Trilobita

DocVault Pro Documentation

Complete guide to all DocVault Pro features.

Pro extends the free plugin. For installation, the shortcode, the Gutenberg block, and general document management, see the main documentation.

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Getting Started

Requirements

  • WordPress 5.8 or higher
  • PHP 7.4 or higher
  • DocVault (free) version 1.5.0 or higher, installed and active
  • A valid Pro licence

Installation

  1. Purchase Pro and download the plugin from your account
  2. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin
  3. Upload the trilobita-docvault-pro.zip file and activate
  4. Connect your account when prompted to activate your licence
  5. All Pro features are unlocked immediately

Pro Settings

Most Pro features work automatically once activated. Features that require configuration have their settings in Documents → Settings under the Pro Features section.

Additional File Types

Pro can allow file types beyond the built-in document set. In Documents → Settings, under Additional File Types, choose from:

  • JPEG, PNG, GIF, and WebP images
  • ZIP archives
  • Adobe Illustrator (AI) and EPS files

Only the types listed can be enabled; arbitrary extensions cannot be added. ZIP contents are not inspected, so only enable ZIP if you trust your uploaders. AI and EPS files use PostScript: do not enable them if your server runs Ghostscript or ImageMagick to process uploaded files.

Unlimited Version History

The free plugin keeps up to 5 versions per document, automatically deleting the oldest when a new one is uploaded. With Pro active, this limit is removed. All versions are retained indefinitely.

No configuration is needed. The limit is lifted automatically once Pro is active. You can still manually delete versions, or use the Storage Management tools to prune old versions in bulk.

Version Management

To control storage, turn on Version Management in Documents → Settings and set Keep latest (up to 100). When a new version is uploaded, versions older than this limit are deleted automatically. Leave it empty for unlimited.

Each document’s Version History box also has a version cap field. A cap set there overrides the global setting for that document only.

When auto-prune is off, a warning appears on any document with 20 or more versions and no cap, showing how much storage it uses. In the Documents list, the Versions and File Size columns are colour-coded to highlight documents worth reviewing.

Smart Similarity Detection

When you upload a file, Pro compares the filename against all existing documents. If a similar document is found, you are shown a comparison and asked to choose how to proceed.

How it works

  1. Upload a file as normal
  2. Pro scans existing documents for similar filenames
  3. If a match is found, you are shown the similar document and given two options
  4. Add as new version – attaches the file to the existing document as its latest version
  5. Create separately – creates a new independent document

Detection runs on both standard upload and bulk upload. Files with very different names will not trigger a match.

DocVault Pro detecting a possible duplicate on upload and offering to add the file as a new version
Smart detection on a single upload: add the file as a new version of a similar document, or create a new one.

Role-Based Access Control

The free plugin restricts documents to Public or Logged-in users. Pro adds a third option: Specific roles, allowing you to restrict a document to one or more WordPress user roles.

Setting role-based access on a document

  1. Open the document in the editor
  2. Find the Access Control metabox
  3. Set access type to Specific roles
  4. Check the roles that should have access
  5. Save the document

Users not in a permitted role will see an access denied message when attempting to download. You can also set Specific roles as the global default in Documents → Settings.

DocVault Pro Access Control box restricting a document to the Editor and Author roles
The Access Control box with Pro: restrict a document to specific WordPress roles. Administrators always have access.

Audit Trail

The audit trail records every significant action on your documents. Access the log at Documents → Audit Log.

Enabling

Go to Documents → Settings and turn on Audit Log. Downloads are not recorded in the audit trail. See Download Analytics for download history.

Events tracked

  • Document created, updated, deleted
  • Version uploaded, restored, deleted
  • Access permissions changed
  • Documents merged
  • Approval workflow events (submitted, approved, rejected)
  • Expiry date set or cleared
  • Storage cleanup

Filtering and export

  • Filter by date range, event type, user, or document title
  • Click Export CSV to download the filtered results
  • Exports are capped at 10,000 rows – use the date filter to export in smaller batches if your log is larger
DocVault Pro audit log with filters and Export CSV
The Audit Log, with filters for event type, user, document and date, and CSV export.

Retention

Log entries are automatically deleted after 90 days by default. Change the retention period in Documents → Settings. Set it to Forever if you need to retain logs indefinitely for compliance.

Download Analytics

Each document’s edit screen includes a Download Analytics metabox showing detailed download statistics. No configuration is needed – analytics are recorded automatically from the moment Pro is activated.

Downloads by version

Progress bars show how many times each version has been downloaded, with percentage distribution across all versions.

Recent downloads

A table showing the last 10 downloads, including:

  • Date and time
  • Version downloaded
  • Username (or Guest for non-logged-in users)
  • IP address
DocVault Pro download statistics by version with recent downloads
Download Analytics: downloads by version, and the most recent downloads with date, version, user and IP address.

Email Notifications

Pro can send email alerts when document events occur. Configure notifications at Documents → Settings under the Pro Features section.

Available events

  • Document created
  • Document updated
  • Document deleted
  • New version uploaded
  • Version restored
  • Expiry date set or cleared
  • Document submitted for approval
  • Document approved
  • Document rejected

Sender and recipients

Set From Name and From Email to control who notifications appear to come from. Leave them empty to use the site name and admin email.

Enter Recipients one email address per line. Leave empty to send to the site admin email.

To prevent notification floods during bulk operations, at most one notification is sent per document per event type within any 5-minute window.

Emails are sent using WordPress’s standard mail function. If notifications are not being delivered, install an SMTP plugin such as WP Mail SMTP.

Document Approval Workflow

Require documents to be reviewed and approved before publishing. Useful for compliance, quality control, or editorial workflows.

Enabling

  1. Go to Documents → Settings
  2. Enable Approval workflow in the Pro Features section
  3. Under Who can approve, choose Administrators only or Administrators and Editors
  4. Save settings

Author flow

  1. Save a document as a draft
  2. Click Submit for Approval in the document editor
  3. Document status changes to Pending
  4. The approver receives an email notification (if email notifications are enabled)
DocVault Pro Approval Status box showing Pending Approval with Approve & Publish and Reject buttons
A document waiting for approval, with Approve & Publish and Reject buttons.

Approver flow

  1. Pending documents appear in the document list with a Pending badge
  2. Open the document in the editor
  3. Click Approve & Publish to publish it, or Reject to return it to draft (you can add an optional rejection reason)
  4. The author is notified of the decision by email
DocVault Pro Approval Status box showing a document approved and published
Once approved, the document is published and the approval is recorded.

Pending documents are not publicly accessible until approved. The Submit for Approval button only appears on documents in draft status – published documents cannot be re-submitted.

Bulk Upload

Upload multiple documents at once. Access at Documents → Bulk Upload.

Upload up to 20 documents at once. For larger collections, upload in multiple batches.

  1. Drag and drop multiple files onto the upload area, or click to browse
  2. Pro checks each file against existing documents using similarity detection
  3. Files with potential matches are highlighted – choose to add as a new version or create a new document
  4. Files without matches are queued as new documents with titles generated from their filenames
  5. Click Upload All to process the queue
DocVault Pro bulk upload queue with a possible duplicate flagged
Bulk upload with smart detection: possible duplicates are flagged so you can add them as new versions or create new documents.

Bulk Actions

In the Documents list, select documents and choose a bulk action:

  • Export to CSV – download details of the selected documents
  • Assign Category – add the selected documents to a category

Duplicate Detection

Find and merge duplicate documents to keep your library clean. Access at Documents → Find Duplicates. This page requires Editor or Administrator access.

  1. Click Scan for Duplicates
  2. Review detected duplicates grouped by similarity
  3. Click a document to review its content before merging
  4. Select which document to keep as the primary
  5. Click Merge – versions are combined and old download links redirect to the primary document

Note: Merging moves duplicates to the trash. Review carefully before merging – permanently deleted documents cannot be recovered.

DocVault Pro Find Duplicates showing two similar documents ready to merge
Find Duplicates: review similar documents and merge them.

Storage Management

Monitor and optimise your document storage. Access at Documents → Storage.

Orphan file cleanup

Finds files in the upload directory that are no longer attached to any document. This can happen after migrations or if documents were deleted without removing the underlying file. Review the list carefully before deleting – deletion is permanent.

Version pruning

Removes old versions beyond a number you specify. For example, setting keep to 3 deletes all but the 3 most recent versions of every document. The current version is always kept. The minimum value is 1.

Cleanup merged

Permanently removes documents that have previously been merged into others and are sitting in the trash.

DocVault Pro storage statistics with storage by file type
Storage statistics: total storage, current and old versions, and storage by file type.

Dashboard Widget

A document statistics widget is added to the WordPress dashboard automatically when Pro is active. No configuration is needed.

  • Total document count
  • Total downloads
  • Total storage used
  • Recent activity from the audit log

Quick links from the widget take you directly to document management and the full audit log.

DocVault Pro Document Activity dashboard widget
The Document Activity widget on your WordPress dashboard: documents, downloads, storage and recent activity.

Frontend Display

Block Layout Options

Pro adds two additional display layouts to the DocVault Gutenberg block. Select a DocVault block in the editor, then choose Card (Pro) or Button (Pro) from the Layout control in the Document Settings panel of the block sidebar. Both layouts have Show file icon and Show file info toggles.

Card layout

A rich card display featuring a large file icon, document title, excerpt, file type badge, file size, date, download count, and a prominent download button. Ideal for showcasing important documents or dedicated downloads pages.

Button layout

A compact inline button with file icon, document title, and file type and size. Perfect for embedding download links within post content without disrupting the reading flow.

The free plugin’s Full and Minimal layouts remain available alongside the Pro layouts.

Button Appearance

Match download buttons to your brand. In Documents → Settings, under Button Appearance, set the Button background (default #0073aa) and Button text (default #ffffff) colours. Use Reset to default to go back.

Document Table Shortcode

Advanced Frontend Filters

Pro extends the free [trdv_list] shortcode with additional filtering, sorting, and display options for larger document libraries.

ParameterDescriptionDefault
date_fromShow documents uploaded on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)(none)
date_toShow documents uploaded on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)(none)
typesFilter by multiple file types (comma-separated), e.g. pdf,docx,xlsx(none)
min_downloadsOnly show documents with at least this many downloads0
orderbyIncludes downloads in addition to free options (date, title, size)date
columnsAdd downloads and version columns in table outputtitle,type,size,date

Examples

[trdv_list types="pdf,docx" min_downloads="10" orderby="downloads" order="DESC"]

[trdv_list date_from="2026-01-01" date_to="2026-12-31" columns="title,version,downloads,date"]

Need Help?

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Pro customers receive priority email support.

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Troubleshooting Guide