Plugin: quick-download-button (Used by 50 domains)

Quick Download Button lets you add professional download buttons anywhere on your WordPress site with minimal effort. Whether you are sharing PDFs, music, software, videos, or archives, every aspect of the button — style, colour, icon, countdown, and access rules — is controlled from a clean settings panel or a single shortcode.

Seven button styles

• Large — full-width panel with prominent icon area
• Mid — compact horizontal layout
• Small — minimal inline style
• Basic — clean, no-frills button
• Pill — modern rounded pill shape
• Card — elevated card with a panel background
• Ghost — outlined transparent style

Countdown timer and popup modal

Set a wait time in seconds before the download starts. During the countdown an animated spinner and optional message keep the visitor informed.

Add a popup modal to display any content while the countdown runs — AdSense, banner ads, custom HTML, shortcodes, or any other embed code. You control whether the visitor can dismiss the popup early or whether it stays until the download fires automatically.

Full feature list

• Works with both the Gutenberg block editor and the Classic Editor via shortcode
• Button Row block and [quick_download_button_group] shortcode — place multiple buttons side by side with gap, alignment, and stack-on-mobile controls
• Countdown timer — configurable wait time in seconds with a custom message
• Popup modal during countdown — show ads or custom HTML/shortcodes while the timer runs; optionally prevent dismissal until the download starts
• File size display — auto-calculated from the WordPress uploads folder, or enter any text manually (works with external URLs too)
• File type icon — automatically detected for common extensions
• Custom download icons — choose from 10 built-in icons or supply your own SVG
• Custom file size icons — same built-in set or custom SVG
• Icon position — left or right of the button label
• Access control — restrict downloads to logged-in users or specific roles
• External URL support — link to files hosted anywhere
• Hidden download links — the real file URL is never exposed in the page source
• Force download — bypasses the browser’s open-in-tab behaviour for supported file types
• Open in new tab or same window
• Custom button colour, font colour, border, border-radius, padding, and alignment
• Panel colour for Card, Pill, and Ghost styles
• Multisite compatible
• Optimised loading — CSS and JS only enqueue on pages that contain a download button

Supported file types for automatic icon display:

pdf, `mp3`, `mov`, `zip`, `txt`, `doc`, `xml`, `mp4`, `ppt`, `htm`, `html`, `ps`, `tex`, `csv`, `xlsx`, `pptx`, `js`, `css`, `php`, and common images (`png`, `gif`, `jpg`, `jpeg`, `bmp`).

Developer-friendly

The plugin exposes several action and filter hooks so add-on plugins can extend it without editing core files:

• qdb_editor_localize_data — add data to the Gutenberg editor script
• qdb_localize_script_data — add data to the frontend script
• qdb_shortcode_atts — modify parsed shortcode attributes
• qdb_user_can_access — override or extend the access check
• qdb_button_data_atts — inject extra data-* attributes onto the button element
• qdb_shortcode_output — filter the final button HTML before output

Basic Usage

Gutenberg Block

1. Open the post or page editor and click the Add Block (+) icon.
2. Search for Download Button (listed under the Media category).
3. Click the block to set the button title, then click the upload icon to select or upload your file.
4. Configure colours, countdown, file size, access control, and popup in the block settings sidebar.

Shortcode — minimal

[quick_download_button title="Download" url="https://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/file.pdf"]

Shortcode — external file in a new tab

[quick_download_button title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip" open_new_window="true"]

Shortcode — countdown with wait message

[quick_download_button title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip" wait="15" msg="Please wait 15 seconds..."]

Shortcode — popup modal during countdown

The popup content goes between the opening and closing shortcode tags. It can include HTML, shortcodes, or ad embed code.

[quick_download_button title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip" wait="15"]
Sponsored by Example Co.
Check out our latest offer.
[/quick_download_button]

To prevent the visitor from closing the popup before the download starts:

[quick_download_button title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip" wait="15" popup_closable="0"]Ad or message here[/quick_download_button]

Shortcode — button group (multiple buttons in a row)

[quick_download_button_group alignment="center" gap="16"]
  [quick_download_button title="Download v1.0" url_external="https://example.com/v1.zip"]
  [quick_download_button title="Download v2.0" url_external="https://example.com/v2.zip"]
[/quick_download_button_group]
More Shortcode Examples

Auto-calculate file size (file must be in your WordPress uploads folder)

[quick_download_button file_size="1" title="Download" url="https://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/file.pdf"]

Manual file size (works with any URL, including external)

[quick_download_button file_size="14.5 MB" title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Hide the file extension icon

[quick_download_button title="Download" extension="0" url="https://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/file.pdf"]

Show file extension icon and text label

[quick_download_button title="Download" extension="1" extension_text="1" url="https://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/file.pdf"]

Change button style

[quick_download_button button_type="pill" title="Download Now" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Available values: large, mid, small, basic, pill, card, ghost

Custom colours

[quick_download_button button_type="ghost" color_bg="#0073aa" color_font="#ffffff" panel_color="#f0f8ff" title="Download Now" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Custom border

[quick_download_button button_type="small" border_width="2" border_style="solid" border_color="#333333" border_radius="9" title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Change icon colour (dark/light)

[quick_download_button button_type="large" color_icon_dark="false" color_bg="#000000" color_font="#ffffff" title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Place icon on the right

[quick_download_button icon_position="right" title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Restrict to logged-in users

[quick_download_button user_must_be="loggedin" title="Members Only Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Restrict to a specific role

[quick_download_button user_must_be="subscriber" title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Countdown with file size and message

[quick_download_button button_type="basic" wait="10" msg="Your download will begin shortly..." file_size="40 MB" title="Download Now" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Button alignment

[quick_download_button align="center" title="Download" url_external="https://example.com/file.zip"]

Stacked button group, mobile-friendly

[quick_download_button_group layout="stack" alignment="left" gap="8"]
  [quick_download_button title="Windows" url_external="https://example.com/app-win.zip"]
  [quick_download_button title="macOS"   url_external="https://example.com/app-mac.zip"]
  [quick_download_button title="Linux"   url_external="https://example.com/app-linux.tar.gz"]
[/quick_download_button_group]
For Developers: Using in a Theme or Template File
echo do_shortcode('[quick_download_button title="Download" url="https://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/file.pdf"]');
Shortcode Attributes Reference

[quick_download_button]

Attribute
Description
Default
Example value

title
Button label text
"Download"
"Download Now"

url
URL of a file in your WordPress uploads folder
—
"https://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/file.pdf"

url_external
URL of a file hosted outside WordPress
—
"https://example.com/file.zip"

file_size
"1" auto-detects size; any other value is displayed as-is
—
"1" or "14.5 MB"

extension
Show ("1") or hide ("0") the file type icon
"1"
"0"

extension_text
Also show the extension as text next to the icon
"0"
"1"

open_new_window
Open link in a new tab
"false"
"true"

wait
Seconds before the download starts
0
"15"

msg
Message shown during the countdown
"Please wait..."
"Loading..."

button_type
Button style
"large"
large / mid / small / basic / pill / card / ghost

color_bg
Button background colour
—
"#ffc107"

panel_color
Panel/card background colour (pill, card, ghost styles)
—
"#f0f8ff"

color_font
Button text colour
—
"#ffffff"

color_icon_dark
Use dark icon ("true") or light icon ("false")
"true"
"false"

icon_id
Built-in download icon
"default"
default / cloud / circle / file-dl / inbox / save / bolt / folder / archive / info / chip

file_size_icon_id
Built-in file size icon
"folder"
same set as icon_id

icon_position
Icon side of the button label
"left"
"right"

border_width
Border thickness in pixels
—
"2"

border_style
CSS border style
—
"solid"

border_color
Border colour
—
"#333333"

border_radius
Corner rounding in pixels
—
"9"

align
Button alignment on the page
—
left / center / right

padding
Vertical padding in pixels
—
"12"

user_must_be
Restrict access by role or login
—
"loggedin" / "subscriber"

validate_msg
Error message shown when access is denied
—
"Members only."

popup_closable
Allow ("1") or prevent ("0") dismissing the popup before countdown ends
"1"
"0"

The popup_content is passed as enclosed shortcode content (between the opening and closing tags), not as an attribute. This allows unrestricted HTML, ad code, and nested shortcodes.

[quick_download_button_group]

Attribute
Description
Default
Example value

layout
"horizontal" (side by side) or "stack" (column)
"horizontal"
"stack"

stack_on_mobile
Automatically stack buttons vertically on small screens
"true"
"false"

alignment
Justify the buttons within the row
"left"
left / center / right

gap
Gap between buttons in pixels
"12"
"20"

Donations

If Quick Download Button saves you time and you’d like to support its development, buy me a coffee. Thank you!

Documentation & Source Code

To report issues or contribute, visit the GitHub repository.