Find and edit files in your Media Library

The Media Library is where you can edit images and update details for your media files. In this guide, you’ll learn how to find files, edit images, update media details, and view file information.

To locate a specific file in your Media Library, follow these steps:

1. Go to your dashboard.
2. Select Media from the menu and choose one of the following search options:
   • Use the “All media items” dropdown to filter by type (images, audio, video, documents).
     • Video will only appear as a filter option on sites with a supported plan.
   • Use the “All dates” dropdown to filter by the month a file was uploaded.
   • Type a keyword in the box to search by file name, title, caption, or description.
3. Click the Filter or “Search Media” button to find matching results.

You can also crop, scale, and rotate images in your Media Library by following these steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard and go to Media in the menu on the left.
2. Click on the name of the image file you want to edit.
3. Below the preview of the image, click the “Edit Image” button.
4. In the Edit media page, you will see several editing buttons above the image preview.

5. Edit your image using the following buttons, from left to right.
   • Click the “Crop” button and drag your mouse to select the area to crop to. Additionally, you can set a specific aspect ratio and starting points.
   • Click the “Scale” button to manually enter new dimensions for the image. For best results, scaling should be done before you crop, flip, or rotate.
   • Click the “Image Rotation” button to rotate or flip an image.
6. When you’re done editing the image, click the “Save Edits” button to save your changes, or “Cancel Editing” to exit the image editor without saving your changes.

The changes you make will be applied to the original image file. You can restore the original image at any time.

You can restore an image that you edited in the Media Library at any time by following these steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard and go to Media in the menu on the left.
2. Click on the name of the image file you want to edit.
3. Below the preview of the image, click the “Edit Image” button.
4. In the Edit media page, click the “Restore original image” text to expand the section.
5. Click the “Restore image” button.
6. Click “Cancel Editing” to save the restored image.

Each image, video, document, and audio file in Media includes information that you can edit. To update media details:

1. Go to your dashboard.
2. Select Media from the menu
3. Click the file you want to update to open the Edit media page.
4. Edit any of the following fields:
   • Title: The name of the file.
   • Permalink: Change the address of the attachment page. This will not change the file name. Learn more about changing file names.
   • Edit Image (images only): Crop, scale, and rotate an image. Learn more about editing images.
   • Alt Text (images only): Describe the image for search engines and readers using screen readers and other assistive technology. Alt text also appears if the image fails to load.
   • Caption: Text shown below the media item.
   • Description: An optional description of the media file that will display on the file’s attachment page (if you choose for an image to be linked to its attachment page). The description can be used to add chapters to video files.
5. Click Update to save your changes.

Additional information about the media on the Edit media page includes:

• Upload date: When the file was added.
• Uploaded by: The user that uploaded the file.
• Uploaded to: The page or post the file was uploaded to. This option will only appear if a media file is attached to a page or post.
• File URL: The direct link to the file. Useful if you want to share a direct link to the file.
• The file name, type, size, and dimensions.

Attached media is useful for keeping track of which media files are used on what pages or posts.

The “Attached” and “Unattached” labels indicate how a file was uploaded:

• Attached: Media is attached when uploaded through the editor while editing a specific page or post.
• Unattached: Media is unattached when:
  • It is uploaded directly to the Media Library, or
  • The page or post it was originally uploaded to has been deleted.

You can manually attach or detach media to organize your files. Detaching media does not delete it or remove it from your content.

To attach an unattached file to a page or post, follow these steps:

1. Go to your dashboard.
2. Select Media from the menu.
3. Click the list icon to make sure you are using the List view of the Media Library:

4. Select “Unattached” from the “All Media items” drop-down and click the Filter button:

5. Click the Attach link for your chosen image.
6. In the pop-up, search for and click the radio button next to the page or post you want to attach the file to.
7. Click the Select button to complete the attachment:

To detach a file from a page or post:

1. Go to your dashboard.
2. Select Media from the menu.
3. Click the list icon to make sure you are using the List view of the Media Library:

4. Locate the file you want to detach. In the “Uploaded to” column, you’ll see the linked page or post.
5. Click the Detach link to remove the association.

Detaching a file does not delete the file from your Media Library or storage. Once you detach a media file, you can attach it to a different page so that you can keep track of where the media is predominantly used.