RV Embed PDF
by premek.v · Media
Embeds a PDF in your page or post when you insert it with the Add Media button.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
D 43/100
Stale · Likely abandoned · Few reviews
Active installs
800+
≈870 estimated
Momentum
+27%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “add media” for “rv”. “add media” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “rv” sits at #23 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
43 health vs 62 average across 3,279 Media plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →2.0%
of downloads still active
At least 800 of 40.2K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Media plugin keeps 0.8%, across 2,317 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Media plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 11+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.3.34, well behind 6.8.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Under-optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 4054 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 4.3.34; the current branch is 6.8
3.6★ over 9 reviews, smoothed to 4.02★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 4054 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| add media your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| embed your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| google docs viewer your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| pdf your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| upload your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
1 search this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 0 listed. 1 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 5 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “add media” for “rv”. “add media” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “rv” sits at #23 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 236 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 98% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “800+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 3 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 73% of the way through.
Install history since 16 Oct 2015
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ nppbc11.9y ago
Doesn’t work, needs updated or removed.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ healiny12.0y ago
Thank you 🙂
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Rom.olivier12.9y ago
Does not work on IE, too bad
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ pcmanija13.0y ago
I advise to not use this plugin for PDF because of the Google’s limit. You will get this error: “You’ve reached the bandwidth limit for viewing or downloading files that aren’t in Google Docs format. Please try again later.“ The limit is so low that this happened even with Maintenance mode enabled. I reviewed the post a few times when formatting the article and got the error. This makes me sad because the plugin is otherwise well done and it’s not the author’s fault. We have to find another method to show PDF files without using Google Docs. Summary: I had only one PDF, in one post, viewed only by me, and it stopped working. For info: the size of PDF I used is 400kb.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Jorge Ocampo13.4y ago
The best plugin to embed a PDF in a WordPress site, no shortcodes, just upload and you are done Lacks options to set PDF height, but we’ll wait for the next version! Kudos to the developer
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Vamsi Pulavarthi13.5y ago
Does what it said.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ immersed13.7y ago
I just used this plug-in to upload and insert my document. It looks great – makes a frame which shows both pages of my PDF that I spent ages formatting – now I can benefit from having viewers see it online immediately without having to reformat in html. Thanks!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ martnorth13.7y ago
I use this plugin on many different sites and it’s simple not only for me but my clients too.
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
2 of 8 pass · checked 29 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Embeds a PDF in your page or post when you insert it with the Add Media button."
- ! Has a FAQ No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 289 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 5 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-07-23 900+ → 800+ down after 3 days in tier
- 2026-07-20 800+ → 900+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-07-19 900+ → 800+ down after 143 days in tier
- 2026-02-26 1K+ → 900+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2026-02-24 900+ → 1K+ up after 9 days in tier
- 2026-02-15 1K+ → 900+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-02-14 900+ → 1K+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-02-13 1K+ → 900+ down after 1197 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
PDF.js Viewer 20K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags A -
Embed PDF Viewer 20K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags A -
PDF viewer for Elementor & Gutenberg 10K+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags B - V Vanilla PDF Embed 3K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags D
-
Embedly 2K+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags B -
Issuu PDF Sync 800+ installs · 3.2★ · 2 shared tags F
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for RV Embed PDF into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/rv-embed-pdf" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="RV Embed PDF — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> RV Embed PDF: 800+ active installs, 3.6★ (9 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/rv-embed-pdf
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