Our wordpress installations come with many custom features, one of which includes the ability to replace files with newer ones.

Because people create bookmarks and hotlinks and all sorts of page links directly to your files, it is ALWAYS best to have a URL for each important file that will never change.

Adding a Permanent File

To accomplish this, the first time you post a document, make sure you use a generic name. For instance, a Dress Code document would be called “Dress-Code.pdf” or even “Dress Code.pdf”. When this is uploaded to WordPress, the spaces will automatically be taken out and it will become “Dress-Code.pdf”. Once that is in place, it will have a static URL (web address) that can be used to link from various pages or links menu, etc.

Next year when the file needs to be updated, instead of posting an all new file, and having to relink every reference to the file, just go into the “Media” area, and find your file (if there are a lot of files, use the search to find it). There is a button called “Upload a new file”. Click this, and replace the old file with the new one.

The static URL (web address) will remain the same as before, so any links to the old file do not have to be updated.

Old files do not need to be archived on the website, if you wish to keep an archive of all the past dress codes, or other documents, the proper place for this is a file share or other method. The School Website should only have the most up to date document that is applicable at that given time.

Replacing a File

Upload a document to “Media” and create a link to it from your sidebar or web page (the method for uploading and linking is in the previous tutorial).

To replace the file, go into “Media” and search for the file you wish to replace. Click edit to open the file for editing. With the file open for editing, click the “Upload a new file” button.

You will then be presented with two options:

Most times, you’ll just browse for the file, and leave the default on “Just replace the file” and click “Upload”.

However if you had named the file poorly before, and wish to update to a more generic name, you can do so by browsing for the file, then select “Replace the file, use new file name and update all links” and click “Upload”. This will replace the existing links with the new file name and relink all the references to your old file automatically!!