Thank you for an interesting question. The current MLA version does not have any specific renaming features that can help you, but you might be able to use the “MLA Custom Field and IPTC/EXIF Mapping Actions and Filters (Hooks)” described in the Settings/Media Library Assistant Documentation tab to help implement a custom solution. You will have to write some PHP code do get the job done.
As I said, MLA does not directly support renaming Media Library file names. To do a complete job requires not just updating the file name itself, but several file names and database entries that refer to them.
- As you probably know, WordPress generates “intermediate sizes” for your images and adds suffixes like
-150x150 to the name for thumbnail, medium, and large versions of the image. All of these must be renamed.
- The file name is part of the “GUID” stored in the
posts table.
- The file name is part of the
_wp_attached_file entry in the postmeta table.
- The file name and the intermediate size names are part of the
_wp_attachment_metadata entry in the postmeta table.
All of these must be changed to keep everything in synch. In addition, other plugins such as rtMedia and BuddyPress store file names in database tables of their own. You have to make sure you change everything.
Of course, updating the file names is one part of the problem. The second part is finding and fixing references to the file name in your posts and pages. I believe this is what you mean by “all image links are broken“; is that right? MLA has some PHP code for producing its “Inserted in” and “Featured in” reportig that you could adapt, but you would have to find a way to track both the old and new names for a file so you can search and replace references in your posts and pages.
All things considered, I believe your best solution would be to develop a custom plugin of your own with the tools you need for this specific job. If that is worth your while I might be able to give you more specific guidance, although I am working on a high priority project of my own at the moment and cannot promise a quick response.
I regret the news is not better, but I want you to know what a real solution would require. I am marking this topic “Not a support question” because there’s nothing much MLA can do for you. If you want to pursue the custom plugin route, post an update here and we can continue the dialog. Either way, I wish you the best of luck with your site migration project. Thanks for your interest in the plugin.
