PDA – Prevent Direct Access | #1 WordPress File Protection Plugin

🚀 Get Started in 60 Seconds Quick Start Guide: 1️⃣ Install - Search "Prevent Direct Access" in WordPress plugins\ 2️⃣ Activate - Go to Media Library and switch to List View\ 3️⃣ Protect - Click "Configure file protection" on any file\ 4️⃣ Share - Copy the private link and share securely First Steps After Installation:

• ✅ Protect your most sensitive file as a test
• ✅ Set up custom 403 redirect page
• ✅ Enable hotlink protection
• ✅ Configure IP restrictions if needed
• ✅ Test the private download link Pro Tip: Start by protecting a single file to see the magic, then use bulk operations or folder protection (Gold) to secure everything at once.

2.8.8.3 Apr 23, 2025

• [Improvement] Security: Restrict REST API access to file protection endpoints to admin users only.

2.8.8.2 Feb 26, 2025

• [Bugfix] Resolved the developer tool alert issue for page builders.

2.8.8.1 Feb 17, 2025

• [Bugfix] Fixed an issue with shortcut blocking and detection in developer tools prevention.
• [Improvement] Enhanced security measures for generating unique strings.

2.8.8 Jan 28, 2025

• [Improvement] Added customizable right-click alert with tooltip message.
• [Improvement] Enhanced developer tools prevention with shortcut blocking and detection.

2.8.7 July 01, 2024

• [Bug Fix] Resolved issues with Protection and Unprotection links for custom upload directories without year-month paths.

2.8.6.1 May 15, 2024

• [Bugfix] Code improvements and optimizations

2.8.6 May 13, 2024

• [Bugfix] Fixed Callback permission in rest api

2.8.5 September 11, 2023

• [Improvement] Comprehensive code comment documentation has been added
• [Improvement] Added text domains for strings in places where they were previously missing
• [Improvement] Removed unnecessary commented-out code, ensuring a cleaner and more efficient codebase
• [Improvement] The settings page sidebar has been revised to provide users with updated information and a helpful guide

2.8.4 April 07, 2023

• [Fix] Free plugin not working if we have install premium plugin and activate the license and then deactivate the premium plugin

2.8.3 Dec 16, 2022

• [Improvement] Disable right-clicks on iFrames
• [Improvement] Show error messages when protecting deleted files
• [Improvement] Show confirmation messages when protect/unprotect files under Media Library Grid View

2.8.2 August 25, 2022

• [Improvement] Show alert messages when right-clicking on web pages
• [Improvement] Disable more keyboard shortcuts
• [Fix] Allow text input on Safari when disabling right-clicks

2.8.1 Jun 12, 2022

• [New Feature] Restrict media files access to file’s authors only
• [Improvement] Show warning messages on multisites
• [Fix] Show non-latin characters in protected file names

2.8.0 April 20, 2022

• [Improvement] Disable text selection and image drag-and-drop features
• [Improvement] Disable content copy functions
• [Improvement] Display alert message on mouse right click

2.7.10 February 9, 2021

• [Refactoring] Secure input and output data
• [Refactoring] Update Settings UI using WordPress built-in jQuery libraries

2.7.9 Jan 28, 2022

• [New Feature] Provide an settings option to prevent right-clicking on all pages
• [Improvement] Remove “Invite & Earn” submenu & UTM tags on the plugin author URI

2.7.8 December 6, 2021

• Allow admins to access protected files whose FAP are “the file’s author” via a hook
• Display success & error messages when saving IP Restriction settings

2.7.7 October 5, 2021

• Allow protecting unlimited files with PDA Lite plugin
• Improve UI: Remove disabled options

2.7.6 August 13, 2021

• Update embedded documentation links in UI settings
• Test compatibility with WordPress 5.8
• Update GetResponse API 3.0

2.7.5 June 16, 2021

• Provide hook to display PDF thumbnails in the Media Library
• Fix error PHP log when updating a new PDA version

2.7.4 April 7, 2021

• Show rewrite rules for IIS users
• Improve UI: Hide PDA Gold features in the settings page
• Remove error log
• Show Configure pop-up under Media Library for all servers

2.7.3 February 10, 2021

• Improve UI on settings page and show rewrite rules for Nginx users
• Allow users to protect files under Media Library Grid View

2.7.2 December 18, 2020

• Allow admin users to access protected files

2.7.1 August 24, 2020

• Fix PHP notices with WP 5.5

2.7.0 June 16, 2020

• PDA Gold requires PDA Lite
• Un-protecting files don't update _pda_protection value
• Remove unused files & folders
• Hide "upgrade to PDA Gold" notice if PDA Gold is active
• Change the domain of translation
• Do not support in multisite mode

2.6.0 April 3, 2020

• Improve UI: compatible with WordPress 5.3
• Allow the file's author to access protected file by default

2.5.1.2 February 5, 2020

• Improve UI: hide Like Plugin column in the settings page

2.5.1.1 November 16, 2019

• Fix add_submenu_page PHP notice issue

2.5.1 November 7, 2019

• Add feature "Prevent Image Hotlinking"
• Prevent Google Indexing for private links
• Fix file access permission when filename contains size

2.5.0.4 October 4, 2019

• Improve UI under settings page

2.5.0.3 August 9, 2019

• Update switch button under settings page
• Show notification when saving settings successfully

2.5.0.2 May 16, 2019

• Fix get lucky button

2.5.0.1 December 04, 2018

• Fix typo

2.5.0 November 18, 2018

• Revamp UI

2.4.0.1 August 10, 2018

• Hot fix [] array declaration cannot work under PHP version < 5.4

2.4.0 June 14, 2018

• Fix cannot remove rewrite rules when deactivate plugin

2.3.9 Tue, April 17, 2018

• Fix "This plugin is not properly prepared for localization"

2.3.8 Thu, April 12, 2018

• Apply localisation

2.3.7 Wed, February 28, 2018

• Test Wordpress 4.9.4

2.3.6 Wed, January 31, 2018

• Fix undefined index when get option FREE_PDA_SETTINGS

2.3.5 Fri, January 26, 2018

• Improve UI for settings page

2.3.4 Tue, January 23, 2018

• Improve UI on settings page by revamping checkbox option
• Integrate stop image hotlinking feature
• Show information in order to know whether the file is protected

2.3.3 Mon, January 8, 2018

• Revamp settings page

2.3.2 Wed, November 15, 2017

• Fix wp::prepare warning messages when using in WordPress version 4.8.3.

2.3.1: Sat, November 4, 2017

• Add warning messages when users are using a deprecated wp api plugin.

2.3: Thu, August 17, 2017

• Protect files from search engine's index

2.2: Wed, June 14, 2017

• Add settings page

2.1.5: Thu, June 1, 2017

• Notify users to upgrade to Gold version
• Update plugin's data after users remove media files

2.1.4: Mon, May 22, 2017

• Change the way to get non-protected URL
• Redirect to default 404 page if the file is protected
• Support websites hosted on WP Engine

2.1.3: February 25, 2017

• Tweak: Change the plugin's logic to cater for those files that couldn't be found in the _postmeta table

2.1.2

• Fix Twitter, Google Plus and Facebook open graph issue

2.1.1

• Fix .htaccess rules to recognize the special characters
• Find in _postmeta table in case of cropped images via wordpress