Media Library

The media library serves as a hub, similar to the content menu, for all the media on your site. This includes documents, PDFs, images, and videos. To get to the media library, navigate to Content > Media in the Administration toolbar.

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If you would like to add media to your site, you can add it through the media library, or by navigating to Content > Media > Add Media. You can also add content directly from the WYSIWYG.

Adding media from your local drive

From the media library, select “Add media” and then the type of media you wish to upload. You'll need to give your media item a name (this is what you can use to search for it) and upload a file. If you are uploading an image, you will also be asked to provide alternative text, or mark the image as decorative.

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Save your new media item, and now you'll be able to use it across your site.

Best practices for adding media

• Check the media library first, before adding new media to ensure duplicates are not created.  
• Keep media file names clean so they are easily found by other users in the CMS (i.e. use clear and descriptive file names, not a jumble of numbers and text). 
• Tag media if desired to organize. 
• Check the dimensions for media usage in the planned display location  (i.e. an image used as a banner will need to be uploaded at a different size than one being used in an image block). 
• Crop and adjust media prior to uploading to Drupal. 
• Manage your file size so it's not too big to be slow to load, and not so small that it displays pixelated. 

If you need to change a name, replace a file, or edit a media item in some other way, you can do so from the media library. You do not need to upload a new media item. 

Once you navigate to the media library, you can use the search or filter items to find the media you wish to edit. Once you find it, select Edit in the Operations columns. This will pull up the same page as when you created the media item, where you can edit the details of a media item.

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If you wish to replace the file attached to the media item, you may do so from here. Swapping out the file will replace the previous file with the new one in all instances where this media item is used.

You can also delete media items from the media library.

Once you navigate to the media library, you can use the search or filter items to find the media you wish to delete. Once you find it, select Delete in the Operations columns. If you want to delete multiple media items, you can select them using the checkboxes and perform a group action.

Once you select Delete, you will be given a confirmation page, to ensure you mean to delete the item.

If you receive an error when attempting to delete a file from the media library, it could be that the item is in use elsewhere. If you have updated the links or files in the live version of the page, the old media link could be present on a previous page version. Drupal hangs on to these media items in case you want to revert to a previous page down the road. In order to properly delete the file, you must also remove it from previous versions of the page, or delete old versions of the page.