files in the media library“ plugin allows you to use files from various external sources, e.g. via the WordPress REST API. Read more
feature
I want to upload .tar.gz files—how do I do that?
Files with the extensions .gz and .tar.gz are not permitted by WordPress itself. This is primarily for security reasons, as these files are unfortunately often used for attacks or to infiltrate malware. With the plugin „External Files for the Media Library,“ you can still upload them to WordPress—as described here. Read more
Frequently Asked Questions
Settings for file types
You can determine how the plugin handles file types supported by WordPress. The default settings allow all files to be stored externally. Read more
settings
Automatically populate a list with downloads
By combining two plugins I developed, you can display a download list maintained via FTP on your own website without having to use the backend regularly. Read more
use case
Integrate files from the local server
The plugin „External files in the media library“ allows you to use files from various external sources, e.g. from the server on which WordPress itself is installed. Read more
feature
Free up storage space and move files to external storage
Nothing is more annoying than having a super interesting website project but no more storage space available on your own hosting. How the plugin „External Files in the Media Library“ can help with this is described here. Read more
use case