Posted April 14, 2021

The Downloadables content block can be added on any post or page by clicking the blue ‘Add Content Block’ button on the bottom in the Content Blocks section and selecting ‘Downloadables’.

See the example below.

Downloadables Content Block Fields

This content block has six fields.

Nav Title is used for in-page navigation, to jump down the page. Such as the ‘EXAMPLE’ link in the hero above.

The Title field is for the content block header, such as ‘Downloadables Title’ below. The Intro Text field is for ancillary information you’d like to provide for the user under the title.

The Files field is a special field type called a repeater. You can add/repeat as many ‘Files’ or rows as you like. Click the blue ‘Add File’ button and three fields appear.

File is the actual file that users will be able to download. Here you can select a file that already exists in your Media Library or upload a new file from your device.
The File Name will be displayed on the frontend. This should be short but descriptive.
File Thumbnail is the displayed ‘preview’ of the file for the user to see. Image files (JPGs and PNGs) automatically pull in a thumbnail. However, for other file formats (e.g. word docs, design files, PDFs) this thumbnail has to be manually added to the block. These blocks will appear blank until a thumbnail is added.

Generating Thumbnails

There are a few, easy steps to take to create thumbnails for non-image files.

PDFs

StageHand comes with a plugin called PDF Thumbnails Premium. Every time a PDF is uploaded to the site, it automatically creates a JPEG image of the first page. This generated thumbnail will appear in the Media Library with the same file name but different format type.

If you can’t find the thumbnail image in the Media Library, edit the original file either by hovering over the file in the content block and clicking the edit icon or by going through the Media Library. Here you will see a PDF Thumbnail section. You can generate the thumbnail here.

Word Documents and Design Files

Word docs and design files do not generate a thumbnail image automatically. For these files types, we recommend taking a screenshot of the file on your computer and uploading that as your thumbnail option. Additionally, you may upload an image that is relevant to the content of the file.

Make sure to ‘Update’ the page to save your changes.

This is an example of the downloadables content block. You simply just hover and click on the file you would like to download.

Downloadables Content Block