WordPress Media Library: List View

The WordPress Media Library is where all your site’s visual assets, audio files, and documents reside. While the grid view offers a quick visual overview, for serious content creators, publishers, and webmasters like you and me, the WordPress Media Library list view is where the real power lies.

Since 2012, I have worked on Image Source Control and learned much about the Media Library’s list view. There are some surprising facts that many people get wrong, and some powerful enhancements.

How to switch to the List View

Unlike the thumbnail-heavy grid, the List View of the WordPress Media Library presents your media in a familiar table format, much like your posts or pages. This layout immediately offers a more detailed perspective, allowing you to see crucial information at a glance without clicking into individual attachment details.

You can find the buttons to toggle between list view and grid view at the top left of the WordPress Media Library. See the following screenshots for details and examples.

Default List View Columns – and my opinion about them

On my more active WordPress websites, I customize the List View by enabling or disabling specific columns. I will get to that below. For now, let’s take a look at the default columns.

• Bulk options: In the first column, you can select one or more media files for bulk actions. By default, only the “Delete permanently” option is available.
• File: Lists the image thumbnail, the title of the image, and the file name. This column is so essential that you cannot even hide it.
• Author: This column is only helpful on sites where multiple authors upload images. Even on those, I hide this column since I barely need it. The information on who uploaded a picture is also visible on the individual image modal.
• Uploaded to: Many users believe that this shows where an image appears. But it only shows the first post here, in which an image was uploaded to the editor. This information is also added and kept if the image was never actually used in that post or removed later. You can read more about this in How to find where an image is used on a WordPress website.
• Comments: If you don’t use attachment pages in the frontend – 99% of you shouldn’t and instead redirect them as Yoast suggests – and if so, don’t have comments enabled on them, you can hide this column.
• Date: One might think that a website like this one, writing about an actively developed WordPress plugin, has some old, outdated images. You are almost right, though an old screenshot doesn’t have to be outdated automatically. So I usually hide this column and use other sources to update and delete unused images.

You can sort some of the columns by clicking on the column title:

• File: Will sort the images alphabetically by title.
• Author: Sorts the images alphabetically by author name.
• Uploaded to: Sorts the posts alphabetically. The A-Z order lists unattached images first.
• Date: Sort by date

Quick Actions

As you might know them from post and page lists, the Media Library list view also comes with Quick Actions that appear when you hover over a line in the table.

The options are pretty self-explanatory, so let’s not get too deep into it. My favorites here are “Copy URL” and “Download file”.

Search and Filters for images

You’ll find powerful filtering options at the top of the list view. They help you narrow your results by media type (images, audio, video, unattached items, or uploaded items by you) or by date. The only filter I use regularly here is by media type, e.g., if I know I uploaded an audio file but forgot its name.

I am using the search field at the top right more than the default filters. I can search for image titles and file names here. Thanks to some internal guidelines about naming image files, I usually quickly find images on my WordPress website here.

Some plugins also add filters to the Media Library list view. My Image Source Control plugin has a feature that allows users to add and show image captions with author attributions. So it makes sense to offer users a filter in the list view to only show images with or without sources entered.

Customizing the List View Columns

While the native WordPress Media Library list view is powerful, it has limitations, especially when managing image sources and finding where an image is used. This is where Image Source Control (ISC) steps in.

Here are some of the key features ISC adds to your WordPress Media Library folder list view:

How to show or hide columns

The “Screen Options” tab, located in the upper right corner of your screen, allows you to show or hide the default columns and the custom columns mentioned below.

The “Appearances“ Column: Knowing Where Your Images Are Used

One of the most common questions for webmasters is, “Where is this image used on my site?“ WordPress’ native “Uploaded to“ only tells you the original post, not all instances. ISC solves this with the “Appearances“ column.

• Comprehensive Usage Tracking: This column shows you every single post, page, custom post type, or even options and meta data where an image is used.
• Essential for Cleanup: When you‘re working with the Unused Images feature, the “Appearances“ column provides critical context, helping you confirm if an image is truly unused before deletion.

Bulk-Editing Image Copyright Information

Managing image attributions for a large media library can be a daunting task. ISC transforms the media library list view into a powerful bulk-editing interface.

• The “Image Source Form“ Column: ISC adds a dedicated column to the list view, allowing you to directly input or update copyright information for each image without leaving the page. You’ll find fields for the image source text, URL, and even the “Use standard“ option to apply default attributions quickly.
• Automatic Saving: No need to hit a save button for each image! Any information you enter in the “Image Source Form” column is automatically saved, letting you breeze through updates.
• Preview in “Image Source“ Column: As you fill in the details, you can instantly see a preview of how the source will appear in the “Image Source” column.

Folders in the List View

I was often asked about folders in the WordPress Media Library List View. Since this is not a core feature, you would need a plugin. I have no recommendation, but you can start with this search on wordpress.org.

I use name patterns to find my images and don’t need folder structures. However, some Image Source Control users have media libraries with more than 10,000 images, and I can see the benefits of better organization for them.

Conclusion

The WordPress Media Library list view is the primary tool for managing my site’s assets, offering detailed insights and efficient bulk operations. When combined with Image Source Control, its capabilities are significantly expanded, providing us with powerful features for managing image attributions, tracking usage, and maintaining a clean, organized media library.

Whether you’re a blogger, a publisher, or a webmaster handling thousands of images, mastering the WordPress Media Library list view – especially with the enhancements from Image Source Control – will streamline your workflow and give you peace of mind.