Finding and Managing Your Uploaded Files
Called "media" in the WebCMS, your files include images, audio, documents, or other file types that you've uploaded.
- Navigate to the Media tab
- Search for files
- Upload new media files
- Replace a file in the Media Library
- Change file ownership or web area association
- Sensitive files (public vs. private)
Navigate to the Media tab in WebCMS
- Select a web area from My Web Areas
- Select the Media tab
Search for Files in the Group Dashboard
- Search (name, filename, and description)
- You can search by entering the full name of the file but if the file name includes a stop word separated by a "-" or "_", WebCMS removes the word and the file can't be found. You can find the list of stop words at How WebCMS Generates URLs.
Example:
- WebCMS will find state_tribal_local_guide_factsheet_7-10-2015.pdf
- WebCMS will not find state_tribal_local_guide_and_factsheet_7-10-2015.pdf
It will find any of the search words before and after "_and_". - Underscores, dashes, and periods are treated as whitespace. If you search for "epa_contingency_plan.2.7.18.pdf", the system will look for "epa contingency plan 18 pdf".
- The system has a minimum of two characters before it will index a term. If you search on "2.7.18", the "2" and the "7" get dropped--they're less than 2 characters. So when you search 2.7.18, you're really searching for "18".
- The default search is an "OR" search. If you enter multiple terms they’ll be evaluated using OR logic. So water budget air will find results containing water, budget, or air. Since our results are ordered by relevance, records that contain all three, especially if they use the terms more than once, will be returned at the top.
- If you use quote marks, the search is evaluated with AND logic. So "water budget" air will find results containing "water budget" or air.
- In the future, we will include the ability to exclude certain terms. You can do a search like water budget -air (notice the minus-sign prefixing “air”) to find things containing the term water or budget but NOT air.
- In the future, we will include the ability to stem, which will automatically strip suffixes off of submitted terms which will typically yield better matches. So if you search for something like watering it will, under the hood, convert that search to water~, with the tilde indicating a wildcard match, and your results would include waters, watered, watering, and water.
- You can search by entering the full name of the file but if the file name includes a stop word separated by a "-" or "_", WebCMS removes the word and the file can't be found. You can find the list of stop words at How WebCMS Generates URLs.
- Tags (file keywords)
- Author
- Type - available choices:
- Any (all file types)
- Audio
- Document
- Image
- Other (accdb, ai, csv, dmg, doc, docm, docx, dtd, eps, exe, ico, json, kml, kmz, mbp, msi, ppt, pptx, ppsx, psd, r, rar, rtf, smi, svg, tif, txt, xls, xlsm, xlsx, xltm, xltx, xml, xsd, zip)
- Remote Video
- Usage restrictions (restricted or unrestricted)
After you enter your search criteria, select the Apply button, and the list will be filtered.
By default the list is sorted by the date a file was created, but you can click the other column headings to sort differently (for example, alphabetically by file name).
Browse the list to find the file you need. You can select the name of the file to preview it, or choose other actions from the Operations menu.
The only operations you need to know about are:
- Edit media: allows you to change the file name, replace the file with a new one, toggle whether it is publicly available or only within the WebCMS, and other options depending on the type of file.
- See Adding Files to Pages to learn more about working with different file types.
- Delete media: if you delete a file here, it will be removed from any pages it was on. This cannot be undone so be careful!
Upload new media files
- Above the list of files on the Media tab, you can click the "+Create media" button. Then you can select the type of file you want to add, and upload it along with giving it a name and other descriptors.
- This adds the file to the WebCMS, so that later when you want to add it to a page, all you will have to do is select it from the Media Library. This can make creating slideshows easier, for example.
Replace a file in the Media Library
If you want to replace an existing file, you can. This is a good method to take if you want to keep the same URL (and prevent broken links), but correct typos in the original document.
First, find your file. If you have rights to edit the file (e.g., you belong to the right web area or its your file), you will be able to click on the "Edit" button.
On the "Edit" screen, you will see a checkbox titled "Overwrite original file (.pdf)" with the following explanations:
- If checked, the system will use the original filename and replace the file’s contents. The file’s web address (aka URL) will remain the same. You might not see the updated content of overwritten files immediately because they can be externally cached.
- If unchecked, the system will use the filename of the replacement file and create a new file. The file’s web address (aka URL) will be updated. The original file may be deleted if it is not referenced elsewhere in the WebCMS.
- If you upload a file that has the same filename as an existing one while the checkbox is unchecked, a number will append to the end of the filename. Example:
- The file "grantproducts_project-narrative.docx" exists in the Media Library
- Uploading a new file with the same name will appear as "grantproducts_project-narrative_0.docx" if the "Overwrite Original File" box is unchecked
- If you upload a file that has the same filename as an existing one while the checkbox is unchecked, a number will append to the end of the filename. Example:
-
Change ownership or web area association of a file
You can change the ownership of files that have been uploaded to the system. Changing ownership does not affect any other aspect of the file.
- Users with Administrator and System Webmaster rights can assign a different owner.
- Users who originally uploaded the file can assign a different owner.
- Admin members and editors who belong to the same web area where the file was uploaded can assign a different owner.
You can also change the web area association of media that have been uploaded to the system. Changing web area association does not affect any other aspect of the file. The process is the same as moving pages from one web area to another.
- Members of a web area can assign files to any other web area to which they belong.
- Global admins and system webmasters can assign any media from any web area to any other web area.
Sensitive files (public vs. private)
Uploaded files can be marked as Public or Private at any time. However, files that have been migrated from Drupal 7 cannot be marked as public or private. The workaround is to upload it as a new file.
When uploading a new file, you can select public or private under "File Availability." To mark a file that has already been uploaded, select "Edit Media" then click on "Edit this media item."
More on Public vs. Private Files.