Install and activate Plathix

This page shows how to install Plathix Free 1.0.0 and what activation sets up. It also covers updating, deactivating and removing the plugin. Plathix uses virtual folders, so putting a file into a folder never moves or renames it on disk.

When you need this

• A new blog. You install Plathix before the first uploads, so every new file can get a folder from day one.
• An agency build. You install Plathix from a ZIP on the client’s site, set up the folders, and hand over an organized Media Library.
• A site with another folder plugin. You install Plathix next to it and import the existing folders. See Import folders from another plugin.

How to check the requirements

Before you install, check three things:

1. WordPress is 7.0 or newer. Plathix 1.0.0 is tested up to WordPress 7.1.
2. PHP is 8.1 or newer.
3. You are logged in as an administrator. All Plathix screens are for administrators.

On PHP older than 8.1, WordPress refuses to activate Plathix. If activation is forced anyway, it stops with the message “Plathix needs PHP 8.1 or newer. This site runs PHP <version>.” If PHP is downgraded after activation, users who can activate plugins see the same message as a notice, and Plathix deactivates itself.

How to install Plathix from a ZIP

1. Download the Plathix ZIP file to your computer. Do not unpack it.
2. In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add New Plugin.
3. Click Upload Plugin.
4. Select the ZIP file and click Install Now.
5. Click Activate Plugin.
6. WordPress opens Plathix > Home with the dialog “Set up your media library”. Continue with First setup.

The jump to Plathix > Home happens once, within a minute of activation, and only for the administrator who activated the plugin. It is skipped for network activation, for bulk activation of several plugins and for WP-CLI. In those cases, open Plathix > Home yourself.

What activation sets up

• Your files are not moved or renamed. Attachment IDs and URLs stay the same.
• Plathix creates the system folder “Uncategorized”. Every file that has no folder yet is listed there. The Home screen calls the same files “Unsorted”.
• The system folder “Trash” is added on the next page load. It shows in the folder panel only when it holds files or folders.
• Plathix sets up its storage for presets.
• Plathix creates two working folders on the server. The first holds temporary files. It sits in the temporary folder that WordPress uses, or in the uploads folder if that place is not writable. The second is a plathix folder inside the uploads folder. It holds the preview images of presets you upload.
• Default settings: SVG uploads are allowed with sanitisation for the Administrator and Editor roles (“Allow SVG uploads with sanitisation (recommended)”). “SVG Safe Mode” is on only on multisite. “Confirm bulk actions” is on. Infinite scroll is off. Trash keeps trashed files and folders for 30 days by default.
• Plathix schedules background tasks that run by themselves. Every 2 hours it removes old temporary files. Once a day it empties Trash items older than the retention period, refreshes folder counts and tidies up imports that were interrupted. Every 30 days it removes folder links of files that no longer exist.

Files are deleted only when you delete them permanently, or when they stay in Trash longer than the retention period.

How to find Plathix after activation

1. Go to Media > Library. The folder panel is on the left, in grid view and in list view.
2. Open a post or a page and add an image. The media picker shows the same folder panel. It also appears in the site editor and in page builders that use the WordPress media modal. See Folders in page builders.
3. Look at the WordPress admin menu. Activation adds a top-level Plathix menu just above Settings.
4. Open Plathix. The items are Home, Settings, Presets, Tools and PRO.
5. Open System Info (link at the bottom of any Plathix page, or the flyout of Plathix → Tools). It has no menu item of its own. The flyout opens when you hover Tools in the WordPress menu while a Plathix screen is open.

What each menu item holds:

• Home: the overview of your library. See The Home screen.
• Settings: the tabs General, Trash, SVG and Danger Zone. The Access tab appears only while Plathix PRO is active and licensed.
• Presets: ready folder sets. See Ready folder sets.
• Tools: the cards “Import from Other Plugins” and “Export Structure”.
• PRO: the page “Plathix PRO”. In the Plathix sidebar this item reads “Upgrade” with a PRO badge.

How to update Plathix

Plathix has no updater of its own. Until Plathix is listed on WordPress.org, a copy installed from a ZIP gets no update notices. To update it, upload the new ZIP:

1. Back up the site files and the database.
2. Download the new Plathix ZIP from the same place as the first one.
3. Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin and click Upload Plugin.
4. Select the new ZIP and click Install Now.
5. WordPress reports that the plugin is already installed. Click Replace current with uploaded.
6. Open any admin page. Plathix runs its update steps by itself.

Do not delete Plathix to reinstall it. Deleting the plugin runs the uninstall cleanup and removes all folders.

How to deactivate Plathix

1. Go to Plugins.
2. Under Plathix, click Deactivate.

After deactivation:

• Folders, folder assignments, presets and settings stay in the database.
• The folder panel disappears, and the Media Library returns to the normal WordPress view.
• Plathix stops its background tasks. It deletes its temporary files older than about 2.5 hours. Newer temporary files, such as the backup of a file replace in progress, stay.
• Reactivate Plathix to get everything back.

How to uninstall Plathix

1. If files are still in Plathix Trash and you want them gone, delete them permanently first. After uninstall nothing removes them automatically.
2. Deactivate Plathix.
3. Under Plathix, click Delete and confirm.

Uninstall removes, on every site of a network:

• all Plathix folders and the folder of every file (folder colors and positions go with the folders)
• all presets, including the presets you uploaded and their preview images
• all Plathix settings and cached data, and on multisite the network SVG setting
• what Plathix stores for each file: Trash dates and the time of the last replace
• what Plathix stores for each user: favorites, the last open folder and dismissed Home cards
• the Plathix background tasks
• the Plathix temporary files

Media files, attachments and posts are not touched. The two emptied Plathix working folders stay on the server, and you can delete them by hand. There is no “keep data on uninstall” option.

To clear Plathix data but keep the plugin, use Plathix > Settings > Danger Zone. See Danger Zone.

Example

Start. Suppose your site has 12 files in the Media Library, among them summer-campaign.png, office-interior.png and logo.png, and no folder plugin.

What you do. You go to Plugins > Add New Plugin, click Upload Plugin, select the Plathix ZIP and click Install Now. Then you click Activate Plugin.

Result. WordPress would open Plathix > Home with the setup dialog. After you skip it, the folder panel in Media > Library would show Media with 12 files and Uncategorized with 12 files. Trash would not be shown because it is empty. The URL of summer-campaign.png would stay the same.

What we tested

These checks from Plathix Lab cover parts of this page:

Check	Result
Trash data survives deactivate / reactivate	Passed
Turn Plathix off and on; keep folder colors	Passed
Presets checks	Passed: presets table “Exists”, directory guard “Protected”

Limits

• Plathix Free has no artificial folder or file limits and no trial period.
• All Plathix screens are for administrators only.
• Plathix Free organizes the Media Library only, not posts, pages or products. Content folders are part of Plathix PRO.
• Until Plathix is listed on WordPress.org, a copy installed from a ZIP gets no update notices. Update it by uploading the new ZIP.
• Deleting the plugin removes all folders. Do not delete it to reinstall.
• The jump to Plathix > Home after activation happens only within a minute, for the administrator who activated the plugin.
• Files still in Plathix Trash at uninstall stay in the WordPress trash, and nothing removes them automatically.
• There is no “keep data on uninstall” option.
• After uninstall, the two empty Plathix working folders stay on the server.

In short

Plathix 1.0.0 needs WordPress 7.0 or newer, PHP 8.1 or newer and an administrator account. Install it from a ZIP in Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin, then activate it. Your files stay where they are, and every file without a folder appears in Uncategorized. Until Plathix is listed on WordPress.org, a ZIP install gets no update notices, so you update by uploading the new ZIP. Deactivating keeps all folders, while deleting the plugin removes them.