Title: PDF Thumbnails
Author: stianlik
Published: April 7, 2014
Last modified: October 24, 2016
---
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This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.
# PDF Thumbnails
By [stianlik](https://profiles.wordpress.org/stianlik/)
[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/pdf-thumbnails.2.2.0.zip)
* [Details](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/pdf-thumbnails/#description)
* [Reviews](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/pdf-thumbnails/#reviews)
* [Installation](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/pdf-thumbnails/#installation)
* [Development](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/pdf-thumbnails/#developers)
[Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/)
## Description
This plugin hooks into the media manager and generates a thumbnail everytime a
PDF is uploaded. Generated thumbnail is an image of the first page in the uploaded
document and is named `PDFNAME-thumbnail`, where `PDFNAME` is replaced by uploaded
document filename.
Generated thumbnails are equivalent to [featured
images
so that common thumbnail
functions like `get_post_thumbnail_id()` can be used for PDF attachments. See [Post Thumbnails](https://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Thumbnails) for
information on how you can use thumbnails efficiently.
Integration with the javascript media API is not yet implemented, therefore, you
may need to reload the page before you can see generated thumbnail after an upload.
#### Shortcodes
It is possible to display a thumbnail linking to an uploaded PDF using the `[pdf_thumbnails_link]`
shortcode. The following attributes are supported:
* `id` – Attachment ID (required)
* `size` – [Thumbnail size](https://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Thumbnails#Thumbnail_Sizes)(
optional)
* `title` – [Anchor title attribute](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes#attr-title)(
optional)
* `target` – [Anchor target attribute](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/a#attr-target)(
optional)
* `download` – [Anchor download attribute](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/a#attr-download)(
optional)
Example 1: Display link to PDF with ID = 172 using [default thumbnail size](https://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Thumbnails#Thumbnail_Sizes)
```
[pdf_thumbnails_link id="172"]
```
Example 2: Display link to PDF with ID = 172 using thumbnail size (default 150×150)
```
[pdf_thumbnails_link id="172" size="thumbnail"]
```
Thanks to [mirgcire](https://wordpress.org/support/profile/mirgcire) for providing
the first
version of the `[pdf_thumbnails_link]` shortcode.
#### Developer API
In most cases it should be sufficient to use built-in thumbnail functions from
the WordPress API (`get_post_thumbnail` and similar). If you need to modify the
way thumbnails are generated, you can override image generation with the `pdf_thumbnails_generate_image_blob`
filter.
Example 1: Increase resolution for all generated PDF thumbnails
```
// $blob is the current image blob (defaults to null, can be used for chaining)
// $filename is the PDF filename
add_action('pdf_thumbnails_generate_image_blob', function ($blob, $filename) {
$imagick = new Imagick();
$imagick->setResolution(200,200);
$imagick->readImage($filename);
$imagick->setIteratorIndex(0);
$imagick->setImageFormat('jpg');
return $imagick->getImageBlob();
}, 10, 2);
```
It is possible to modify generated thumbnail links using the `pdf_thumbnails_link_shortcode`
filter. The following attributes are available:
* `$html` – Generated HTML code to be displayed
* `$attachmentId` – Sanitized ID of the PDF attachment
* `$size` – Sanitized thumbnail size
* `$atts` – [Shortcode attributes (not sanitized)](https://codex.wordpress.org/Shortcode_API#Handling_Attributes)
* `$content` – Shortcode content (not sanitized)
Example 2: Wrap thumbnail link in figure and append caption
```
add_filter('pdf_thumbnails_link_shortcode', function ($html, $attachmentId, $size, $atts, $content) {
return "$html
Click to open image $attachmentId
";
}, 10, 5);
```
### TODO
Add generated image to media browser after upload.
Outline of an implementation based on the javascript media API:
```
// New uploads
wp.Uploader.queue.on('add', function (attachment) {
if (attachment.subtype !== 'pdf') {
return;
}
findThumbnailFor(attachment.ID).then(function (data) {
// Add attachment thumbnail to browser
var attachment = wp.media.model.Attachment.get(id)
attachment.fetch().done(function () {
wp.media.editor.open().state().get('library').add(generated attachment)
});
});
});
```
Filter: ajax_query_attachments_args
## Installation
PDF Thumbnails requires ImageMagick with GhostScript support. If you are lucky,
this is already installed on your system, otherwise, installation can be done with
the following steps:
1. Install ghostscript
2. Install imagemagick with ghostscript support
3. Install PHP extension for imagemagick (can use pecl)
4. Restart web server for changes to take effect
Details may differ based on which operating system you are running, see
[Support](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/nothing-but-error-messages)
for more resources and tips on how this can be done in Windows, Linux and OSX.
#### Debian / Ubuntu
```
sudo apt-get install ghostscript php5-imagick
sudo service apache2 restart
```
## Reviews
### [No longer supported](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/no-longer-supported-45/)
[joyrowe](https://profiles.wordpress.org/joyrowe/) June 17, 2019 2 replies
As of June 2019, this plug-in does not seem to be functioning on our site. It has
not been updated for 3 years. We are using WordPress 5.2.1.
### [great!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/great-9287/)
[formgiver](https://profiles.wordpress.org/formgiver/) February 21, 2019
thank you so much! i just needed to enable imagik and ask my host to speed up the
php libraries’ updating process, it already had pdf support.
### [Excellent](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excellent-6432/)
[jonsisk](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jonsisk/) June 28, 2018
Works just like it should. Can’t believe this functionality isn’t in the WP core.
Thanks!
### [Nice Job](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/nice-job-124/)
[mirgcire](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mirgcire/) September 3, 2016 1 reply
The plugin does just what it says and the author is very helpful. My only suggestion
would be to add a short code that would insert a clickable thumbnail into a webpage.
Clicking on that would open the PDF in a viewer. For example: [pdf-thumbnail id=”
1234″ size=”medium”] … naturally this functionality would require host support for
imagick.
### [Works as expected](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-as-expected-170/)
[winnewoerp](https://profiles.wordpress.org/joschi81/) September 3, 2016
This plugin does what it’s supposed to do. No problems.
[ Read all 9 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/reviews/)
## Contributors & Developers
“PDF Thumbnails” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.
Contributors
* [ stianlik ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/stianlik/)
* [ mirgcire ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mirgcire/)
[Translate “PDF Thumbnails” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/pdf-thumbnails)
### Interested in development?
[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pdf-thumbnails/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/pdf-thumbnails/), or
subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/pdf-thumbnails/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/pdf-thumbnails/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).
## Changelog
This plugin use [semantic versioning](http://semver.org/), i.e. breaking changes
increase the MAJOR version.
#### 2.2.0
* Support title, target, and download attributes in `pdf_thumbnails_link` shortcode
#### 2.1.0
* Support thumbnail links with the `pdf_thumbnails_link` shortcode
* Support link customization using the `pdf_thumbnails_link_shortcode` filter
#### 2.0.0
* Replaced `pdf_thumbnails_before_get_image_blob` hook with `pdf_thumbnails_generate_image_blob`
filter
#### 1.0.2
* Introduced `pdf_thumbnails_before_get_image_blob` hook
## Meta
* Version **2.2.0**
* Last updated **9 years ago**
* Active installations **1,000+**
* Tested up to **4.6.30**
* Language
* [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pdf-thumbnails/)
* Tags
* [generator](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/generator/)[pdf](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/pdf/)
[thumbnail](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/thumbnail/)
* [Advanced View](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/pdf-thumbnails/advanced/)
## Ratings
4.6 out of 5 stars.
* [ 8 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/reviews/?filter=5)
* [ 0 4-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/reviews/?filter=4)
* [ 0 3-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/reviews/?filter=3)
* [ 0 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/reviews/?filter=2)
* [ 1 1-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/reviews/?filter=1)
[Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/reviews/#new-post)
[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/reviews/)
## Contributors
* [ stianlik ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/stianlik/)
* [ mirgcire ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mirgcire/)
## Support
Got something to say? Need help?
[View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pdf-thumbnails/)