To enable easier management of the Media Library we have implemented Media Library organisation functionality. This functionality allows you to assign categories to Media in the library and use these categories to filter through and find media. It applies to all Media types that can be uploaded into the Media Library.
Table of Contents
Enabling the functionality
By default, the functionality is turned off on every site. It can be turned on, on a per subsite basis by a System Administrator. The settings are not shared between sites. The current recommendation is to turn the functionality on, on the site/s used predominantly as “Master” sites, where media is most commonly managed from.
The following is the recommended base setup for sites where it needs to be enabled, but can be customized as required. The the majority of the setup does not need to be changed, just the values for these specific settings.
To enable it on a subsite, navigate to WordPress | Media Library Organizer | Settings.
Tab | Setting | Value |
|---|---|---|
Filters | Media Categories | Enabled |
Tree view settings | Enabled | Enabled |
Tree view settings | Expand/ collapse | Enabled |
When creating a new site, the plugin will automatically be enabled. If you would prefer it off, the following settings should be set:
Navigate to WordPress | Media Library Organizer | Settings.
Tab | Setting | Value |
|---|---|---|
Filters | Media Categories | Disabled |
Filters | Sorting | Disabled |
Filters | Sort order | Disabled |
Bulk and Quick edit | Enabled | Disabled |
EXIF | Enabled | Disabled |
IPTC | Enabled | Disabled |
Tree view settings | Enabled | Disabled |
Tree view settings | Expand/ collapse | Disabled |
Media Categories
By default, a category type “Media categories” is associated with the Media Library. Creating, editing and deleting Media Categories can be managed both from the “Media Categories” setting, and from the Tree Structure within the Media Library.
Creating Media Categories
Media categories can be created similar to how you would create files in a normal desktop structure. The categories work in a tree structure, so sub categorization is possible.
You can create these categories within the “Media Categories” section.
Media Categories can also be created within the Media Library.
Click the category, All, to create a parent category, or click a different category to create a sub category of that category.
Click Add to create a new parent Media Category. Sub categories need to be created within the Media Categories section.
If the implementation requires additional categories, this can be done in the plugin settings.
Editing Media Categories
Navigate to the Media Categories. You can then edit the categories as you would a normal category.
You can also edit categories directly from the Tree Structure in the Media Library.
Click the Category you would like to edit and click the Edit button.
Deleting Media Categories
You can delete the categories from within the “Media Categories” settings, as you would a normal category.
You can also delete categories from the Tree Structure within the Media Library by clicking the category and then Delete.
Categorizing Media
Similar to how you can tag a post or page with multiple tags & categories, you can associate media with multiple categories. This would be the equivalent of placing it in multiple folders or sub folders.
Media can be categorized in three main ways.
In the Media Item settings
- Open the Media item in the Media Library (i.e. click on an image or PDF to open it).
- In the right hand settings, scroll down until you find the “Media Categories” section.
- Check the categories you would like applied to the media.
Drag and drop
- In the Media Library, the categories will be available on the right hand side, in a tree structure.
- Drag and drop media into the required category
Bulk drag and drop
- Select the Bulk select.
- Select all media items you would like to add to a particular category and drag them into that category.
Filtering and searching
Using the filter functionality within the Media Library you can find media based on associated categories.
Clicking on a particular category in the tree structure will show you all associated media, similar to opening a folder.
Where do the categories apply?
The categories will apply to most areas you can access in the Media Library. The Media Library is the only place you can see the tree structure and create categories, but in other areas you can filter categories using the category filter.
Areas where you can access the filter include:
In Elementor when using widgets
On the Post Edit screen when adding Featured Images
On the Post Edit screen when adding Media meta boxes
In the Translations editor