What it is for

You have a price list, a timetable or a set of monthly figures displayed through a Tabulizer data source. Someone else prepares the file, and every update means asking you to replace it on the server.

Tabulizer File Uploader gives that person an upload form on the front end of the site. They sign in, choose their updated file and upload it. You decide who can upload, where the file goes, which formats are accepted and how large it may be.

The useful arrangement is simple: create the data source once, point it at a file, then keep replacing that file with a newer copy under the same name. The pages displaying the data source continue to use it.

Step 1 - install the plugin

1. In the WordPress dashboard, open Plugins › Add New and click Upload Plugin.
2. Choose the Tabulizer File Uploader ZIP, click Install Now, then Activate Plugin.
3. Open File Uploader in the dashboard menu.

The plugin requires WordPress 6.0 or later and PHP 7.4 or later. On a multisite installation, activate it separately on each site where you need it.

Step 2 - decide who may upload

Start with access. A signed-in account is required, and ordinary users cannot upload until you permit them. There are two ways to do it:

To find an ID, open Users › All Users and edit the account. The address in the browser contains a value such as user_id=42; the number is the ID to enter.

Click Save Changes. People who already have the WordPress manage_options capability, normally administrators, can upload without an additional grant.

Step 3 - choose the destination and limits

The usual destination is:

wp-content/uploads/tabulizer/data

That is relative to the WordPress installation root, including when WordPress lives in a subfolder. If Tabulizer has a custom storage location, the uploader uses its data folder as the default where that location is inside the WordPress root. Check the value shown on your own settings screen.

The form shows the uploader's effective limit. A rule cannot exceed the global ceiling, the plugin's fixed 100 MB ceiling, or the lower limits imposed by WordPress, PHP and the web server.

Step 4 - select file types

Allowed extensions initially contains csv,txt,tsv,xls,xlsx,json,xml. Remove formats you do not use; for a CSV-only workflow, enter csv.

File contents are checked as well as the extension. Renaming another kind of file to .csv does not make it acceptable. JSON and XML must be valid, and spreadsheet uploads have their own format checks.

Additional MIME restriction is optional. Leave it empty for the built-in checks, or enter a comma-separated list of detected MIME types to narrow them further. MIME detection can identify a normal CSV as text/plain, so an unnecessarily narrow list can reject valid files.

Different folders or limits for different people

Under User and role rules, click Add rule. Select a person by User ID or Exact username, or leave both blank and select a role. Then set a destination, a size limit, or both.

For example, give the account data-editor a 2 MB limit and this destination:

wp-content/uploads/tabulizer/data/{user_id}-{username}

For user 42, that becomes wp-content/uploads/tabulizer/data/42-data-editor. The values are filled in for the person uploading, and names are converted to safe folder names.

The first matching user-ID or exact-username rule wins. If none matches, the first matching role rule wins; otherwise the defaults apply. Use Move up and Move down to change the order. A blank folder inherits the default folder, and a limit of 0 inherits the default user limit. Save your changes.

Role tokens use the role matched by the rule. Without a matching role rule, they use the account's first role alphabetically. WordPress roles have slugs rather than numeric group IDs.

Step 5 - put the form on a page

1. Open Pages › Add New, or edit the page where the form belongs.
2. Add a WordPress Shortcode block.
3. Enter [tabulizer_file_uploader].
4. Preview the page while signed in, then publish or update it when ready.

An authorised account sees the form. Other visitors see a message asking them to sign in with an authorised account. An ordinary signed-in account still needs the upload permission you configured earlier.

On a classic theme with widget areas, you can also add the Tabulizer File Uploader widget under Appearance › Widgets. It shares the plugin's settings; there is no second destination or permission list to maintain.

Step 6 - connect the uploaded file to Tabulizer

Choose the filename you want to keep, for example monthly-sales.csv, and upload its first copy. Then open Tabulizer › Data Sources and create or edit the file-based data source that should read it.

Set its file path to the actual uploaded file. With the default folder, our example is:

wp-content/uploads/tabulizer/data/monthly-sales.csv

With the individual folder from the rule example, it is:

wp-content/uploads/tabulizer/data/42-data-editor/monthly-sales.csv

Keep the data source's parsing options and ruleset appropriate for the file, then display that data source in your page as usual. Every later upload must use the same destination and filename to update that source. A different filename creates a different file; the data source will continue reading the old one.

What the person updating the data does

1. Sign in to the WordPress site and open the page containing the uploader.
2. Drag one file onto the drop area, use Choose a data file, or click Browse using a text link.
3. Click Upload file.
4. Wait for the success message, then check the page displaying the data.

The progress bar measures the transfer. At 100%, the server may still be validating and saving the file; the success message confirms completion. Upload one file at a time.

Appearance, notifications and refresh

The plugin includes English and German language files and follows the WordPress language settings. Custom text you enter yourself remains as entered.

Checking the upload history

Return to File Uploader and look below the settings. Upload history records the UTC date, account, filename, destination, byte count, detected MIME type, replacement flag, status and notification result. Search by filename or username; longer histories have page links.

Replaced is 1 when an existing file was replaced, and 0 for a new file. Hover over the filename cell to see its SHA-256 checksum. The destination column is also a useful way to check exactly how a folder rule resolved.

A notification marked failed does not mean the file upload failed: check Status separately. WordPress accepting a notification for sending does not guarantee its delivery to the inbox. Rejected files do not appear as successful uploads; a pending row may indicate interrupted processing and needs checking.

Common questions