An image is still visible, after deletion from the media library, is it cached?

  • Unknown's avatar
    roncametrics · Member ·

    I have deleted a file from my media library, however it still exists on lie at this url.
    https://roncametricsdotcom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/valentine-bear.jpg
    I need it to be deleted from the server. How do I do this.
    I understand the word press servers can cache files so the cache may need to be cleared.
    Can someone help me with removing the image at the above url please.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • nebojsajurcic · Staff ·

    Hi there,
    That’s a good question — when you delete an image from the Media Library, it can still appear for a short time due to caching (both browser and WordPress.com server cache). It usually clears automatically within a few days.

    You can try:

    • Viewing the image in an incognito window or after clearing your browser cache.
    • Waiting up to 72 hours for WordPress.com’s cache to refresh.
    • Confirming the image was permanently deleted (not just moved to Trash).

    Here are a few helpful links for more details:
    – Image remains on server after deletion.
    – Deleted media still appearing

    Let us know if it’s still visible after that period.

  • Unknown's avatar
    roncametrics · Member ·

    Thank you for your response.

    The image is not cached by my browser, I have opened it in an incognito tab.

    How can I confirm that the image is definitely deleted and not moved to Trash? I don’t have file manager or SSH access to the server.

  • Unknown's avatar
    themagicrobot · Member ·

    roncametricsdotcom.wordpress.com is no longer available.

    The authors have deleted this site.

  • Unknown's avatar
    elcristofue · Member ·

    Hello, @roncametrics!

    As the themagicrobot  mentioned, the site where you were encountering this issue has been deleted, so none of the content on this site is any longer accessible to the public.

    Please let us know if you have any questions or need any extra help, and we’ll be happy to assist you.

  • Unknown's avatar
    roncametrics · Member ·

    Thank you for replying @elcristofue.

    I’m afraid that even though I have deleted the site (and the picture from the media library of the site), the picture in question is still accessible, at the above link. I think the reason you are not seeing it when you click the link is that this forum adds a query string to the url, which causes the page to break. If you delete the query string, or copy and paste the text into the address bar, you will see what I mean.

    https://roncametricsdotcom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/valentine-bear.jpg

    So in summary, I have deleted the picture from the media library and I have deleted the site, but the picture still displays in an incognito window. Therefore I believe the image has not been removed from the server.

    If there is anything anyone can do to make the image inaccessible I would really appreciate it.

  • Unknown's avatar
    staartmees · Member ·

    Below a screentest when I visit that image.

  • Unknown's avatar
    gepcobill1 · Member ·

    Yes, I’ve faced a similar issue on my own site before. When I deleted images from the WordPress media library, they still appeared at the old URL for some time because of caching.

    What worked for me was clearing both my browser cache and any CDN (like Cloudflare) cache if you’re using one. Also, sometimes WordPress takes a few hours to remove the file from the server completely.

  • Unknown's avatar
    elcristofue · Member ·

    Thanks for sharing this @roncametrics, but when I visited the link you provided, I noticed that the site was deleted, just as staartmees  mentioned. Here’s a screenshot for reference:

    I suggest trying to clear your cache using this guide:

    https://wordpress.com/support/browser-issues/

    You might also want to try accessing your site using a different device or internet connection to see if the issue persists.

  • Unknown's avatar
    roncametrics · Member ·

    Thanks everyone. It appears it isn’t cached by the server. When I try to access it on firefox, or a browser that hasn’t seen it before, it is unavailable. However chrome keeps showing it, even after I have deleted the image cache, or using an incognito window, or a different internet connection. I haven’t tried to figure out where this cache is, as long as it isn’t visible to the wider world, that is enough.

  • Unknown's avatar
    elcristofue · Member ·

    You’re welcome, @roncametrics!

    Since the site has been deleted, you can rest assured that it’s no longer publicly accessible. To make sure Chrome isn’t showing a leftover cached version, try clearing your browser cache by following the guide I shared earlier:

    https://wordpress.com/support/browser-issues/

    Please let us know if you have any questions or need any extra help, and we’ll be happy to assist you.

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