Tidy Media

Yes. Tidy Media never deletes files directly from scan results. Files are first moved to a quarantine folder where they remain for 30 days (configurable). During this time, if you notice any missing images on your site, you can restore them with one click. Only after the retention period expires are files automatically deleted, or you can delete them manually from the Quarantine tab. All permanent delete actions require explicit confirmation.

The scanner works in two phases. First, it collects every media reference it can find across your site: post content, featured images, page builder data, WooCommerce products, custom fields, widgets, site options, and theme files. Then it compares every file in your Media Library against that list. If a file was not found in any scanned location, it is flagged as unused. See the "How It Works" tab in the plugin for full details.

Tidy Media supports all major page builders: Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, WPBakery, and Bricks. The scanner detects images used in widgets, modules, backgrounds, templates, and saved layouts. Page builders that are not installed appear greyed out in the scan sources list so you can see what is supported.

Yes. Tidy Media detects images used in WooCommerce product galleries, variation images, category thumbnails, downloadable product files, attribute images, brand images, and placeholder images.

Yes. Tidy Media supports five custom field plugins: ACF (Advanced Custom Fields), Meta Box, Pods, JetEngine, and Toolset Types. It scans image, file, gallery, and media fields in post meta, term meta, user meta, and ACF option pages. It also handles repeaters, groups, and flexible content layouts.

As long as the file is still in quarantine (within the retention period), you can restore it with one click. The file and all its thumbnails are moved back to their original location. If the WordPress attachment post was deleted while the file was in quarantine, a new one is automatically created with the original metadata.

Unregistered files are files that exist in your wp-content/uploads/ directory but have no corresponding entry in the WordPress Media Library database. They are invisible to WordPress. Common sources include backup plugins (UpdraftPlus, BackWPup), image optimization backups (ShortPixel, Smush), cache files, and files left behind by uninstalled plugins. You can enable the "Scan for unregistered files" option to find and clean these up.

It depends on the size of your Media Library and the number of posts on your site. A site with 1,000 media files typically takes 1-3 minutes. Large sites with 10,000+ files may take 10-30 minutes. The scan runs in batches and monitors server resources, so it will not crash your site. You can pause and resume at any time.

When you upload an image, WordPress generates multiple sizes (thumbnail, medium, large, etc.). Tidy Media tracks the original file — if the original is used, all its thumbnails are automatically considered used too. When a file is quarantined or restored, all thumbnails are moved together. You can enable "Skip WordPress-generated thumbnails" in Settings to exclude auto-generated sizes from the results.

Quarantined files remain safely on disk in wp-content/uploads/tidy-media-quarantine/. They are not deleted when the plugin is deactivated. If you uninstall (delete) the plugin and have "Delete all data" enabled in Settings, quarantined files and all plugin data will be permanently removed.

No. The scan runs in small batches and monitors server resources (memory and execution time). It automatically pauses if resources are low and resumes after a brief cooldown. Your site remains fully operational during scanning.

The scanner cannot detect images referenced only in custom plugin code (only theme files are scanned), external CSS/JS files, images loaded via custom PHP or AJAX, media used only in email templates, or images used as Open Graph images by SEO plugins. This is why quarantine exists — always quarantine first and verify your site before permanently deleting.

The plugin scans the current site only. On multisite installations, activate it per-site and run scans on each site individually.