One document library for the public, the members and the committee.
Clubs, unions, societies, co-ops and residents’ associations publish the same kinds of documents: the constitution or bylaws, minutes, newsletters and forms. FileDeck puts them in one searchable library on your WordPress site. The public part is free; members-only and committee-only areas are Pro.
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Fig. 1The actual plugin, filtered to sample minutes, newsletters, forms and policies · Open the full demo · See it in your own colours →
01Who it is for
Built for organisations run by their members.
Volunteer officers, an annual general meeting, a committee that changes every year or two, and members who need the rules more often than anyone expects.
Clubs & societies
Sports clubs, hobby groups and learned societiesThe constitution and rules, handbooks, minutes and newsletters by year, and membership and consent forms.
Unions & staff associations
Branches and member bodiesRulebooks, agreements, circulars and branch minutes, some of them for members only.
Co-ops & residents’ associations
Housing co-ops, homeowners’ and residents’ associationsBylaws or statutes, AGM notices, accounts and the meeting minutes members ask to see.
Charities & paid memberships
Have pages of their ownA registered charity publishing annual reports and trustee papers: see FileDeck for nonprofits. A site that sells memberships through a membership plugin: see the members-only document library guide.
02Who sees what
Three audiences, one library.
Set access on the category rather than on each document, so a new document takes the right access from the category it is filed in.
| Audience | How they get in | Example categories |
|---|---|---|
| The public | No login needed (free) | Constitution & rules · Newsletters · Joining forms |
| Members | A shared password, a WordPress role or a membership plan (Pro) | Minutes · AGM papers · Member handbook |
| The committee | A WordPress role, or a group of named people (Pro) | Draft minutes · Committee papers · Accounts |
Password- and role-restricted documents show a padlocked title until someone unlocks them or logs in, or you can hide them from listings. A category given to a group or a membership plan is hidden from visitors outside it. Pro also moves a restricted category’s files into a protected folder, so members-only files are served through an access check rather than at a public address (sites on nginx add one short block of server config).
03Setting it up
From a pile of PDFs to three audiences, in six steps.
The first three steps use the free plugin and give you the public library. Steps four to six are Pro, and you can add them later without rebuilding anything.
1
Sketch the categoriesFree
One per document type (Rules, Minutes, Newsletters, Forms), plus a Members and a Committee parent for anything private. On Pro, a restriction on a parent category covers the categories beneath it. Categories and tags.
2
Upload in batchesFree
Drop files on Documents → Upload Documents (under Import & Export on Pro) with the category and tags set for the batch. Then set each document’s date to its meeting or issue date, so the year filter files it under the right year.
3
Publish the public libraryFree
Add the Document Library block to a Documents page, or [filedeck show_year_filter="1"]. Choose from four layouts — table, grid, gallery and folders; folders suits a library organised by category. Full walkthrough.
4
Close the members’ areaPro
On the Members category, set a password if members have no site accounts, or tick the members’ role if they log in. If they join through a supported membership plugin, tick their plan instead, and access ends when a membership lapses. Then put a library scoped to the Members category on the members’ page; with a password, that is where the password form appears.
5
Give the committee a groupPro
Create a Committee group under Documents → Groups and tick it on the Committee category under Client area — groups. After the AGM, change who is in the group and their access follows.
6
Let officers upload from the sitePro
Put [filedeck_submit category="minutes"] on a page for signed-in officers. Each upload arrives as Pending review and goes live when someone with publishing rights publishes it.
04Languages
In your members’ language.
Plenty of associations do not run in English, and the library does not assume they do.
The words visitors read in a FileDeck library, from the search box and filters to the Download button and the document count, ship translated into German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Slovak and Simplified Chinese. WordPress picks the one that matches your site language, with no setup. They are machine translations checked for placeholders and length, so if a phrase reads wrongly, tell us on the support page. Most admin screens stay in English.
Documents and categories are ordinary WordPress content, so multilingual plugins such as WPML and Polylang translate them like posts, and a translated document points at the same file rather than asking for a second upload. For other languages, the plugin ships a translation template that Loco Translate and Poedit can read. More in translations and multilingual sites.
05Document jobs
What associations keep in the library.
- Constitution, statutes & bylaws
- The current version at a link that stays the same when the rules are amended; Pro keeps earlier versions in version history.
- Minutes & AGM papers
- Filed by meeting date and found by year. The minutes archive guide covers the set-up.
- Newsletters
- A back catalogue members browse by year, and on Pro can follow by email digest.
- Membership & consent forms
- Joining, renewal and photo-consent forms anyone can download without logging in.
- Policies
- Safeguarding, privacy and complaints policies, with Pro review cycles reminding you when one is due.
- Fixtures & event packs
- Seasonal documents; Pro expiry takes last season’s off the page on a date you set, without deleting them.
06Questions
What associations ask us.
How do I make club documents members-only in WordPress?
With FileDeck Pro, restrict the members’ category: a shared password if members have no site accounts, a WordPress role if they log in, or a membership plan if they join through MemberPress, Paid Memberships Pro, WooCommerce Memberships, Restrict Content Pro or s2Member. Documents filed in that category follow the rule, including ones added later, and Pro moves their files into a protected folder rather than leaving them at a public address. See password-protecting downloads and restricting downloads by role.
Do members need an account to open members-only documents?
Not with a category password: members enter it once and stay unlocked for 24 hours, with no account needed. A shared password can be passed on, though, so if members already log in to your site, restricting by role gives you per-person control.
Can the committee have a private area that changes after each AGM?
Yes, with Pro groups. Name the committee as a group and give the group the committee’s category; its documents are hidden from everyone outside the group. When the committee changes, edit the group’s members and their access follows.
Does FileDeck work for associations that don’t use English?
Yes. The library’s visitor-facing text ships in nine languages, including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Hungarian, and WordPress picks the one that matches your site language. Documents and categories translate with multilingual plugins, and a translation template covers other languages. Most admin screens stay in English.
Can the secretary add documents without using the WordPress dashboard?
Yes, with Pro front-end submission: a form on any page lets a signed-in officer upload one or more files, which arrive as pending review for someone to approve. In the free plugin, the Upload Documents screen takes a whole batch of files at once, with the category set for the batch.
Is the free version enough for a small club?
For a public library, often yes: no cap on documents, all four layouts, instant search, filters, the year filter and bulk upload are free. Members-only and committee-only areas, search inside documents and version history are Pro, from $59 a year for one site.
We sell memberships through a membership plugin. Is this the right page?
Partly. The set-up above applies, and Pro can gate a category by membership plan so access follows each member’s subscription. Our members-only document library guide covers that set-up in detail, and registered charities may find FileDeck for nonprofits a closer fit.
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