Document Viewer – let visitors view files right in the browser
View on WordPress.orgScores higher than 51% of indexed plugins
About
With the Document Viewer for Office plugin, you can view Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more files in WordPress using shortcode
Security History
What It Does
Document Viewer lets you embed Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files directly into WordPress pages and posts using a shortcode. It pulls in files from your media library, a URL, or Dropbox and renders them in an inline viewer, so visitors do not need to download the file to read it. The plugin supports multiple file formats and includes a download option alongside the embedded view.
Who It's For
This plugin fits small to mid-sized organizations that share official documents with the public, such as law firms posting forms, real estate agents hosting listing packets, schools distributing syllabi, or nonprofits publishing grant applications. It is well suited to sites that already keep documents in a media library and want a quick shortcode-based embed without configuring a third-party service. If your content strategy revolves around 'view before downloading' presentations or policy handbooks, this is a sensible fit.
Who Should Skip It
If you only need to display PDFs and want a more mature feature set, you will likely do better with a higher-install alternative like Embed Any Document or PDF Poster. Sites that require annotation, e-commerce on documents, or deep customization of the viewer experience should also look elsewhere, since this plugin keeps things deliberately simple.
The Bottom Line
Document Viewer is a clean, well-maintained utility that scores a solid 76.38/100, with perfect marks for maintenance and compatibility and a 94/100 user rating. The main concerns are its small install base of 2,000 sites and a complete absence of public support threads, which makes it harder to gauge how responsive the developer is. If you need a simple, reliably updated shortcode-based document embedder and do not need a larger community, it is worth trying.
Related Plugins
Pick Pdf Embed if you only need PDF support and want a more established plugin with 10,000 installs and a higher overall score of 80.41.
Choose PDF Poster when you need a richer PDF viewing experience with thumbnails and custom poster images, backed by 20,000 installs.
Go with Document Embedder if you want similar multi-format support but prefer a plugin with 9,000 installs and a 79.91 score.
Select Embed Any Document for the largest user base of 50,000 installs and the most battle-tested multi-format embedder in the category.
Use Real 3D Flipbook if you want a more visually engaging page-flip presentation rather than a plain inline document viewer.