How to Control Permissions for Media Files in WordPress

Table of Contents

The PublishPress Permissions plugin allows you to control permissions for media files on your site.

Scroll down to the “Media Library” area. Here you're going to see 4 options you can use to control access to files inside the Media Library:

List other users' uploads if attached to a readable post: If this boxed is checked, users can view other people's media files if they are attached a post they can read.
List other users' uploads if attached to an editable post: If this boxed is checked, users can view other people's media files if they are attached a post they can edit.
Edit other user' uploads if attached to an editable post: If this boxed is checked, users can edit other people's media files if they are attached a post they can edit.
Other users' unattached uploads listed by default: If this boxed is checked, users can view other people's media files

There is also an extra feature available in the Pro version of PublishPress Permissions:

Users can always edit their own attachments: If this boxed is checked, users can always edit attachments they have uploaded, even if they are later attached to a post which the user cannot edit.

An example with the Media settings #

I'll walk you through an example of using the Media options in PublishPress Permissions.

Go to Permissions > Settings.
Click the “Editing” tab.
Make sure “Other users' unattached uploads listed by default” is unchecked, If you uncheck this, you will automatically hide other people's files for most users:

I logged out and logged in again as an Author user. This next image shows what I saw. I no longer had access to files from any other users.

I will note two key things:

This example restriction applies to all users except Administrator. This image below shows the same site. I browsed to the Media Library as an Administrator. I have full access to all the images in the Media Library.
There are potential complexities with editing media files. For example, you can deny a user access to a file that someone else has uploaded. But what happens if you also give that user the ability to edit a post where that image is used? The 5 options shown earlier in this guide will give you ways to deal with those scenarios.