Docs
Welcome to the Media Guard Docs
Whether you run the WordPress site for a church, a club, a small business, an online course, or a digital storefront — these docs will get you protecting files in about 10 minutes. No coding required.
Media Guard does one job: it keeps your PDFs, videos, audio, and other files hidden from the public internet, and only lets the right people see them.
The bouncer model. Think of Media Guard as a friendly bouncer outside a private club. Your files live in a locked back room only the bouncer can open. When someone asks for a file, the bouncer checks their ID (are they logged in? do they have the right pass?) before opening the door.
If you are brand new, read these in order
- Protect Your First PDF — in 5 minutes.
- How access works — the three ways Media Guard decides who gets in (Roles, Groups, Purchases).
- Troubleshooting — what to do when a file won’t load for the right person.
If you use another plugin already
- WooCommerce — sell PDFs, templates, audio, or video.
- LearnDash — protect course PDFs and lesson downloads.
- LifterLMS — protect lesson files and student resources.
After you buy Pro
- Install & Activate Your Pro License — from order email to activated install in 5 minutes.
- Pro Features Tour — every unlocked feature with a one-line “when would I use this?” trigger.
- Manage Your Pro License — move sites, renew, switch keys, what staging does (and doesn’t) count.
- Keep Pro Up to Date — how one-click updates work, what to do if updates don’t appear.
Quick reference
The shortcode you’ll use most:
[mediaguard file="your-file.pdf" roles="subscriber"]Drop that on any page where you want to share the file. Only logged-in users with the subscriber role (or whatever role you pick) will be able to open it. Anyone else gets a “please log in” message.
Want to show the PDF right on the page instead of a click-to-download link? Add embed="yes":
[mediaguard file="your-file.pdf" roles="subscriber" embed="yes"]Pro feature guides
- Groups & Users — create groups, assign users, share whole folders without listing every file.
- Access Log — see who viewed, downloaded, or was blocked from each protected file.
- Give Customers a Personal Library — the shortcode for purchase-gated content portals.
- Agency Features — what the Agency tier unlocks on top of Pro.