WEB WORKBENCH

My Project Workspace

A collection of systems, experiments, and builds

Simple Media Download Counter Plugin (WordPress Tool)

I built this small WordPress plugin because I wanted a straightforward way to track file downloads without relying on Google Analytics or heavier analytics systems like GA4.

Most analytics tools are designed for page views, funnels, and marketing dashboards — but I needed something much simpler:

👉 “Did anyone actually download this file?”

Why I made it

When I share plugins, tools, or ZIP files from WordPress, there’s usually no clean way to know if they’re being used unless I add external tracking systems.

I didn’t want:

• GA4 setup overhead
• third-party tracking scripts
• complicated dashboards
• or anything that slows the site down

So I built a lightweight alternative that stays inside WordPress..

What it does

This plugin adds a simple opt-in system inside the Media Library.

When enabled on a file:

• it generates a tracked download URL
• it increments a download counter on each use
• it shows the total downloads in Media Library
• it provides a copy button for the tracked link
• it includes a simple “Media Downloads” overview page

Everything stays inside WordPress admin — no external services required.

How it works

Each file in the Media Library can be enabled with a checkbox:

✔ Enable download tracking

Once enabled, WordPress generates a tracked URL like:

https://your-site.com/?ww_download=123

This link:

• records the download
• then redirects to the actual file
• works with normal WordPress media uploads

Where you see the data

You can view download counts in two places:

• inside the Media Library list view
• under Media → Downloads (overview page)

From there, you can quickly see which files are actually being used.

Why this is useful

This is a very lightweight way to understand:

• which plugins people download
• which resources are being used
• what content is actually useful

Without needing full analytics stacks.

Download

A downloadable ZIP version of this plugin is available on the website.


Download Simple Email Test Plugin

Note

This plugin is intended for simple tracking inside WordPress environments.

It is not designed as a full analytics platform, and I don’t provide support for modifying it for external systems or non-standard setups.

Final thoughts

This is part of my Web Workbench system — small tools built to solve specific problems as I encounter them while building websites and plugins.

As I continue building, I’ll likely expand this with more internal tools like it.

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