How can I best organize supporting files for my private WordPress website?

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  arfwewebsite · Member · Dec 16, 2014 at 8:07 pm

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  I have a private WordPress website, arfwe.org, that is accessed by invited users. I need to make more than 100 historical newsletters available to the users and not expose them to public access. I appear to have two possible avenues:
  1. load them all into the media library. If I go this way, is there any way to create a folder structure to better facilitate keeping things organized?
  2. access them from an external file system. I have the documents organized on a private google drive but it looks like the process to set up something like openauth or openid is way over my head. Is there a simpler way short of requiring all of my users to have google accounts and be logged into both google and wordpress?

  Are there other alternatives?

  Best Regards,
  T. Young

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  thatrobyn · Member · Dec 16, 2014 at 8:32 pm

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  Hey there,

  There are several solutions that can work. It will all depend on your preferences.

  1. load them all into the media library. If I go this way, is there any way to create a folder structure to better facilitate keeping things organized?

  You can certainly upload these documents (PDFs?) into your media library. However, the library doesn’t have an organizational structure. All items will be in one folder.

  2. access them from an external file system. I have the documents organized on a private google drive but it looks like the process to set up something like openauth or openid is way over my head. Is there a simpler way short of requiring all of my users to have google accounts and be logged into both google and wordpress?

  You can actually embed a Google document onto a page or post. It will be readable on your blog, without forcing a visitor to visit an outside site. Here is the information to embed a Google document on your site:

  Embed From Google Docs

  If you choose this option, you can create/maintain folders on your Google drive, but your visitors won’t need to access them.

  Another option that I like is Scribd. It works in a different manner than Google docs, but the result is the same: you can embed a document directly on your private site.

  About integrating Scribd on your WordPress.com site:

  http://en.support.wordpress.com/scribd/

  I hope this helps! If you have any other concerns, drop me a note. Thanks much!

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  arfwewebsite · Member · Dec 19, 2014 at 6:41 pm

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  Howdy, from some testing and looking at the wordpress support document on embedding Google docs you referenced, it appears that the doc cannot be private, i.e. it has to be public. The documents I’m referencing need to remain private and accessible only by people who are invited to view my wordpress blog. If there is a solution, I think it has to involve some exchange of credentials from WordPress to Google. Any suggestions? Am I wrong about this?

  As far as using scribd, I’ve never particularly liked it and suspect I would run into the same problem I’m seeing with your recommendation on Google docs.

  Any other ideas?

  Thanks, T.

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  thatrobyn · Member · Dec 19, 2014 at 9:19 pm

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  Hello again!

  You are correct that the document has to be public in order to embed it. However, once embedded on your site, it can stay private. If someone is particularly code savvy, they may be able to find a link back to the Google document. However, unless you’ve given that person access to the Google doc, they cannot access it without your permission.

  Therefore, unless you give another user direct access to your doc on Google, nobody should be able to view it except your invited WordPress.com-site viewers.

  I’m happy to test this with you, if you’d like.

  Please let us know if you have any other questions. Thanks much!