runthings.dev

<p>When you upload media to WordPress, the title field is automatically set to a slugified version of the filename. This often results in messy, unoptimized titles like “IMG-20240115-photo-final-v2” appearing in gallery captions, alt tags, or title attributes.</p>
<p>This plugin clears the title field for newly uploaded media, ensuring that if a title is displayed anywhere, it’s one you’ve intentionally set yourself.</p>
<h4>Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Automatically clears the title field for new media uploads</li>
<li>Bulk action to clear titles on existing media library items</li>
<li>Lightweight with no settings page required</li>
<li>Developer-friendly with filters</li>
</ul>
<h4>How It Works</h4>
<p>The plugin hooks into WordPress’s <code>wp_insert_attachment_data</code> filter and clears the <code>post_title</code> field for new uploads before they are saved to the database.</p>
<h3>Filters</h3>
<h4>runthings_emt_skip</h4>
<p>Skip clearing the title for specific attachments.</p>
<p><strong>Parameters:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><code>$skip</code> (bool) – Whether to skip clearing the title. Default false.</li>
<li><code>$data</code> (array) – Attachment post data (slashed, sanitized, processed).</li>
<li><code>$postarr</code> (array) – Sanitized post data (not processed).</li>
<li><code>$unsanitized_postarr</code> (array) – Unsanitized post data.</li>
<li><code>$update</code> (bool) – Whether this is an update (always false for new uploads).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Example:</strong></p>
<pre><code>// Skip clearing title for uploads by specific user
add_filter('runthings_emt_skip', function($skip, $data, $postarr) {
    if (get_current_user_id() === 1) {
        return true; // Admin keeps auto-generated titles
    }
    return $skip;
}, 10, 3);



// Skip clearing title if filename contains "keep-title"
add_filter('runthings_emt_skip', function($skip, $data, $postarr) {
    $filename = $postarr['post_title'] ?? '';
    if (strpos($filename, 'keep-title') !== false) {
        return true;
    }
    return $skip;
}, 10, 3);
</code></pre>
<h4>runthings_emt_mime_types</h4>
<p>Filter which MIME types should have their title cleared. By default, all media types are affected.</p>
<p><strong>Parameters:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><code>$allowed_mime_types</code> (array) – Array of MIME type patterns. Default <code>[]</code> (all types).</li>
<li><code>$attachment_mime_type</code> (string) – The attachment’s MIME type.</li>
<li><code>$postarr</code> (array) – Sanitized post data.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Example:</strong></p>
<pre><code>// Restrict to images only
add_filter('runthings_emt_mime_types', function($allowed_mime_types) {
    return ['image'];
});



// Restrict to images and PDFs only
add_filter('runthings_emt_mime_types', function($allowed_mime_types) {
    return ['image', 'application/pdf'];
});
</code></pre>
<h3>Additional Notes</h3>
<p>Built by Matthew Harris of runthings.dev, copyright 2022-2026.</p>
<p>Visit <a href="https://runthings.dev/" rel="nofollow ugc">runthings.dev</a> for more WordPress plugins and resources.</p>
<p>Contribute or report issues at the <a href="https://github.com/runthings-dev/runthings-empty-media-title" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub repository</a>.</p>
<p>Insert space by Xinh Studio from Noun Project, https://thenounproject.com/browse/icons/term/insert-space/ (CC BY 3.0) – https://thenounproject.com/icon/insert-space-239543/</p>
<p>Image by David Khai from Noun Project, https://thenounproject.com/browse/icons/term/image/ (CC BY 3.0) – https://thenounproject.com/icon/image-661355/</p>


Clear Media Title On Upload

Clears the media title field on upload, instead of setting it to the slugified filename.

Spencer Piontkowski

<h4>What is this?</h4>
<p>I found the WordPress Importer plugin is good for importing posts and comments, but is lacking when it comes to importing large attachments (like images) from large sites. My import would often time out and crash. I wrote this plugin to help with my own blog migrations, but I hope you find it useful too.</p>
<h4>Usage</h4>
<ol>
<li>As a prerequisite, import your WXR file using the WordPress importer, but do not select the option to Download and Import Attachments. I have found that an import file up to 15MB big will work as long as you don’t import attachments.</li>
<li>Navigate to the Attachment Importer screen.</li>
<li>Select your WXR export file.</li>
<li>Select the user you would like to be the owner of the downloaded images. Default: current user.</li>
<li>Sit back and let the importer run. The process can take as little as 10 seconds for 10 images, or about two hours for 2000 images. These times depend on the server that hosts your WordPress site.</li>
<li>If you receive any errors during the process, try running the file again after it finishes.  The plugin is programmed to ignore files that match the following criteria:
<ul>
<li>Same name</li>
<li>Same file name</li>
<li>Same upload date</li>
<li>Same file size</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<h4>How it works.</h4>
<p>This plugin uses <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/FileReader" rel="nofollow ugc">FileReader</a> and to parse the XML file in the browser, then uses ajax to request WordPress perform individual uploads.</p>
<h4>License</h4>
<p>Attachment Importer – A plugin for WordPress to import attachments from another blog using a WXR file.<br />
Copyright (C) 2014 Toasted Lime</p>
<p>This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.</p>
<p>This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.</p>
<p>You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.</p>
<p>The license and copyright applies to all resources bundled with this plugin, except as noted below:</p>
<p>Portions of this plugin use code from:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-importer/" rel="ugc">WordPress Importer</a> which is distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL v2, Copyright (C) 2013 wordpressdotorg.</li>
<li><a href="http://jqueryui.com/themeroller/" rel="nofollow ugc">jQuery UI Smoothness Theme</a> which is distributed under the terms of MIT License, Copyright (C) 2014 jQuery Foundation and other contributors.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Changeset</h3>
<h4>0.6.0</h4>
<p>Should not get “Remote server did not respond” as often.</p>
<h4>0.5.6</h4>
<ul>
<li>Invalid file type produces non-fatal error.</li>
</ul>
<h4>0.5.5</h4>
<ul>
<li>Added an overall progress bar.</li>
<li>Improve how the program responds to events like fatal errors, AJAX failure, or if there are no attachments in the import file.</li>
</ul>
<h4>0.5.4</h4>
<ul>
<li>Fixed issue reading namespaces in import file that caused the program not to work in FireFox and Internet Explorer.</li>
<li>Moved plugin to Import menu from the Media menu.</li>
</ul>
<h4>0.5.3</h4>
<ul>
<li>Added option to add five second delay between image ajax requests</li>
<li>Reformat Readme</li>
<li>Added jQuery tooltip</li>
</ul>


Attachment Importer

Thank you so much for sharing this with the WP community. It helped me get around timeouts and so much frustration. I didn't find any problems with the plugin.

Very helpful plugin that works

I found this plug-in as I was having trouble moving data on a shared server that can not be migrated.
Importing of media that has failed many times is proceeding smoothly.
Thank you for a wonderful plugin !!

Thank you so much!!!!

Even though the plugin hasn't been updated for quite a while, it still works great even with the latest WordPress (5.3). Thanks for the development!

Still great!

Import attachments from another WordPress blog using a WXR file.

Clear Media Title On Upload vs Attachment Importer