WordPress

The Freedam plugin for WordPress puts your approved library inside the WordPress media library. Editors open the Freedam tab, choose images and documents, and use them in posts and pages like any file they uploaded. The files stay in Freedam: WordPress shows them through the URLs of your publication channel.

What it does

The plugin adds a Freedam tab wherever WordPress opens the media library: the Image, Cover, Gallery, Media & Text and File blocks, the featured image, theme image fields and the classic editor's Add Media button. Media > Library gets an Add from Freedam button as well, to add assets without opening a post.

Open Freedam opens the Freedam Picker in a new browser tab. The editor searches the library, picks one or more assets, chooses a format, and clicks Insert. The picker closes, and the assets appear in the media library, selected and ready to place.

Each chosen asset becomes a media library item with its title, alt text and description from Freedam, and the credit as caption. A Freedam badge marks it in the grid, a Freedam filter lists them all, and Open in Freedam leads to the asset in your workspace. Choosing the same asset again updates the existing item instead of adding a duplicate.

How images are served

Every URL of a Freedam item comes from your publication channel, on your workspace's domain. WordPress asks for each image size it needs, and Freedam crops it around the asset's focus point:

Image sizes and srcset. Thumbnails, theme sizes and the srcset of each image use the widths of the channel, so browsers download the size they display, in AVIF or WebP when they support them.
Formats of the channel. The channel's named formats, such as a 16:9 banner or a square card, appear in the Image block's Resolution list.
Aspect ratios. An Image block set to a fixed aspect ratio gets an image cropped to it on the server, centred on the focus point.
Documents. The File block links to the original or to its PDF version, as chosen in the picker, and the media library shows the first page as a thumbnail.

The plugin rewrites image tags when pages are displayed, so it can update URLs and srcset without changing the content of your posts.

Usage and rights

Freedam records where each asset is used. The media library item counts as one usage, and every post or page that shows the asset counts as another, with its URL and title; drafts are listed with their status. The asset page in Freedam shows these usages, and Freedam lists them before anyone deletes or unpublishes the asset.

When an asset's usage rights expire or it is unpublished from the channel, the plugin stops showing it to visitors. Editors see a Rights expired or No longer published badge in the media library and a notice in the post editor, and the dashboard lists the posts concerned. If the rights are renewed, the image is displayed again.

Setting it up

Install the plugin from its zip file in Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin, and activate it.
In Settings > Freedam, enter your workspace address and the integration key. The page shows the origin to allow.
In Freedam, add that origin to the integration under Administration → Publishing → Picker integrations, then click Test connection in WordPress.

Each person who chooses assets signs in with their own Freedam account and sees only what their permissions allow. A site whose editors have no Freedam account can use the integration's public key instead. The picker opens in each person's language.

Good to know

Business plan. The plugin uses the Freedam Picker and a publication channel, both part of the Business plan.
Editable in WordPress. Title, alt text and caption come from Freedam and can be changed in WordPress like those of any other image.
Current WordPress versions. The plugin supports the current and previous major versions of WordPress.
Step-by-step setup of the plugin, the integration and its profile is in the WordPress plugin guide.

Building on another platform? The Freedam Picker brings the same library to any web app with a few lines of JavaScript.