Folders for Easy Digital Downloads
A digital store grows in versions: a preset pack, its second edition, a bundle, a free sample, a course workbook for every year. The Downloads screen shows all of them in one long list.
Plathix PRO adds private folders to the Easy Digital Downloads product list. Group downloads by launch, task or status and open just the folder you need. The store, prices, files and download links stay as they are.
Categories are for buyers. Your team needs something else.
Download categories and tags have their own pages on your store. They are made for buyers who browse.
Your team needs other groups: what launches next month, what needs a price check, which files must be replaced, what you stopped selling. None of that belongs on a public category page.
Folders hold those groups in wp-admin. A download can be in a category for buyers and in a folder for your team at the same time.
Hundreds of downloads, and the old ones stay
People who run digital stores describe the same thing. Adding a product is easy. The list keeps every draft, version and product you stopped selling.
High-volume stores have hundreds or thousands of downloads to work through on screen.
People want to see only the drafts of one category in the Downloads list, the way they can with posts.
Owners ask for a product category that only the admin can see and use.
When 200 products are discontinued at once, the usual fix is one more category, called something like legacy product.
Folders hold those private groups in the Downloads list: drafts to finish, files to replace, products you stopped selling. Buyers never see them.
Folders that match how a digital store works
By launch
Prepare next month’s products as drafts and keep them together until launch day.
Price review
Products whose price you want to check before the next sale, in one folder.
Files to update
Products that need a new file version, new screenshots or a fixed readme.
Free and bundles
Lead magnets and bundles sit apart from the products you sell one by one.
Retired, not deleted
Products you no longer promote stay as they are and move out of the daily list.
A folder tree next to your Downloads
A folder panel on Downloads
The panel sits beside the Easy Digital Downloads product list. Click a folder and the list shows only its products.
Search and tabs inside a folder
Search, the status tabs and the date filter work inside the open folder.
Drafts are counted
Folder counts include drafts, scheduled and private downloads, so a product you are still preparing is not lost.
A link for each folder
The address changes when you open a folder, so next month’s launch is one bookmark away.
Your store never sees your folders
| What you do | What changes | What stays as it is |
|---|---|---|
| Put a download in a folder | Its Plathix folder | Its price, files, categories, tags and URL |
| Sell the download | A new order in Easy Digital Downloads | The download’s folder |
| Rename or move a folder | The folder tree in wp-admin | The store, category pages and download links |
| Trash a download, then restore it | Its Trash state | Its folder: it comes back to the same place |
| Turn Plathix PRO off | The Downloads list looks like plain Easy Digital Downloads | Your folders wait in the database and come back |
Folders have no public URLs. They are not store categories and not part of the sitemap.
How we test Easy Digital Downloads
We run each check on a live store with Plathix PRO and the current Easy Digital Downloads version, on the real Downloads screen.
Status Planned
Results go to Plathix Lab. Each row turns into a link once it has run.
| Check | What we verify | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Downloads | Turn on Downloads in Enabled Sections; the panel appears on the list. | Planned |
| Store unchanged | Put a download in a folder: its URL, categories and purchase button are the same. | Planned |
| Store filters | A folder together with the category filter on the Downloads list. | Planned |
| Columns | Which columns the Downloads list shows with folders turned on. | Planned |
| Trash and restore | A trashed download comes back to its folder. | Planned |
Store folders FAQ
Do folders change my store, prices or download links?
Can buyers see the folders?
Can a download be in a category and in a folder at the same time?
Do orders get folders?
Who can manage the folders?
Is this in Plathix Free?
Related pages
Sell with Easy Digital Downloads. Keep the product list in order.
Launches, bundles and retired products in folders you choose. Nothing changes in your store.