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<p>All the files you&#8217;ve uploaded are listed in the Media/Assistant submenu table, ordered by the Date field in descending order. You can change the sort order by clicking on one of the blue column names. You can change the default sort order on the Settings screen.</p>
<p>You can use the Screen Options tab to customize the display of this screen. You can choose any combination of the columns available for display. You can also choose how many items appear on each page of the display.</p>
<p>You can narrow the list by file type/status using the text link filters at the top of the screen. You also can refine the list by month using the dropdown menu above the media table.</p>
<p>If you have selected taxonomy support, e.g., &#8220;Att. Categories&#8221;, you can filter the list by selecting &#8220;All Categories&#8221;, &#8220;No Categories&#8221; or a specific category from the drop down list. If you select a category that has child categories beneath it, attachments in any of the child categories will also appear in the filtered list. You can select the taxonomy you want to filter by on the Settings page.</p>
<p><strong>NOTE:</strong> Month and category filters are &#8220;sticky&#8221;, i.e., they will persist as you resort the display or change the file type/status view.</p>
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<p>The &#8220;where-used&#8221; columns (Featured in, Inserted in, Gallery in, MLA Gallery in) are a powerful tool for managing your attachments. They help you identify Media Library items that are obsolete or, well, unused. You can find complete information on this feature in the "Where-used Reporting" section of the Settings/Media Library Assistant Documentation tab; see the link on the right.
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<p>
The "<strong>(INVALID PARENT)</strong>" notation means that the item is attached (i.e., the <code>post_parent</code> database field is not zero), but either the parent ID is for a post or page which has been deleted or the parent ID exists but the attachment is not used as the Featured Image, not inserted in the body of the post/page and is not used in a <code>[gallery]</code> or <code>[mla_gallery]</code> shortcode on that post/page. There are some problems with the <code>post_parent</code> field; for example, if you change the "Featured Image" for a post the <code>post_parent</code> doesn't always get updated. There are some ways to use an item that MLA is not yet searching for. For example, some other plugin that uses the item in a shortcode other than [gallery] or [mla_gallery].
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<p>
The "<strong>(UNUSED)</strong>" notation means that the MLA search found a valid parent for the item but the parent does not use the item as a Featured Image, it is not inserted in the body of the parent and it is not used in a <code>[gallery]</code> or <code>[mla_gallery]</code> shortcode in the parent.
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<p>
The "<strong>(ORPHAN)</strong>" notation means that the MLA search did not find <strong>any</strong> post or page which uses the item as a Featured Image, it is not inserted in the body of <strong>any</strong> post/page and is not used in <strong>any</strong> <code>[gallery]</code> or <code>[mla_gallery]</code> shortcode.
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<p>
There are four where-used reporting categories and you can turn them on or off with options on the Settings/Media Library Assistant General tab. If one or more of the categories is turned off, you will see "<strong>(UNUSED?)</strong>" or "<strong>(ORPHAN?)</strong>" in the where-used results. The question mark means that the item may be used in a way you are not testing for. If all of the categories are turned off you will see "<strong>(NO REFERENCE TESTS)</strong>" as a reminder.
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<p>The &#8220;Featured in&#8221; and &#8220;Inserted in&#8221; columns are a powerful tool for managing your attachments. They show you where each attachment is used in a post or page as a &#8220;Featured Image&#8221; or as an embedded image or link.</p>
<p>You can also use the information in the &#8220;Title/Name&#8221; column to identify &#8220;Orphan&#8221; items that are not used in any post or page and items with a &#8220;Bad Parent&#8221; (a parent that does not contain any reference to the item) or an &#8220;Invalid Parent&#8221; (a parent that does not exist).</p>
<p>If performance is a concern, you can go to the Settings page and disable either or both of these columns.</p>
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<p>The &#8220;Gallery in&#8221; and &#8220;MLA Gallery in&#8221; columns are a powerful tool for managing your attachments. They show you where each attachment is returned by a <code>[gallery]</code> or <code>[mla_gallery]</code> shortcode in a post or page. These columns do <strong>not</strong> use the post_parent (attached to) status of the item; they actually execute each shortcode and tabulate the attachments they return.</p>
<p>You can also use the information in the &#8220;Title/Name&#8221; column to identify &#8220;Orphan&#8221; items that are not used in any post or page and items with a &#8220;Bad Parent&#8221; (a parent that does not contain any reference to the item) or an &#8220;Invalid Parent&#8221; (a parent that does not exist).</p>
<p>If performance is a concern, you can go to the Settings page and disable either or both of these columns. You can also adjust the settings to cache the results for fifteen minutes between updates. Results are automatically updated after a post, page or attachment is added or updated.</p>
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<p>The &#8220;taxonomy&#8221; columns help you to group attachments by subject and keyword values. The columns list any categories and tags associated with the item. You can click on one of the displayed values to get a list of all items associated with that value.</p>
<p>The Media Library Assistant provides two pre-defined taxonomies, &#8220;Att. Categories&#8221; and &#8220;Att. Tags&#8221; which are enabled by default. You can add or remove support for any registered taxonomy on the Settings screen. The standard WordPress Categories and Tags as well as any custom taxonomies can be supported.</p>
<p>When you add support for a taxonomy it is visible on the main screen. If you want to hide the column simply use the Screen Options to uncheck the Show on screen box.</p>
<p>Supported taxonomies also appear as submenus below the Media menu at the left of the screen. You can edit the taxonomy terms by clicking these submenus. The taxonomy edit screens include an &#8220;Attachments&#8221; column which displays the number of attachment objects for each term. You can display a filtered list of the attachments by clicking on the number in this column.</p>
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<p>You can add sortable columns to the Media/Assistant submenu table by visiting the Custom Fields tab on the Settings page. There you define rules that map attachment metadata such as file size to WordPress custom fields. The &#8220;MLA Column&#8221; checkbox for each rule lets you select which rules will appear on this screen.</p>
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<p>The &#8220;Search Media&#8221; box supports a keyword search of several attachment fields; enter words and/or phrases in the box, separated by spaces. Click the Search Media button for a case-insensitive &#8220;SQL LIKE&#8221; search. Each keyword in the search phrase is matched independently, so the order of search words does not have to match the order in the text. For example, searching on &#8220;friend&#8221; and &#8220;best&#8221; will match &#8220;Best Friend&#8221;. If you put quotes around a search phrase then word order is required for a match (and spaces between words must match as well). You can match on partial words, e.g., &#8220;rien&#8221; will match &#8220;friend&#8221;.</p>
<p>You can also do wildcard searches using an asterisk (&#8220;*&#8221;) as the wildcard placeholder. For example, &#8220;friend*&#8221; will match fields beginning with &#8220;friend&#8221;, and &#8220;best*friend*&#8221; will match &#8220;Best Friend&#8221; and &#8220;Best of frends&#8221; but not &#8220;The best of friends&#8221;. The pattern &#8220;*best*friend*&#8221; will match all three of the previous examples. If you want to match an asterisk explicitly, put it in quotes. Note that wildcard searches are not supported in the Terms field.</p>
<p>If you want to <strong><em>exclude</em></strong> items that match a search phrase, enclose the phrase in slash (&#8220;/&#8221;) delimiters. For example, to exclude your friends, enter &#8220;/friend/&#8221;. To exclude only your best friends, enter &#8220;/best/ friend&#8221;.</p>
<p>You can also exclude items by prepending a word or quoted phrase with a hyphen, e.g., &#8220;pillow -sofa&#8221; will select terms containing &#8220;pillow&#8221; but not &#8220;sofa&#8221;.</p>
<p>If you enter one or more (comma-separated) numeric values (only) in the search box, they are interpreted as a search by attachment ID or parent ID (post_parent). This is in addition to the normal search in the text fields, e.g., title.</p>
<p>Once you&#8217;ve entered the search phrases you want, use the options below the box to tailor your search. You can pick the connector used between search phrases; &#8220;or&#8221; means any of the phrases will match, &#8220;and&#8221; means all of the phrases must match. Use the checkboxes to extend your search to more fields in the database. The &#8220;Terms&#8221; checkbox will extend the search to the name field of the taxonomies you set on the Settings/Media Library Assistant General tab. See the &#8220;Terms Search&#8221; section in the Settings/Media Library Assistant <a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#terms_search" target="_blank">Documentation tab</a> for details.</p>
<p>If you are having problems with search results or are simply curious you can activate some debug logging by adding a special value to the beginning of the text box. Adding <code>}|{</code> activates the display of information about the query parameters and SQL statements used to retrieve items. You will see a lot of information added to the post or page containing the gallery or to the Media/Assistant admin screen. Of course, this value should ONLY be used in a development/debugging environment; it's quite ugly.</p>
<p>If you add <code>{|}</code> all of the information will be written to the error log, a more practical choice. You can use the MLA Debug Tab to view and download the information in the error log.</p>
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<p>The &#8220;Terms Search&#8221; features let you filter the Media/Assistant submenu table and the Media Manager Modal Window by matching one or more phrases in the Name field of taxonomy terms. There are two ways to access this feature:
</p>
<ol>
<li>Check the &#8220;Terms&#8221; box under the &#8220;Search Media&#8221; button on the Media/Assistant submenu table or the Media Manager toolbar. The phrase(s) you enter in the search box will match taxonomy term names as well as any other search fields you have checked.</li>
<li>Click the "Terms Search" button beside the terms filter dropdown. This will bring up the &#8220;Search Terms&#8221; popup window with several additional controls to refine your search. They are described in the Settings/Media Library Assistant <a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#terms_search" target="_blank">Documentation tab</a>.</li>
</ol>
<p>You can select which taxonomies participate in the search by entering your choice(s) in the Settings/Media Library Assistant General tab.</p>
<p>If you are having problems with search results or are simply curious you can activate some debug logging by adding a special value to the beginning of the phrases text box. Adding <code>}|{</code> activates the display of information about the query parameters and SQL statements used to retrieve items. You will see a lot of information added to the post or page containing the gallery or to the Media/Assistant admin screen. Of course, this value should ONLY be used in a development/debugging environment; it's quite ugly.</p>
<p>If you add <code>{|}</code> all of the information will be written to the error log, a more practical choice. You can use the MLA Debug Tab to view and download the information in the error log.</p>
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<p>The &#8220;Bulk Actions&#8221; dropdown list works with the check box column to let you make changes to many items at once. Click the check box in the column title row to select all items on the page, or click the check box in a row to select items individually.</p>
<p>Once you&#8217;ve selected the items you want, pick an action from the dropdown list and click Apply to perform the action on the selected items. The available actions will vary depending on the file type/status view you have picked.</p>
<p>If you have enabled Trash support (define MEDIA_TRASH in wp-config.php) you can use bulk actions to move items to and from the Trash or delete them permanently.</p>
<p>The "Download" action (available if your server has ZIP archive support) lets you prepare a ZIP archive containing the selected items and transfer it to your browser.</p>
<p>The "Download Original" action (available if your server has ZIP archive support) lets you prepare a ZIP archive containing the selected items and transfer it to your browser. If the item has been scaled or rotated, this action downloads the original (unaltered) file.</p>
<p>When using Bulk Edit, you can change the metadata (author, parent, taxonomy terms) for all selected attachments at once. To remove an attachment from the grouping, just click the x next to its name in the left column of the Bulk Edit area.</p>
<p>Below the list of selected attachments are four buttons. You can click the "Cancel" button to close the Bulk Edit Area without altering any of the selected attachments.</p>
<p>To clear out any settings you no longer want you can click the "Reset" button to remove term assignments and other values, leaving an empty/blank Bulk Edit Area.</p>
<p>You can save any values you enter here for future use. Click the "Export" button to save the current values for term assignments and other fields to the database. Click "Import" to recall saved values and re-populate the current values with them.</p>
<p>Bulk Edit support for taxonomy terms allows you to <strong>add, remove or completely replace</strong> terms for the selected attachments. Below each taxonomy edit box are three radio buttons that let you select the action you&#8217;d like to perform.</p>
<p>The taxonomies that appear in the Bulk Edit area can be a subset of the taxonomies supported on the single item edit screen. You can select which taxonomies appear by entering your choice(s) in the Settings/Media Library Assistant General tab.</p>
<p>You can update the Title, Caption, Description and ALT Text values for all of the selected attachments. You can use a <a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#mla_template_parameters" target="_blank">Content Template</a> to customize the values based on <a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#field_level_data_sources" target="_blank">attachment-specific data sources</a>. Just add the <code>template:</code> prefix to your value to indicate a Content Template. For example, you can add a suffix to your Title values by entering something like <code>template:[+post_title+] - [+reverse_index+]</code>. You can also delete the content of a field by entering the special <code>template:[+empty+]</code> value.</p>
<p>You can update the "Uploaded on" date/time values for all the selected attachments, using a Content Template for attachment-specific data sources. More information on this powerful feature is in the <a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#date_iptc_exif_mapping" target="_blank">IPTC/EXIF/WP Mapping and Bulk Editing for the "Uploaded on" Standard Field</a> section of the Documentation tab.</p>
<p>In the Bulk Edit area three additional substitution parameter values are available. The <code>[+found_rows+]</code> value contains the total number of items that will be processed. The <code>[+index+]</code> value starts at one and is incremented for each item processed. You can add an offset, e.g., <code>[+index,99+]</code> will give a starting value of 100. The <code>[+reverse_index+]</code> value starts at the total number of items and is decremented for each item processed. You can add an offset, e.g., <code>[+reverse_index,99+]</code> will give a starting value of 110 if there are ten total items.</p>
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<p>Hovering over a row reveals action links such as Edit, Quick Edit, Move to Trash and Delete Permanently. Clicking Edit displays a simple screen to edit that individual file&#8217;s metadata. Clicking Move to Trash will assign the file to the Trash pile but will not affect pages or posts to which it is attached. Clicking Delete Permanently will delete the file from the media library (as well as from any posts to which it is currently attached). Clicking Quick Edit displays an inline form to edit the file's metadata without leaving the menu screen.</p>
<p>The taxonomies that appear in the Quick Edit area can be a subset of the taxonomies supported on the single item edit screen. You can select which taxonomies appear by entering your choice(s) on the Media Libray Assistant Settings screen.</p>
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<p>If a media file has not been attached to any post, you will see (unattached) in the Attached To column. You can click on "Set Parent" in the "Attached to" column, or click the Edit or Quick Edit action to attach the file by assigning a value to the Parent ID field. The "Select Parent" popup window makes it easy to find the right home for your attachment.</p>
<p>You can find more information about the Select Parent popup window in the Settings/Media Library Assistant <a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#select_parent" target="_blank">Documentation tab</a>.
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<p><strong>For more information:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Media_Library_Screen" target="_blank">Codex documentation on Media Library</a></p>
<p><a href="http://wordpress.org/support/plugin/media-library-assistant" target="_blank">MLA Support Forum</a></p>
<p><a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#where_used_reporting" target="_blank">MLA Documentation for Where-used Reporting</a></p>
<p><a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#terms_search" target="_blank">MLA Documentation for Terms Search</a></p>
<p><a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#select_parent" target="_blank">MLA Documentation for the Select Parent popup window</a></p>
<p><a href="[+settingsURL+]?page=mla-settings-menu-documentation&mla_tab=documentation#mla_template_parameters" target="_blank">MLA Documentation for Content Templates</a></p>
