Suggestion: Bulk-edit attachment categories

Jorge,

The MLA bulk edit feature already has this feature. If you go to the Settings/Media Library Assistant screen, General tab, you will see the Taxonomy Support area (scroll down for it). All of the taxonomies registered on your site should be listed there, including Att. Tags. There are two checkboxes for each taxonomy, Support and Inline Edit. If the Inline Edit box is checked, the taxonomy should appear on the Quick Edit and Bulk Edit areas. If that’s not working for you, let me know.

In the Bulk Edit area, there is a set of three radio buttons below each taxonomy. These allow you to specify what to do for the terms you enter in the text box for that taxonomy. Add and Remove act on just the terms you enter. The Replace option strips all tags from the attachment(s) and then adds back any terms entered in the text box.

If you have any problems or questions with this feature, let me know.

Hi David,

Been testing your (wonderful plugin), i was wondering if i was missing something. I have been looking for a plugin which allows me to bulk edit the ALT. TEXT, would you be so kind and tell me if your plugin is able to accomplish this.

Kindly appreciate your reply!

Greetings
Charles

Charles,

Thanks for the kind words and for your question. The ALT Text field, like Title and Caption, seem to be attachment/image specific and thus not a good candidate for bulk editing. Based on that assumption, those fields are available in the Quick Edit area but not in the Bulk Edit area.

The current MLA version can’t help you, although the Quick Edit feature makes editing ALT Text somewhat more convenient. You could also define a Custom Field for the information you need and make that available in the bulk edit area. You could then substitute the Custom Field for the ALT Text in an [mla_gallery] shortcode.

I’ll definitely consider this idea for a future release, though. Is ALT Text the only field you’re interested in, or are there others?

Thanks again for your interest and this idea. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for the instructions! Worked like a charm.

[deleted] I thought bulk edit didn’t work. Then I noticed there is a separate custom section for that. Ugly. But it works. Would be nicer if bulk edit worked from the standard view all list.

[deleted] I thought bulk edit didn’t work. Then I noticed there is a separate custom section for that. Ugly. But it works.

The custom section is the MLA assistant (and its beautiful in my opinion)! It extends the regular media library so much that an entire new page was developed instead, I think. In any case there’s probably other plugins to do add bulk actions to the regular media lib. Cheers

I have had a couple of users say that I should just replace the Media/Library screen with the Media/Assistant screen. I’m thinking of making this an option. What do you think about that as a solution?

I don’t like “ugly”, either…

I have released version 1.50, which includes the ability to customize the name, label and title of the Media/Assistant submenu screen. You can also remove the default Media/Library submenu screen.

Please let me know if you have any problems with or further questions about this new feature. Thanks again for your interest and for your suggestion.

Apologies for late reply.

I have had a couple of users say that I should just replace the Media/Library screen with the Media/Assistant screen. I’m thinking of making this an option. What do you think about that as a solution?

I personally like having both options since most of the site’s users don’t need all this abilities and could get confused if the ML looks different to what wp has documented.

I have released version 1.50, which includes the ability to customize the name, label and title of the Media/Assistant submenu screen. You can also remove the default Media/Library submenu screen.

Sounds like you figured it out. I think that is the best option (to have the choice). Thanks for the update!

I hope it is not too late, but I think this is pertinent to the current thread.

I am building a web site for our small business, which has hundreds and thousands of items for sale. The items are displayed as thumbnails on the page and each thumbnail is accompanied by a caption which is comprised of a short description and the price. The description and price are sourced from an accounting programme via MS Excel or text files.

If I have write the captions manually, one by one, it will take years to do and drive me crazy. Can MLA update all the captions in a batchwise process using a *.txt or *.xls file for input?

I’m sure there is or could be a plugin to do this.

I would advice against using WP as a CMS for a large catalog, in fact doing e-commerce is also not that easy with WP. Check out drupal and joomla? Good luck.

Hi Jorge,

Thanks for your advice.

mbes,

Thank you for your question, which really deserves its own support topic. There is nothing in the current MLA version that addresses this kind of bulk update. It’s a good idea, and I will consider something like it for a future release. I couldn’t find another plugin that offers this feature, but you might also suggest it as an enhancement to this plugin as well:

BulkPress

Do you have a specific idea about how to match the caption values in the txt/xlsx file to the right attachments in the Media Library?

There are some good WordPress plugins for e-commerce. I’ve been using WP e-Commerce for a few years with good results (and a modest catalog), and other solutions like WooCommerce are widely used. Here’s a recent video from WordCampTV you might find helpful:

Patrick Rauland: Evaluating E-Commerce Solutions

Hi David,

How do I formally make the suggestion?

Just to make the issue clear, I would like my input data to be in the form of a flat file (text or MS Excel), or SQL query, which may have, for example the following fields:
– Item Name
– Image Name (This could be the Key field)
– Description
– Price
– etc.

I would want to be able to attach any combination of the fields, apart from the Key field to the image caption and/description.

Thanks for this update and for the additional information on your requirements. As I said, it’s an interesting idea and I haven’t been able to find another plugin that does what you need.

I have added it to my list for consideration in a future MLA version or perhaps as a separate plugin. I must say that, given my other development priorities and some travel plans, I don’t know when I will be able to give this idea the time it requires for a robust solution. If you have an urgent need you should consider some other approach for the site you’re working on now.

Thanks for your interest and this idea. Thanks as well for your patience and your understanding. I hope your new site is a great success.