Thanks for the positive feedback regarding the plugin and the IPTC/EXIF/XMP mapping support. Thanks as well for your question.
WooCommerce Products are implemented as a WordPress custom post type. When you edit a WooCommerce Product and click “Set product image” (or “Add Media” or “Add product gallery images”) you open the Media Manager Modal (popup) Window (MMMW) supplied by WordPress. MLA adds some features to the window, but that’s a supporting role.
If you compare the Edit screens and the MMMW for a Product to those for a Post or Page you will see that they are very similar.
The “Uploaded to this product” choice you see is just like “Uploaded to this post” or “Uploaded to this page” for Posts and Pages. It is core WordPress functionality that goes back to the very early days, when it was labeled as “Attached” to this post/page/product; hence the use of “attachments” to denote Media Library items. Starting with WordPress v3.5 the terminology and usage has been changing.
You can find quite a bit of information in the WordPress Codex:
Using Image and File Attachments
If you navigate to the Media/Assistant submenu, pull down the Screen Options in the upper-right corner of the screen and click the box to the left of “Attached to” you will add a table column displaying the status of each item as well as a “Set Parent” link that lets you change the status. You can use the link to “unlink” an item.
You asked “is there a way to somehow upload images to a product but not link them?“. Actually, you upload images to the Media Library and they are “attached”/uploaded/linked to the Product as a separate step. You can use the Media/Add New (Upload New Media) screen to upload images to the Media Library without any attaching/linking. Later you can click Set product image and find the image you want in the Media Library. You can also build the Product Gallery in the same way, clicking Add product gallery images as a later, separate step.
I hope that gives you the information you need to manage your images and associate them with WooCommerce Products. I am marking this topic resolved, but please update it if you have any problems or further questions regarding the above suggestions. Thanks for your interest in the plugin.
