Media Library Overview
In WordPress, every image, video, audio clip and document is considered “Media” and every file you upload is stored in your Media Library. Since the Media Library can contain such a wide variety of files, it can, and will, get rather large, filled with pictures and documents.
Viewing your Media Library
The Media Library has two alternative views: the List View and the Grid View
List View
The List View provides you with a small thumbnail or icon representation of your file, and some file details, such as the name of the file, where the file is used (Uploaded to/Attached) and the date that it was added. It will also display your Media Category. Media Categories are very helpful for keeping your media files organized that way you need them. The List View can be filtered by file type and Media Categories. You can also sort the list by File Name, Author, Location and Date.
Grid View
The Grid View displays all of your media files in a grid of thumbnails and file icons. This is helpful for quickly scanning for an image that you need. The grid view can also be filtered by media type and your Media Categories. The Grid View cannot be sorted. Newest added files always appear at the top of the grid.
Filtering, Sorting & Searching
As mentioned above, both views can be filtered. WordPress can distinguish the types of files you’ve added based on the file extensions and you can filter your view of the Media Library by selecting the file type of the item you are looking for: Images, Audio, Video, PDFs and others.
Media files are stored in the database by the month and year they were added, so if you are looking for a file that you uploaded after your last Christmas concert, try selecting December and the year from the drop down selectors to narrow your Media Library views.
Creating your Media Categories is an excellent way to keep your Media Library organized and adds another level of filtering capabilities to help you find a media file more quickly.
Can can also Search for a file by name by entering text into the “Search media items…” search box. Giving your files good, relevant names is critical for easy searching. For example, instead of uploading a file called: 8675309.jpg, why not rename the file: jenny.jpg instead? You will likely not remember the default numeric file name that your camera gave you, but are more likely to find a picture of Jenny, if the file is named for her instead.
Allowable File Types
The following file types may be added to the Media Library:
Images: gif, jpg, jpeg, png
Video: avi, flv, mov, qt, mp4, m4v, mpeg, mpg, ogv,wemb
Audio: midi, mp3, mp4, m4a, m4b, oog, oga, wav
Documents: doc, docs, docx, key, pdf, pps, ppt, pptx, xls, xlsx
Archives: zip
Adding New Media Library Files
There are multiple ways to add files to your Media Library, either within the Media Library itself, or contextually, as you are working on pages, posts or other content.
You can upload media and document files to the Media Library without creating a post or page first. This allows you to upload files to use with posts and pages later and/or to get a web link for a particular file that you can share. There are three options for uploading files:
Add Files from the Dashboard
- From your dashboard, navigate to Media > Add New
- Drag and drop your files into dashed area. Multiple files are allowed.
- Clicking Select Files opens a navigation window showing you files in your computer. Selecting Open after clicking on the file you want activates a progress bar on the uploader screen.
- Revert to the Browser Uploader by clicking the link below the drag and drop box.
Add Files in Grid View
If your Media Library is already open in Grid View, you can also add new files simply by dragging and dropping them over your browser window, without having to click the Add New button at all. If you have screen space available, with a large monitor or multiple displays, just click and drag a media file from your computer, over your open, grid view Media Library. The Media Library will immediately launch the uploader and add your new file.
*** This method DOES NOT work if you are viewing your Media Library in List View. Switch to Grid View before attempting to use this method.
Adding Images Contextually
You can often add images directly as you are writing page or post content in the WordPress Editor, or when using Page Builder Modules. Either way typically launches a file uploader that allows you to surf your computer for an image file or will allow you to simply drag and drop a file into the browser window. Using these methods allows you to place your images in the flow of your content or module exactly as you would like, either aligned left, right or center, or as a background, parallax or other module image.