Cleaning Up Media Library

  • Unknown's avatar
    deepbrightbecoming · Member ·

    I actually have two questions:
    1. Is there a way to see which media photos are being used in a post without having to look through all the posts to compare/contrast? It’s my understanding that even if a photo is labeled ‘unattached’ in the library, it may still be part of a post?
    2. If I delete photos from a post (as an alternative way to clean up), will those photos also be removed from the media library? Or would I have to go in and delete them from both places?

    WP.com: Yes
    Jetpack: No
    Correct account: Yes

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

  • Unknown's avatar
    justjennifer · Member ·

    Hi there, I see you asked something similar a few years ago. Basically it’s still the same as when you asked here https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/deleting-photos-from-my-media-library/

    Unless your Media Library is full, I would not suggest deleting images to free up storage space. Images in posts may be Unattached (depending on how they were uploaded at the time and if the WP software wasn’t having an issue) and deleting images from posts doesn’t delete them from the Media Library.

    What you might try, and it’s a very long slog if you have a lot of posts and photos, is view each post in one browser tab and open your Media Library in another browser tab. Make sure you are in the Classic View in the Media Library. From there you can sort the Media files by month/year and compare each tab against one another.

    Remember, deleting a Media file is permanent. If you decide to delete an image, make sure you have a backup or download the image first so if it turns out the image is in use, you can upload it and reinsert it in your post. (You can export your Media Library from the Export page https://wordpress.com/support/export/#exporting-the-media-library )

    In other words, there is still no easy or simple way to “clean up the Media Library”. If anything, I would suggest upgrading to a plan that gives you more space, if you can do so, or link your images from an external source that allows it and then insert your images from URL.)

    Hope that helps, but please post back if you have more questions about this.

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