The new Media Uploader in WordPress 3.5 is probably the most important change of this release. Another important but less talked about change is the disappearance of the option to change the upload directory path from Settings. The reason for removing this option from the UI was that it is not as commonly used as other options. It also has the potential of creating chaos if the user accidentally changes it. Removing it will simplify the UI with just a check box for year/month folder organization. In this post we will show you how to change the default media upload location in WordPress 3.5.
Note: This tutorial is not for beginners. Use it only if you know what you are doing.
In order to change the default media upload location, you need to edit the wp-config.php file located in the root directory of your WordPress installation. If you want upload directory to be wp-content/files then you will need to place the following code in wp-config.php
define( 'UPLOADS', 'wp-content/'.'files' );
If you want the upload directory to be outside wp-content, like http://www.example.com/files/ then you need to set upload path in wp-config.php like this:
define( 'UPLOADS', ''.'files' );
Remember you can still choose whether or not you want uploaded files to be organized in month/year folders in Settings » Media.
Hopefully you found this article to be helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.
Like many other commenters, I wanted a way to store my media uploads in the same directory as my WordPress install, e.g. to have WordPress in “mydomain.com/wp/” and to have my media in “mydomain.com/uploads/”. I’ve been able to get this working for me in WordPress 3.5 by adding the following to my theme’s functions.php (or to a plugin):
if ( empty( $upload_path ) || ‘wp-content/uploads’ == $upload_path ) {
update_option( ‘upload_path’, untrailingslashit( str_replace( ‘backend’, ‘files’, ABSPATH ) ) );
update_option( ‘upload_url_path’, home_url( ‘/files’ ) );
}
Here’s hoping this gets easier in a future version of WordPress!
Update: In the above example, replace “backend” with “wp” (or wherever your WordPress is installed)
While this does seem to do the trick just by looking at it, why would you not just add 1 line to your wp-config file instead? Seems like a lot of extra work for the same payoff as this post presents…
Adding define(‘UPLOADS’,'directory’); is so much easier.
I might be completely going about this the wrong way but I am using a multisite install to develop my clients sites… Since i use the code editor in wp-backend i like to use the image uploader as well to get images for css uploaded…
Which i have created an awesome starter theme which i use widget content sidebar and uploaded images for certain areas like logo spot and even for background images – a “lazy” way of getting images to server..
I wanted to use relative paths in my css in the case i moved site/theme or change domain names and didn’t want to use the normal wp-content/blog23/files path that is the default image uplaoder path…
For 1 this lives outside my theme and and i’d like to simply use background: url (‘images/filename.png’) in my css with images i upload via wp-image uploader so that when my theme moves my links/images don’t break and then i plan to ” after site is ready to go live” change the uplaod path back to wp-content/blog23/files
Just thinking this would make my life easier and of course i am probably overlooking something or being lazy but I promise i am not – I’m new to this… : )
I changed the upload path inside the site settings but nothing changed? it still uploads to the the blogs files path?
I am not able to get this (as copied from elsewhere in this thread) to work:
define(‘UPLOADS’, ‘files’);
It’s in my wp-config,php.
I want my images in example.com/img
Any help appreciated.
Why oh why do they even bother to change things like this. It was SUCH a useful feature.
Solved the problem. When I copied the code from this page, the quotes were of the “fancy” variety. When I made them plain, the code worked.
Thanks for this.
This is the kind of change that software developers make as they lose touch with their users.
The explanation I read for removing this option is that few people used it, and it makes the UI cleaner. What nonsense.
I want to the path of my files to be example.com/files
Just to make the back-end more polish and hide the fact that I use WordPress.
My question is, will I face any issues if I applied this method in the future? Next WordPress updates or moving the site to another host…etc?
Is it dangerous?
Anytime you decide to do things differently than its done in core, you are taking the responsibility and risks of future compatibility.
I’m 100% get that.
But I want answer for my question, I will be thankful.
Your question was will you face any issues, and our response was answering that. We don’t know because so many things can change, but if you do face any issues, then you are responsible for that.
Hi there,
Question, how can I customize upload directory per user?
Is there an plugin available for that requirements?
Thanks!
Pro tip: you don’t need to prepend empty strings to strings.
define(‘UPLOADS’, ”.’files’);
should be:
define(‘UPLOADS’, ‘files’);
WordPress source code is junky enough as it is….
Thanks a lot! This was very helpful for me
I noticed that after the upgrade to 3.5.1 the media uploader did not work at all. (Still does not work)
also some plugins seem to use the conventional “wp-content/uploads” instead of constants or settings…
that is really a problem, I cannot use the media uploader….
I added the constant to the wp-config. the media-upload is uploading to the defined folder, but the media-input when editing a post, is not working at all, empty, no reaction when clicking…
what a nerve…
maybe your server is windows, better a linux
You will always run into issues with plugins when you do this. This option is not meant to be used by avg. users. When using it, you need to have a good enough reason to do so.
Am I the only one who thinks that maybe the “upload” folder is fine, but the best organization shouldn’t be nor years or months, but the slug of the post/page in which the file is contained? Not the title, but the slug! This maybe could create problems with a single image used in 2 posts/pages, though. But I never use an image in 2 different places…
Hello I wrote a small plugin for the new facilities WordPress 3.5.
You can directly modify the domain or subdomain
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-original-media-path/
Please Help…
I am okay with the default upload folder, but I am unable to upload any file in that folder without setting its permission to 777. But I feel it could be dangerous. Is there any way around?
Talk with your server admin.
lol nice, you sound like MS tech support telling the admin to talk to their admin as a answer to the problem
The user is afraid to change the permissions to 777. We have no control over their servers, and we don’t know if the user does either. So not sure how exactly you would like us to help.
In other way, You can use this url /wp-admin/options.php for change uploads directory path. Then find for upload_path is for you input path of your uploads directory. By default is wp-content/uploads. You can chage to wp-content/files for directory files under wp-content. Or you can chage to files for directory files in the same level path with wp-content.
If you want to store media in sub domain. You must input url of your sub domain in upload_url_path and then point your sub domain to path of upload directory in above.
After you change this. You must rename old directory name to new directory name or move all files and directories in old directory to new directory. If you don’t do that. Files not found.
hope this useful and sorry for my english.
Thanks, that was very very helpful.
You *COULD* do this, it will work, but you are altering a core file. This has a big potential to break when updating WP. Better to alter the wp-config file as suggested here as it is NOT touched during an update.
Stupid changing! I have even changed the folder to something like /images/…
I thought I was onto something here. I have a WP setup with 12 sites. It’s brand new. One of the sites is perfectly fine but the others we can not get the uploaded pictures/documents to show up. They are being referenced in a folder that does not exist. Rather than typing all of this here you can ready the thread at WordPress at http://wordpress.org/support/topic/pictures-do-not-display-3?replies=5. The thread has gone cold but I am in desperate need of help and any would be appreciated.
Same as the above, i have tried to install 3.5 on a few new sites and what ever i do i can’t change to a sub domain. Again does any one know how to change the media upload to a sub domain?
thanks for Posting. I think i am missing something though because I want to use your example to add images to a root directory, example: “http://mydomain/images”
And based on your example what I am doing is enterring it as this:
define ( ‘UPLOADS’, ‘http://mydomain/images’ ‘.’files’ );
problem is, my media now shows the address as “http://otherdomain/http://mydomain/images” so basically the media is still staying on the current domain and not moving outside the domain to a root directory.
hopefully I made sense there. Any advice?
What you have done is not consistent with the example provided. The example provided sets the directory location/path only, not URI.
You are including the scheme (http://) which is not appropriate, and furthermore, breaks things, when configuring the uploads directory/location.
You, presumably, are additionally wanting to define the URI for uploads, as well.
Others in the comments seem to be asking the same thing.
– e.g. How do I upload and server uploads/media from a subdomain?
Note there are two location specifications for uploads/media:
1. Uploads directory/location.
2. URI.
The Uploads directory/location can be specified as a constant as follows:
define( ‘UPLOADS’, ”.’files’ );
That would provide for uploading and referencing files, via the default domain, as follows:
(example) http://domain.tld/files
This only sets the directory path/location, NOT the sub/domain.
2. URI
The URI is the full URL/path to get to/access uploads, prepended to the UPLOADS constant (#1 above).
This, unfortunately, and oddly, is not available to define as a constant. However, it can be set via filter (wp_upload_dir), or by directly editing the database table entry.
The database table entry location is as follows:
Database/ wp_options/ upload_url_path
* Note by editing upload_path and or upload_path_url in the database, you will re-enable the front-end UI for managing those fields going forward, as before, via the WordPress Admin/ Media/ Uploading Files section.
For those wishing to host media via sub/other-domain, you might modify the upload_url_path similar to as follows:
database/ wp_options/ upload_url_path:
(example) http://mycdn.mydomain.tld
Of course, you’ll need to configure your web server(s) to properly point the sub/domain to the corresponding location/directory to serve from.
Hope this helps.
and what if I want to put media in a subdomain ?
I have the same question
Thank you. Your tutorial is very helpful..
great post, the define isnt heavily documented, so its great someone is posting about it, i had a few clients who had their uploads in /pics and /images so this wasnt doable via 3.5 without the define for new installs.
Hi. Thanks for this. But I need the images saved outside of my wordpress site..
ex:
public_html/site /// this is my wordpress site
public_html/media /// this is where i want to save all images instead.
TIA
I’d like to know the same thing, if is it possible to put the upload folder OUTSIDE wordpress root.
and what if I want to put media in a subdomain ?
You can define in your wp-config a media host
define (‘MEDIA_HOST’, ‘http://media.yourdomain.com’);
I’m not really happy with this change because my WordPress uses a subdomain to serve the uploaded media. This still works after the upgrade, but it’s not available any more on new blogs..
Without the two field to set the upload directory and path to download, I can only serve them from the same domain as WP, and not a cookieless domain as I want.
One can still seth both path and URI via their respective database entries.
It’s not as elegant as using a constant define but it’s just as easy and accessible for most that are considering mucking with such settings.