OpenStation vs Filevue

wp-admin forgets. OpenStation doesn’t. You know the moment. You’re deep in a post and you need one image from the Media Library. You click over, find it, click back, and everything you had going is gone. Your scroll position, your half-typed thought, the three other things you had queued up in your head. That’s not a bug you hit. That’s the design. wp-admin shows you one screen at a time, and every navigation throws the last one away. It has worked this way since 2003, like a fridge that empties itself every time you close the door. WordPress has rebuilt almost everything else. The editor, the site editor, the patterns, the styles. The admin’s one-screen-at-a-time model is the layer nobody touched. OpenStation touches it. Install it and admin screens become draggable, resizable windows. Edit a post while the Media Library sits open next to it. Drag an image from one window straight into the other. Keep comments open in the corner. Reload the browser and your window layout — open pages, positions, sizes, and window states — comes back where you left it. OpenStation itself is free, GPL, and opt-in per user. One click in the admin bar turns it on for you. One click turns it off. Nobody else on your site sees anything change, and deactivating the plugin restores the classic admin exactly. No Core patches and no lock-in. Optional AI providers may charge for their service. Built and maintained by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Jetpack, WooCommerce, and Tumblr. Work on more than one thing at once Admin pages open as windows, including pages added by most other plugins. Drag them, resize them, snap them, tile them, minimize them to a taskbar. The admin menu becomes a dock of icons. Two editors open at once is one click away. Never lose your place Moving between open windows leaves each page in place. Across reloads, OpenStation remembers your open pages, window positions, sizes and states, virtual desktops, and focus. Closing a window with unsaved changes warns you first. A desk you can actually put things on Drop posts, media, and links right onto the wallpaper. Sort them into folders. Trash them to a Trash that actually holds things. The stuff you’re working on this week can just sit out where you can see it. One desktop per job Virtual desktops, the way your operating system does them. One for writing. One for the store. One for comment triage. One for that redesign you keep poking at. Switch between them without closing anything. Find anything with Cmd+K The full WordPress command palette, plus slash commands from your plugins, all under one keystroke. Turn on the optional AI assistant and you can ask it things like “which post had the comment asking for the recipe?” and it searches your own content to answer. (Requires an AI provider configured in Settings → Connectors on WordPress 7.0+. Details under “External services” below.) See how your site fits together The Corkboard is an interactive, zoomable map of how your posts, pages, and products link to each other. Pan around it. Find the orphans. Find the hubs. Running a store? Orders, Products, Coupons, and Customers become browsable folders with stock and sale ribbons. Open a customer to see their lifetime spend and what they buy most. Follow a product to its buyers, or a coupon to who redeemed it. Make it yours Wallpapers, from color presets to animated scenes to your own photo. Live widgets pinned to the desktop: drafts, stats, recent comments, a focus timer. Uploadable desktop themes, including a built-in Legacy theme that brings the old WordPress blue back in one click. And Mio, a soft-body desk companion that drifts across your wallpaper and gets bumped around by your windows. Off by default. You’ll turn it on. For developers Extend OpenStation through documented PHP and JavaScript APIs. Register windows, icons, wallpapers, widgets, commands, and settings tabs through stable openstation_register_* PHP APIs and a typed JavaScript API; customize dock items through documented hooks; add AI tools with the WordPress Abilities API. Copy-paste examples live in the developer docs on GitHub. External services No external service is required for OpenStation’s desktop interface. The optional AI Assistant and two user-initiated enrichment features make the external requests described below. AI Assistant The optional AI Assistant sends data to the AI provider you configure in WordPress’s Settings → Connectors (for example OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google). Generation is routed through WordPress 7.0’s built-in AI Client, which supplies the credentials stored in Connectors. The plugin never handles an API key itself. With no provider configured in Connectors, no external AI requests are made. When the AI Assistant is enabled and a user invokes it (via Cmd+K or the slash-command palette): What is sent: the user’s prompt, the conversation history for the active session, and tool-call metadata. The plugin’s built-in tools (search_posts, search_pages, search_comments) run WordPress’s native keyword search and may include excerpts of the matching posts/pages/comments in tool results, which are then sent back to the provider as part of the agentic loop. When it is sent: on user-initiated AI requests, and (if an administrator enables “Score new comments with AI”) on comment-save hooks for spam analysis. Posts, pages, and taxonomy terms are not sent automatically. Why it is sent: to obtain model completions and tool-call decisions that drive the AI Assistant. Who provides the service: whichever provider you configured in Settings → Connectors. Which provider (and endpoint) receives the data depends entirely on that configuration. Review the chosen provider’s own terms and privacy policy (e.g. OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google). URL shortcut favicons When an authorized user creates a desktop shortcut to an external URL, OpenStation asks that URL for its page HTML and favicon so the shortcut can display the site’s icon. The request is made from your WordPress server and sends the requested URL, the server’s IP address, an OpenStation user-agent string, and normal HTTP request metadata to the operator of that site. This happens only when a user creates the shortcut. The destination site’s terms and privacy policy apply. WordPress.org plugin information When an authorized user opens or refreshes parts of OpenStation’s Plugins window, OpenStation may request public plugin details, update metadata, and review excerpts from WordPress.org. These requests send plugin slugs, the site’s locale, and normal HTTP request metadata to WordPress.org. This information is used only to display and manage plugins. Review the WordPress.org Privacy Policy. OpenStation’s OAuth relay does not contact a service by itself. Third-party plugins that configure the relay may contact their own providers and are responsible for disclosing those services. Credits OpenStation is brought to you by Automattic. The plugin is open source under GPLv2-or-later; contributions are welcome on GitHub. Third-party libraries The plugin bundles the following third-party JavaScript library, loaded on demand only when a feature that needs it is in use: PixiJS (MIT License) — used by the Corkboard window, built-in canvas wallpapers (e.g. the animated WordPress logo), the Mio desk companion, and the Inkfall typing game. PixiJS is loaded from the plugin’s own assets/vendor/ directory; no CDN requests are made. Data files The Inkfall game’s word list (assets/games/inkfall/words.txt) is generated from the following sources (attribution also ships in the file’s header): FrequencyWords by Hermit Dave (CC-BY-SA 4.0) — English word-frequency ranking derived from the OpenSubtitles corpus. english-words by dwyl (Unlicense) — used as a validity filter. LDNOOBW English list (CC-BY 4.0) — used as an exclusion filter.

Watch the full overview – see Filevue in action and learn how to set up your secure client portal in minutes. 🌐 Visit the website: https://filevue.app 🛟 Get support: https://www.filevue.app/support/ Filevue turns your WordPress site into a private client portal. Create clients, upload files into organized folders, and give each client their own login where they can view, download, and acknowledge documents, upload their own files, and update their personal details and password from My Account. No WordPress account needed. Your site name is used for all branding. No “Powered by” labels, no third-party logos. The portal adapts to your WordPress admin color scheme automatically. Useful Links 🌐 Official Website 🎥 Video Overview 📥 Download Filevue Free (WordPress.org) 🛟 Filevue Support Portal — official help from the Filevue team (tickets, setup, bug reports) 💬 WordPress.org Support Forum — public community Q&A on wordpress.org (not the Filevue portal above) ⭐ Leave a Review Filevue Free vs Filevue Pro Filevue Free is available on WordPress.org and includes everything you need to run a secure client portal for a small practice or team. Filevue Pro removes usage caps and unlocks advanced tools for agencies and growing businesses. Compare plans and pricing on filevue.app. Included in Filevue Free Up to 5 clients, 20 folders, 100 files, and 2 staff members Private client portal with encrypted logins (no WordPress account for clients) Client self-service: upload files to folders, update profile details (name, email, phone, address), and change password from the portal Drag-and-drop uploads, custom folders with icons and colors, inline PDF/image/MP4 preview, and PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx) uploads Editable data sheets with Excel export Branded credential and new-file email notifications Built-in SMTP with Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo presets Portal Manager and Portal Contributor team roles One-click portal preview as any client Basic portal appearance controls (button colors, accent, border radius) in Settings Multiple projects per client, staff portal, and activity notifications (within free usage caps) Last Seen tracking, client search, pagination, and data protection options Admin update banner when a new version is available Multilingual admin and portal strings (22 bundled languages) Filevue Pro adds Unlimited clients, folders, files, and staff Portal Design — full white-label customiser: login and dashboard styling, typography, presets, custom CSS, JSON import/export, and branded email themes Telegram alerts — real-time notifications when files are viewed, downloaded, or acknowledged Image compression — automatic JPEG/PNG resizing on upload Activity log CSV export from the Notifications page Elementor widgets — Login Form, Folder Tree, Recent Files, Client Header, plus dynamic tags and Theme Builder support (Elementor Pro) Priority support through the Filevue Support Portal When you reach a free-plan cap, Filevue shows clear upgrade prompts on the Home page, View Clients, and Edit Client screens. You can still browse, download, and delete existing content normally. Upgrade to Filevue Pro Purchase a license on filevue.app. Monthly, annual, and lifetime billing options are available at checkout. 🏠 Single Site (1 WordPress site) — Purchase Pro — from $49.99/year 🏢 Agency (up to 5 sites) — Purchase Agency — from $99/year ♾️ Unlimited (unlimited sites) — Purchase Unlimited — from $149.99/year After purchase, install or update to the Pro package and activate your license under Filevue in the WordPress admin. Features at a Glance Private client portal – each client gets a unique login with access to only their files Document acknowledgment – clients or staff can acknowledge they have reviewed documents, with automatic tracking of who acknowledged and when Client self-service – clients upload files, update personal details, and change their password from the portal Drag-and-drop file uploads – upload single or multiple files from the admin or from the client portal Custom folders – organize files with named folders, SVG icons, and accent colors Drag to reorganize – move files between folders without reloading the page Inline file preview – clients can view PDFs, images, and MP4 videos directly in the browser Video and presentation uploads – upload MP4 for inline playback, plus PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx) for download Editable data sheets – attach spreadsheets to folders with rows, columns, and Excel export Branded email notifications – send credentials on setup and automatic alerts every time new files are uploaded Built-in SMTP – configure email delivery with one-click presets for Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo Team roles – assign Portal Manager or Portal Contributor roles to staff members One-click portal preview – preview the portal as any client without sharing credentials Portal appearance – basic styling in Settings (Free); full Portal Design customiser (Pro) Toggle file extensions – show or hide file extensions in folder listings AES-256-CBC encryption – client passwords and SMTP credentials are encrypted at rest Auto-created portal page – the /client-portal/ page is set up on activation with no manual steps Session security – client sessions expire after 1 hour with manual logout available Data protection – choose whether plugin data is preserved or deleted on uninstall Client Management Create and manage clients from a clean admin dashboard. Create clients with a unique Client ID, encrypted password, optional email, and internal notes. Organize work into multiple projects per client (Pro users with higher volume often rely on unlimited caps). Search, filter, and paginate your client list. View client details in a quick-view modal to copy credentials, check file stats, and open the portal link. Preview the portal as any client with one click. No need to copy or share credentials. File Uploads and Folders Upload and organize client files without leaving the admin. Clients can also upload files directly from their portal. Drag-and-drop single or multi-file uploads (admin and client portal). Create named folders with custom SVG icons and accent colors. Drag files between folders to reorganize instantly. Supported formats: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx), images (PNG, JPG, GIF), text, ZIP, RAR, and MP4 video (inline player in the portal). Toggle file extension visibility from the Settings page. Client Portal A dedicated, branded login page for your clients. Automatically created at /client-portal/ on activation. No setup needed. Clients log in with their Client ID and password. No WordPress account required. Collapsible folder tree with icons and colors matching the admin setup. Acknowledge documents – clients and staff can acknowledge they have reviewed documents. A green checkmark appears on acknowledged files showing who acknowledged it and when. Upload files to any folder from the portal (upload button on each folder). My Account profile panel: clients update name, email, country, phone, address, and notes, and change their password without contacting you. Inline preview for PDFs, images, and MP4 videos. No download required for those types. PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx) uploads are supported for secure download from the portal. Secure one-click downloads verified with nonces and path validation. Sessions expire after 1 hour. Clients can log out at any time. Customize basic portal colors from Settings (Free) or use Portal Design for full white-label control (Pro). Data Sheets Share structured data alongside files. Attach editable spreadsheets to any folder. Add rows, columns, and multiple sheets. Clients see a read-only view of data sheets in the portal. Download any data sheet as an Excel file. Available to both admins and clients. Email Notifications Keep clients informed without manual effort. Send branded HTML emails with portal link, Client ID, and password. Clients are automatically notified every time new files are uploaded to their folder. No manual follow-up needed. All emails use your site name and are styled to match your brand. Pro: customise email header, colours, and footer from Portal Design > Emails. SMTP Configuration Reliable email delivery built in. Configure SMTP with a test-before-save approach. Settings activate only after a successful test. One-click presets for Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo with step-by-step guidance. SMTP passwords encrypted at rest using AES-256-CBC. Team Access Share portal management with your team without giving full site access. Portal Contributor – can manage clients and upload files, but cannot change settings or delete content. Portal Manager – full portal access including settings, user management, and content deletion. Both roles see only the Filevue menu. No access to the rest of WordPress. Staff portal – staff log in on the same portal page (separate tab) and see only projects assigned to them. Security Built with security in mind at every level. Client passwords encrypted with AES-256-CBC using your site’s AUTH_KEY. Upload directory protected with .htaccess rules and a silent index.php. Every action (download, upload, delete, login) is nonce-verified with path traversal protection. Data protection toggle to choose whether plugin data is preserved or removed on uninstall. Supported languages Filevue includes translation files for the WordPress admin and client portal. The Site Language list under Settings > General is provided by WordPress core. If a language (for example Nederlands) is missing there, install the WordPress language pack first via Filevue > Settings (Install buttons) or Dashboard > Updates > Languages, then select it as the site language. English (default) Arabic (ar) Chinese (Simplified) (zh_CN) Dutch (nl_NL, nl_BE) French (fr_FR) German (de_DE) Hindi (hi_IN) Romanian (ro_RO) Russian (ru_RU) Spanish (es_ES) Translation files live in languages/ as .po and compiled .mo pairs. Support Development Filevue Free is open source on WordPress.org. If it saves you time or helps your business, consider supporting continued development: Buy me a coffee