MediaFlow documentation

Quick Start

From a fresh install to a folder structure that maintains itself: create your first folders, file some media, then let MediaFlow build the rest.

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The fastest path from a fresh install to an organized Media Library. About ten minutes.

Before you begin

MediaFlow must be installed — see Installation. No licence is needed for the folder steps below; folders are free and unlimited.

Steps 4 and 5 — automatic organization and the refresh that maintains it — are Pro. Steps 1 to 3 are free. See Free vs Pro.

Step 1 — Open the Media Library

Go to Media → Library. A folder tree now sits beside the grid, with All media and Unorganized above it. Everything starts in Unorganized.

Step 2 — Create a folder

Click New folder at the top of the tree and give it a name. Use the + on any folder to add a subfolder beneath it.

Step 3 — File some media

Drag an attachment — or a whole selection — onto a folder row.

If you would rather not drag, every action has a keyboard-accessible equivalent: the Move selected media to control in the sidebar, the Move to folder bulk action in list view, and the folder dropdown in the toolbar. See Moving media into folders.

Step 4 — Turn on automatic organization (Pro)

This is the part that keeps working after you stop.

  1. Go to Media → MediaFlow → Settings.
  2. Under Auto Optimize Organization, tick Enable automatic organization.
  3. Under Content types, choose which post types build folders — pages and posts are the usual starting pair.
  4. Save.

MediaFlow now builds folders out of your own content:

pages/about-us
posts/software-development/my-guide

Media appears in the folder of every page and post that uses it. Because these are usage relationships rather than ownership, one logo can appear under pages/home, pages/about-us and pages/contact at once — and it is still one attachment.

Step 5 — Run the first refresh (Pro)

Changing the settings does not rebuild anything on its own. MediaFlow tells you:

Your automatic organization settings changed. Run a refresh to rebuild the folders they describe.

Press Refresh now and leave the tab open. The sweep runs in small batches and reports what it did. See Running a refresh.

What you have now

  • Manual folders you control, holding the media you filed by hand.
  • Automatic folders that mirror your content and update themselves as it changes.
  • Not one file moved, and not one URL changed.

Where to go next

Getting StartedInstallationInstall and activate MediaFlow, meet the requirements, and start making folders straight away — no licence needed for that part.Media FoldersCreating and Managing FoldersCreate, rename, move, reorder, nest and delete folders, give them colours and icons, restrict them by role — and what happens to the media inside.Automatic OrganizationAutomatic OrganizationBuild and maintain Media Library folders from your own pages, posts and categories — so every file appears in the folder of the content that actually uses it.