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Organizing Photos into WordPress Media Library Folders

If you have a lot of photos in your Wordpress Media Library and are looking for a better way to organize them, the WP Media Folder plugin provides a way to create virtual collections without messing up your underlying filesystem.

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Categories: Wordpress for Photographers

Last updated about 3 months ago // Originally published about 4 years ago

If you’ve spent more than a few seconds on this site, you will have noticed that I like to use a lot of photos in my posts. Whether it’s photos from locations or close-ups of gear for reviews, I like being able to use a photo. I am a photographer, after all.

The result is that my WordPress media library has a lot of images in it. And while I’m pretty good about using meaningful filenames and titles and the media library’s search function can be very useful, I found a lot of times that with the standard search filter it was taking too long to find what I was after, especially for images I’d uploaded years ago. The media library’s interface also isn’t well designed for finding and filtering images.

Databases are supposed to make folders and directories obsolete, but there are times the old-fashioned folder hierarchy organization can be a lot more efficient. I’m so used to filing data in folders that it’s just a natural way for me to find things. So I wanted to find a way to put the uploaded images into folders that I could then find much more easily later on if I needed to use them again.

After trying several of the many media library enhancement plugins available—and there are a lot of them—the solution I’ve settled on is the WP Media Folder plugin by JoomUnited. There are other plugins with similar names, which are often quite different. This is a premium plugin, which means that you have to buy a license fee.

First, though, to clarify a key point: by default, uploads to the WordPress media library go into filesystem folders by year and month. The dates used are from when the file was uploaded, not when the image was created. You can override it to one big folder if you like, but you have to go out of your way to do that–that’s not the default approach.

The WP Media Folder plugin never touches your filesystem. So the files are never moved on your server, and they keep getting uploaded exactly the same way they always have. The advantage of that is that you’re not locked into anything. If you decide to stop using the WP Media Folder plugin, your images will stay right where they are, and the embed URLs will stay exactly the same in your posts, so you won’t get stuck with a bunch of broken image links.

What the WP Media Folder plugin does is create virtual folders in your media library. And by folders, they’re really a virtual collection. And you can have nested folders–in other words, folders in folders. On one of my sites, for instance, I have them sorted by country and then location, such as Australia / Sydney Habour at Night. Here’s an example of the top-level folders:

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And then, if you drill down into each one, you can have subfolders. And, as you can see, you can also add thumbnail cover shots. The collapsible text menu at the left is also fully functional.

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I’ve had to contact the developers a couple of times about small glitches, and they’ve been super-responsive in fixing them. So I’ve been very impressed with the support.

You can find more information on it here.

WP/LR Sync + WP Media Folder

One of the great things about this solution is that it’s compatible with Jordy Meow’s WP/LR Sync, a combination of plugins for Lightroom and WordPress that lets you upload directly from Lightroom to WordPress as a Publish Service. I’ve written about it before.

He’s released an add-on that makes WP Media Folders folders visible in the Lightroom Publish Service created by WP/LR Sync. There are limitations–if you update directly in the Media Library, for instance, you can’t currently sync back to Lightroom—but if you’re already using WP/LR Sync, it’s a very handy add-on. You can find more info about it, along with the download link, here.

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Overall, this combination has been the setup I’ve been using on several sites for a while now, and it’s working really well for me. And while it’s not free, it has well and truly paid for itself many times over in saving me time trying to find the photos I’m looking for much more quickly.

By David Coleman
Instagram: @havecamerawilltraveldc

Last updated on November 30, 2020

Categories: Wordpress for Photographers

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News & Deals

With the holidays fast approaching, there’s some great deals on photography gear and services available. I’ve put together a roundup of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2020 Photography Deals. It’s a running list as new deals are announced, so be sure to check back.

Canon announces new EOS Rebel T8i DSLR. Canon has announced their new T8i DSLR. 24MP APS-C cropped CMOS sensor, 4K24 video, and updated image processing and detection systems. It’s available for preorder from B&H Photo.

New Firmware for the Ricoh GR III. Ricoh has release firmware v1.31 for the GR III. Release notes are: “Corrected — When shooting with the multiple exposure, in rare cases the live view may not display correctly. Improved stability for general performance.” You can download it here.

New Canon 1D X Mark III Pro DSLR Announced. Canon has announced their new flagship model of pro DSLR, the 1D X Mark III. They’re sticking with a 20.1MP CMOS sensor, but it’s a new and improved version and boasts an incredible native ISO range of ISO 100 to ISO 102400 and an extended range that goes up to a jaw-dropping ISO 819200. With revamped autofocus, a new image processor, and all sorts of other bells and whistles, it’s no wonder that Canon is billing it as “The Ultimate EOS.”

New Manfrotto Pro Rugged Memory Cards. Manfrotto, an Italian probably best known for their tripods and studio accessories, has launched a new Pro Rugged range of high-end SD, microSD, and CompactFlash cards. While they don’t have a huge selection of sizes and speeds, the cards are aiming for very fast cards that can put up with rugged demands. For instance, they claim that their V90 rated SD cards can withstand three times the force (20kg / 45 lbs) of a regular SD card. I’ve ordered some to run through my speed tests.

New Sony Alpha a7 firmware released. A firmware update for the Sony a7R IV now lets you control external Sony flashes from the camera’s own menu system. Up to 15 flashes in five groups can be controlled via the camera. It also applies to the a7R III and a7 III.

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Comments

  1. Joh says

    May 7, 2017 at 2:45 am

    i want buy this, how do it get this
    please share the link

    Reply
    • David says

      May 7, 2017 at 8:46 am

      You can find it here.

      Reply
  2. Run3 says

    April 18, 2017 at 2:13 pm

    Hi, I’m wondering how to download single documents/images from the Media Library? I realise this might be a really easy thing to do, but I haven’t found how to be able to do it yet… Somehow the most up to date of our documents seem to be on WordPress alone, and I’d like to download these for our staff server.

    Thanks

    Reply
    • David says

      April 18, 2017 at 2:56 pm

      If you’re only doing a small number, you can quickly get the individual URLs through the Media Library by clicking on an asset to open the Attachment Details page. The URL is at the right, and you can copy and paste that into a browser tab to download. Usefully, it’s the URL for the master record, not for the derivative thumbnail versions that are generated when you upload a new image. But that’s going to get tedious if you have to download a lot of files. In that case, one of the plugins for downloading the media library is going to be much quicker. There are some in the WordPress plugins repository–I don’t have a particular one I can recommend. A third option is to do it manually via FTP, but you’re going to have to filter out the derivative thumbnail versions.

      Reply
  3. woody world packer says

    February 14, 2017 at 10:39 pm

    Exactly what i was looking for! Thanks for this informative post! Cheers Jo from http://www.woodyworldpacker.com

    Reply

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I take photos. I travel. I do it for a living. Seven continents. Dozens of countries. Up mountains. Under water. And a bunch of places in between.

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