### [How to Allow Users to Upload Images on a WordPress Site](https://wpforms.com/users-submit-images-to-wordpress/)

**Published:** June 22, 2020
**Author:** Hamza Shahid

**Excerpt:** If you're running a WordPress site and want people to send you images maybe for submissions, feedback, or content contributions, you'll quickly find that WordPress doesn't really make that easy out of the box.

I’ve run into this problem before. Giving people backend access isn’t an option, and asking them to email files gets messy fast. What you really need is a form that lets users upload images directly through the front end.

I usually use WPForms for this. It lets me control exactly how the form works, where the files go, and what types of images are allowed. Here’s how I do it. Step by step!

**Content:**

If you’re running a WordPress site and want people to send you images maybe for submissions, feedback, or content contributions, you’ll quickly find that WordPress doesn’t really make that easy out of the box.

I’ve run into this problem before. Giving people backend access isn’t an option, and asking them to email files gets messy fast. What you really need is a form that lets users upload images directly through the front end.

I usually use WPForms for this. It lets me control exactly how the form works, where the files go, and what types of images are allowed. Here’s how I do it. Step by step!

[Create Your Image Upload Form Now 🔼](https://wpforms.com/pricing/)

- [Step 1: Install a WordPress Image Upload Form Plugin](#step-1-install-and-activate-wpforms)
- [Step 2: Create an Image Upload Form in WordPress](#step-2-create-an-image-upload-form-in-wordpress)
- [Step 3: Edit Your File Upload Field Options](#step-3-edit-your-file-upload-field-options)
- [Step 4: Edit File Upload Form Notifications](#step-4-edit-file-upload-form-notifications)
- [Step 5: Publish Your WordPress Image Upload Form](#step-5-publish-your-wordpress-image-upload-form)
- [Step 6: View the Uploaded Files in WordPress](#step-6-view-the-uploaded-files)

## How Do I Allow Users to Upload Images to WordPress?

Firstly, you’re going to need a form builder plugin that enables you to easily create a file upload form. Here’s a video that shows you how to upload an image in a form using WPForms.

If you would prefer to read the instructions for user submitted images that get added to your WordPress media library, I’ll walk through the process in the steps below. Let’s jump into it.

### Step 1: Install a WordPress Image Upload Form Plugin

WPForms is an incredibly versatile plugin. We can use it as a [WordPress image upload plugin](https://wpforms.com/best-file-upload-plugins/) using its simple drag-and-drop functionality without touching any code.

In order to accept user-submitted photos in WordPress, you first need to get a [WPForms Basic license](https://wpforms.com/pricing/) or above. This will give you access to a ton of extra features, addons, and integrations.

[![The WPForms pricing page. ](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/WPForms-Pricing-Page.png)](https://wpforms.com/pricing/)Once you’ve purchased a premium license, proceed to install and activate the WPForms plugin on your WordPress website.

If you need help with installing the plugin, you can see follow these step-by-step instructions on [how to install a WordPress plugin](http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/step-by-step-guide-to-install-a-wordpress-plugin-for-beginners/).

[Upgrade to WPForms Pro Now! 🙂](https://wpforms.com/pricing/)

### Step 2: Create an Image Upload Form in WordPress

Wondering how to let users upload pictures on your website? Well, to kick things off, you need to create a form with a file upload field. Go to **WPForms » Add New** in your WordPress menu.

![Add new form](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/add-new-form-updated.png)Once you’ve done that, you’ll be taken to the form setup screen. Start by giving a name to your form (the name helps you track the form and its entries inside your dashboard).

WPForms comes with [2,100+ WordPress form templates](https://wpforms.com/templates/) to make form creation easy. You can use the pre-made [File Upload Form template](https://wpforms.com/templates/file-upload-form-template/) to start.

![file upload form template](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/file-upload-form-template-2-1024x876.png)After selecting the template, the form builder will load it up in just a few seconds. You’ll now be able to add, remove, or reorder fields and view a live preview on the right sight of screen.

![image upload form preview](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/image-upload-form-preview-1024x804.png)Whether you’re building your file upload form from scratch or using a template, make sure to include one of the following fields:

- **File Upload:** This field will add a simple file uploader to your form so you can accept user submitted photos, pdfs, videos, and other files.
- **Rich Text:** If you’re using WPForms as an image upload plugin for guest or [sponsored posts](https://wpforms.com/how-to-require-users-to-pay-to-submit-a-post-in-wordpress/), you can let users add images alongside written content with the Rich Text field. For more information, see our [complete guide to the Rich Text field](https://wpforms.com/docs/how-to-use-the-rich-text-field-in-wpforms/).

[Get the File Upload Form Template Now 👉](https://wpforms.com/templates/file-upload-form-template/)

### Step 3: Edit Your File Upload Field Options

The File Upload Form template comes pre-equipped with all the important fields, including Name, Email, Phone, and, of course, the File Upload field.

However, you can customize the form by adding more fields by dragging them from the left-hand panel to the right-hand panel. You can also remove any existing fields you don’t need or reorder them by clicking and dragging the fields.

But most importantly, you should review your file upload field settings if you want to impose any restrictions. To access the settings for the file upload field, click on the field to open the **Field Options**.

![field options file upload](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/field-options-file-upload-1-1024x658.png)Under the General tab on the left-hand pane, you’ll find several settings that allow you to control the files you want to accept in the upload field:

- **Label:** Feel free to change the label of the File Upload field to something like “Image Upload” to make it more relevant to the form itself and guide users accordingly.
- **Allowed File Extensions:** If you only want to accept specific file types, you can specify them here. Simply enter the file extensions separated by commas. Leaving this option blank will allow all supported file types (.png, .gif, .jpg, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf, .wav, .mp3, .mp4,.mpg, .mov, .wmv)
- **Max File Size:** You can enter the max file size that you want to allow for each file. This input accepts values in MBs. Leaving this setting blank will default the file size limit to the value set by your web host.
- **Max File Uploads:** This setting allows you to specify the max number of files a user can submit during a single entry.

![File upload field settings](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/file-upload-field-settings-.png)You can also choose to save the uploaded files in your WordPress Media Library. This is handy if you want to publish the images in your posts or pages later on.

To set this up, click on the **Advanced** tab in the Field Options of the File Upload field.

![Opening the advanced options for a File Upload field](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/file-upload-field-advanced-options.png)Then, click on the toggle button next to the **Store file in WordPress Media Library** option to enable it.

![Setting up a File Upload field to store files in the Medial Library](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/file-upload-field-store-in-media-library.png)This way, you can access user-submitted images from your WordPress gallery.

If you’re using the Rich Text field to let users upload images to your WordPress site, you’ll first need to open its field options and turn on the **Allow Media Uploads** option.

![Turning on file uploads for the Rich Text field](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/rich-text-allow-uploads-store-in-media-library.png)Then you can turn on the **Store file in WordPress Media Library** option as well if you want. When your form looks the way you want it to, click **Save** at the top of the form builder.

### Step 4: Edit File Upload Form Notifications

WPForms allows you to receive the uploaded files as attachments in email notifications. To edit your notifications, go to **Settings » Notifications**.

![notifications settings](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/lead-form-notifications-settings-1024x782.png)You can edit the notification subject line, email body, Send To email address, and more to ensure the notifications are as helpful and readable as you want.

![image upload form email notification](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/image-upload-form-email-notification-982x1024.png)If you want to enable file upload attachments with the email, scroll down to the **Advanced** section and click on the **Enable File Upload Attachments** toggle.

After that, simply specify the file upload field from the dropdown and you’re good to go!

![enable file upload attachments](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/enable-file-upload-attachments-1024x550.png)It’s also a good idea to review your confirmation message, which appears on the screen immediately after the form is submitted by a user.

![form confirmations](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/form-confirmations-1024x797.png)To check or edit your confirmations, go to **Settings » Confirmations**. Then, customize the confirmation message to your liking and click **Save**.

![edit image upload form confirmation message](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/edit-image-upload-form-confirmation-message-1024x928.png)For help with other confirmation types, see our documentation on setting up [form confirmations](https://wpforms.com/docs/how-to-create-conditional-form-confirmations/). And with that, you’re ready to get your image uploader up and ready!

### Step 5: Publish Your WordPress Image Upload Form

WPForms allows you to add your forms to lots of locations on your website, including your WordPress blog posts, WordPress pages, and even [sidebar widgets](https://wpforms.com/how-to-add-a-contact-form-in-wordpress-sidebar-widget/).

To begin, click on the **Embed** button next to Save at the top of the form builder.

![Embed your form with the embed button](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Embed-Button.png)At this point, you’ll see a couple of embedding options. Let’s choose **Create a New Page** to embed the form in a fresh new page.

![Create new page](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/create-new-page.png)After that, you’ll need to enter a name for your page. Enter a name and press **Let’s Go** to proceed.

![Create a new page](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Create-a-New-Page.png)The form will now show up inside the WordPress editor, and you can check to make sure you like the way it looks.

Once you’re satisfied with the appearance of your form, go ahead and press the **Publish** button to launch your file upload form.

![Publishing a file upload form](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/publish-file-upload-form.png)Ok, now that you’re ready to accept form submissions with file uploads. Feel free to test it by adding files to confirm it’s working as intended.

![Modern file upload drag and drop](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/modern-file-upload-drag-and-drop.gif)Great! So now your form is all ready to accept file uploads from your visitors.

But once you start getting submissions, how are you going to view the uploaded files? That’s really easy as we’ll show in the next step.

### Step 6: View the Uploaded Files in WordPress

You can view the uploaded files from your WPForms Entries. Head to your WordPress dashboard and click on **WPForms » Entries**.

![WPForms entries](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/wpforms-entries.png)Then, you’ll see the Entries screen, where you’ll find all your active forms. Click on your file upload form to see its submissions, and hit **View** to see details about a specific entry.

![Viewing an image upload form entry](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/file-upload-form-view-entry.png)Now that you’re inside the entry, you’ll be able to see the file name, plus click on it to view and/or download it.

![Viewing a file uploaded to a form](https://wpforms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/entry-file-upload.png)Check out this [complete guide to form entries](https://wpforms.com/docs/complete-guide-to-form-entries/) if you’d like to learn more. And there you have it! You now know how to let users upload images to your WordPress site.

### FAQs on Image Uploads in WordPress

Image uploads are easy to set up with WPForms, but you may run into issues with file sizes and formats. Here are some common questions we get.

#### How do I create an image uploader on my website?

You can use a [form builder plugin](https://wpforms.com/best-free-wordpress-contact-form-plugins/) as an image uploader on your site if the goal is to allow users to upload images to your WordPress media library.

#### Can users upload to WordPress directly?

Yes, you can allow users to upload images to your gallery in WordPress. But you’ll need a plugin like WPForms, which works as an image uploader for WordPress.

It lets users upload file types like images, audio, video, and documents to be uploaded with a single click. You can even view these uploads as attachments within your WPForms entry management screen.

#### Why allow users to upload an image?

You might wonder when it makes sense to allow your website visitors to upload image files to your site. Adding media files into a form is not only easy, but it can also be really helpful.

Here are just a few ways your WordPress contributor can use an image upload form:

- To add images to their profile photos
- Adding images to their guest blog [post submissions](https://wpforms.com/addons/post-submissions-addon/)
- Adding media file to a custom order form
- Gathering testimonials of your products
- Letting users [submit events on a calendar](https://wpforms.com/create-a-user-submitted-events-calendar-in-wordpress/)

…and you can probably think of quite a few more reasons to use an image uploader for WordPress!

Having an image upload form saves you time since you don’t have to upload the user’s images yourself. It also helps to keep your site secure because you don’t have to give all your users access to log in to your site if they want to upload images.

#### What image formats does WordPress allow?

When you create an image upload form, WPForms uses the same defaults as WordPress.

You can accept lots of different types of files through your forms by default, including:

- **Images** (.png, .gif, and .jpg)
- **Documents** (.doc, .xls, .ppt, and .pdf)
- **Video** (.mpg, .mov, and .wmv)
- **Audio** (.wav, .mp3, and .mp4)

If you want to add other image formats, here’s [how to allow additional file upload types](https://wpforms.com/how-to-fix-file-type-is-not-permitted/) to your forms. This is handy if you want to allow image uploads from smartphones since the file format and MIME type might be different.

If you’d like to increase the maximum upload image size for your site, you’ll need to reach out to your WordPress hosting provider to find out if it’s possible. Check out this tutorial on [increasing the maximum file upload size in WordPress](https://wpforms.com/docs/a-complete-guide-to-the-file-upload-field/) for more details.

#### **What if WordPress shows “please login to upload image”?**

This message means your site is set to allow uploads only from logged-in users. To fix it, you can use a plugin like WPForms to let guests upload images without needing to log in.

#### **Why does WordPress say ‘you are not allowed to upload this file type’?**

WordPress blocks some file types by default for security reasons.

If you see this message, the image file you’re trying to upload isn’t on the allowed list. You can fix it by using a plugin that lets you add more file types safely.

#### **What is a photo submission form in WordPress?**

A photo submission form lets people upload pictures to your site without needing access to the admin area. It’s often used for contests, guest posts, or image galleries. You can build one easily with plugins like WPForms.

### Next, Accept User Submitted Blog Posts in WordPress

Want your users to be able to submit a whole blog post, instead of just an image? Check out our guide on [how to allow users to submit blog posts](https://wpforms.com/how-to-allow-users-to-submit-blog-posts-on-your-wordpress-site/).

[Create Your Image Upload Form Now 🔼](https://wpforms.com/pricing/)

Ready to build your form? Get started today with the easiest WordPress form builder plugin. [WPForms Pro](https://wpforms.com/pricing) includes lots of free templates and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.

If this article helped you out, please follow us on [Facebook](https://facebook.com/wpforms) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/easywpforms) for more free WordPress tutorials and guides.

**Categories:** WordPress Tutorials

**Tags:** file upload, image upload, media library, submit image

---