Display where media items are being used in posts/pages

[hideandgeek404]

What A user came to us asking to see where each media item was being used. The user was guided towards the "Uploaded to" column of the media library, however, this only shows if the media was originally uploaded to that post. What would be useful would be to be able to see a list of all the pages and posts that a media gallery item was attached to at any given time.

For example, if I clicked into the media library and into image1.jpg it would be useful to see a list below the options that stated image1.jpg is used in the following places: Post 1, Post 365, Homepage, etc.

Why This would essentially fix two issues:

1. Users could use this to see exactly which posts/pages images are attached to for editing purposes.

An example I might use would be that someone has contacted the site creator stating there is a copyright issue for the use of an image but only reports that it exists on Post 1. Prior to just deleting the image from Post 1 and then the media library, this would allow the user to see that not only is it used on Post 1 but also Post 2 and Post 6 and if they had removed it from the library, broken links could still exist in multiple/unlimited locations.

2. The users would be able to reverse this thought and find images in the media library that are not attached to any post or page and therefore may be taking up unnecessary space, particularly important for those plans with limited storage.

[pendantry]

I'd just like to say that I fully endorse this proposal. I am in fact the user that sought assistance from WordPress.com support with this issue -- and I did so following a conversation with another user, who had asked me how to identify posts on which images were present. So that makes three of us who think this would be a Good Idea.

I'd also add a point 3 to the 'Why' section: the media library currently presents the user with information (in the 'Uploaded to' column) about the 'attachment status' of images. As I understand it, an image becomes 'attached' to a post/page if it is uploaded while editing that post; but if it is uploaded directly to the media library and then later embedded in a post/page, this does not affect the 'attachment status' of the image. This, combined with the fact that the 'attachment status' can only refer to a single post/page, makes this information entirely useless, and its presence just clutters up the media library unnecessarily (see image below).

I think it would be useful if this could be addressed at the same time.

[Aurorum]

I have a couple of ideas to implement this - I'll come up with something this week.

[Aurorum]

This should be addressed in Calypso by #54691, which is reliant on Automattic/jetpack#20408.

[BogdanUngureanu]

Hello everyone, @Aurorum started working on an implementation for this and I was wondering if you all could have some thoughts about my alternative approach I've proposed here. Any feedback about how it could work would be greatly appreciated! :)

Thank you some much @Aurorum for taking the time to look into this. 💯

[happychait]

A customer asked for it in 5228545-zen

[happychait]

Another customer asked for it in 31283202-hc

[github-actions[bot]]

Support References

This comment is automatically generated. Please do not edit it.

• [ ] 5228545-zen
• [ ] 6331050-zen
• [ ] 7686314-zen
• [ ] 7782097-zen

[happychait]

6331050-zen

[Aurorum]

Requested in 7686314-zen

I forgot that I started this. :) I think I hit an issue in https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/pull/54691#issuecomment-888459842, but I might take a look at this again when I've got some spare time.

[Aurorum]

7782097-zen