Media Library Image/PDF files from last year are broken

  • Maybe last Wednesday (?, Oct 30, 2024), I found broken images on many of my pages. After investigation, it seems that anything (images and pdf files) loaded to the media library after December 2023 are no longer loading, even though they still appear in the media library. I have reloaded a few image files and they now work. HOWEVER, why did this happen??? AND, it’s going to be a pain to hunt down all those files again and go through the entire site to fix the broken images.

    FYI: At the same time, my banners and menus were messed up. I use a pro version of Elementor and their help desk fixed those issues. They told me to check with WP about the Media Folder/broken link issues. They say it’s not them, it’s you.

    Any ideas? Thanks!!!

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Do the files themselves still exist on the server?

    The Media library is more like a catalogue than a file browser. If the files are deleted from outside of WordPress, it won’t be aware they’re gone.

    Moderator Support Moderator

    (@moderator)

    Hi @anthonyhopkins12 you’re welcome to use ChatGPT and other generative text to assist with answering threads here, but we ask that you at least edit them for accuracy first.

    For example, “Contact WordPress support to see if … “

    These are the WordPress support forums, so they have already contacted WordPress support.

    When I inspected your website, I noticed that a few images returned 404 errors (https://secularovereaters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/so-managing-emotions.jpeg /?https://secularovereaters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/so-managing-emotions-225×300.jpeg). This suggests that the paths to these images may be incorrect, causing the server to look for files that no longer exist at the specified location. I recommend checking the URLs of the missing images in the media library to ensure they match the actual file paths on the server.?

    hudsonarealibrary

    (@hudsonarealibrary)

    This is happening to my site as well. PDF files I have reuploaded this week are now also not loading. When I go to view them in my Media Library, the previews are missing.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Ok, please see the replies above for what to check.

    hudsonarealibrary

    (@hudsonarealibrary)

    They aren’t just missing from the page. The files in my Media Library are empty. The paths have not changed on the page created. The data is disappearing from the Media Library. After uploading the files, linking them on the page, *and checking to make sure the page is loading properly*, sometime over the next few hours/days something happens and the data is no longer in the Media Library. The space for them is there in the Media Library with the title, but when you click on the Media Library file, it is empty.

    I have given up and just linked to the PDFs in a Google file, but I had years of images disappear this way initially, as well. I didn’t change anything (add plug-ins or anything), but suddenly years of images and PDFs were gone, while their space in the Media Library was still there. And now, most of the PDFs I upload don’t stick either. Again, the pages load properly and the links work just fine…and then after several hours/days they just don’t anymore and return a 404 error.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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