By default, all uploads and media files are accessible to all registered users on a WordPress site. This sometime creates copyright issues on multi-author websites. The reason is when any author uploads any image file, it becomes accessible for all other authors and they can easily reuse it from ‘Add Media’ button.
So if you are also running a multi-user WordPress site with multiple authors, contributors and subscribers who writes posts for you and you do not want them to be able to use other user media files for their presentation then simply install and activate WP Users Media plugin and that’s it.
WP Users Media plugin auto-disables users from accessing media files uploaded by other website users. Hence, a user can see and insert only his uploads at the time of writing post or browsing media library files.
How To Test WP Users Media Plugin?
Create 3 users: 1 Admin and 2 Authors (As an admin you are able to see all media files from all the users registered on your website.)
- Upload some photos or other media files as Admin. Log out
- Login as Author 1 and click on the ‘Add Media’ button for an post or a page.
- Now you do not see any media files at all. (If the plugin was inactivated you would be able to see the photos that the Admin uploaded.)
- Again, upload some photos as
Author 1and log out. - Repeat step 2 for
Author 2. As you can see Author 2 cannot see the files uploaded from the Admin and from the Author 1.