Troy Chaplin

<p>Ever updated a PDF and realized half your site links to the old version? Or replaced a hero image and watched your carefully-tuned page layout collapse? Smart Media Replacement solves both problems — and adds a safety net you’ll wish you had earlier.</p>
<p><strong>Replace the file, keep the URL.</strong> When you swap an attachment with this plugin, the file’s URL never changes. Every existing link, every email that points to it, every page that embeds it, every SEO ranking — all of it keeps working. No 404s, no broken references, no scrambling to update old content.</p>
<p><strong>Full revision history, one-click restore.</strong> Every replacement automatically snapshots the previous version. Made a mistake? Roll back instantly. Want to see what the file looked like three months ago? Download it. Each revision is timestamped, attributed to the user who made it, and can carry an optional note describing what changed.</p>
<p><strong>Works where you work.</strong> Replace from the Media Library, or from inside any block’s Replace toolbar in the block editor — image, cover, video, audio, file, gallery, and more. The editor refreshes in place, no page reload, no lost work.</p>
<p><strong>Safe by default.</strong> The plugin validates filenames, file types, and image dimensions to keep your URLs intact and your layouts unbroken. WordPress’s auto-scaled images are handled transparently. Revisions land in a database table that’s self-healing on every admin load, and the plugin’s settings page gives you control over how many revisions to keep, how long to retain them, and which file types are tracked.</p>
<h4>Use cases</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>Monthly reports and newsletters</strong> — Update PDFs linked from past emails without breaking any of those links.</li>
<li><strong>Brand refreshes</strong> — Replace logos, headers, and brand imagery once; everywhere they’re used updates automatically.</li>
<li><strong>Legal documents</strong> — Keep current versions of terms of service, privacy policy, and contracts live, with older versions preserved as revisions for compliance.</li>
<li><strong>Image updates</strong> — Refresh product photos, blog hero images, and marketing assets without breaking responsive sizes or SEO.</li>
<li><strong>Typo fixes in published assets</strong> — Fix errors in infographics, downloadable guides, or e-books without scrambling to update references across your site.</li>
<li><strong>Versioned downloads</strong> — White papers, e-books, technical docs that need to stay at a stable URL while preserving older versions on demand.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Features</h4>
<p><strong>Replacement and URL preservation</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Replace any media file while keeping its URL, ID, and metadata intact</li>
<li>Existing internal and external links keep working — no 404s, no SEO impact</li>
<li>Automatic regeneration of image size variants (thumbnails, medium, large, etc.)</li>
<li>Transparent handling of WordPress’s <code>-scaled</code> large images</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Revision history</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Every replacement automatically snapshots the previous file</li>
<li>Major/minor version numbering (e.g. v1.0 <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> v1.1 <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> v2.0)</li>
<li>Optional replacement note per revision, attributed to the user</li>
<li>One-click restore of any past version</li>
<li>Download individual revisions, or download a ZIP archive of an attachment’s full history</li>
<li>Configurable: maximum revisions per file, age-based retention with daily cleanup, per-file-type opt-in</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Block editor integration</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>“Update existing file” in every block’s Replace toolbar dropdown (image, cover, video, audio, file, gallery, media-text, post-featured-image)</li>
<li>In-place editor refresh after replacement — no page reload, no lost work</li>
<li>Accessibility-friendly notifications via WordPress’s native screen reader announcements</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Validation safeguards</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Filename matching to keep URLs stable</li>
<li>Image dimension matching to prevent layout breakage</li>
<li>MIME-type matching to prevent file corruption</li>
<li>Clear, actionable error messages when something doesn’t match</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Built-in admin</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Settings page at Media <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Replacement Settings</li>
<li>Storage stats: total revisions, total disk usage, database table status</li>
<li>Optional deactivation cleanup (files and/or database)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Multisite-ready</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Network-activate only on multisite — one consistent configuration across every site</li>
<li>Settings live at Network Admin <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Settings <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Media Replacement and apply network-wide</li>
<li>Revisions are stored per-site under each site’s uploads directory; metadata lives in a single shared network table</li>
<li>Daily retention cleanup runs across every site in the network</li>
<li>Automatic row and file cleanup when a site is deleted</li>
<li>Single-site installs work exactly as before — settings and storage stay per-site, no network behavior involved</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>WP-CLI</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><code>wp smr db check</code> — verify the revisions table exists (non-zero exit code if missing, safe for CI pipelines)</li>
<li><code>wp smr db repair</code> — recreate the table if missing; idempotent, safe to run when the table already exists</li>
<li><code>wp smr db status</code> — revision counts and storage usage; <code>--network</code> for a per-site breakdown on multisite</li>
<li><code>wp smr db cleanup</code> — delete expired revisions immediately, with <code>--dry-run</code> to preview and <code>--network</code> for all sites</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Other</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Self-healing database table via configurable scheduled check (hourly, daily, weekly, or disabled); use <code>wp smr db repair</code> for on-demand recovery</li>
<li>Developer hooks throughout for custom integrations</li>
</ul>
<h4>Privacy</h4>
<p>This plugin is fully self-contained and respects your privacy:</p>
<ul>
<li>Does not collect or transmit any user data</li>
<li>Does not use cookies or third-party tracking</li>
<li>Only processes files locally on your server</li>
<li>Does not communicate with external services or APIs</li>
</ul>
<h3>Usage</h3>
<h4>From the Media Library</h4>
<ol>
<li>Navigate to the WordPress Media Library</li>
<li>Open the file you want to replace (click on it, or use the row actions in list view)</li>
<li>Click <strong>Replace File</strong></li>
<li>Choose your new file — if revisions are enabled, you’ll be prompted for an optional note and version type (minor/major)</li>
<li>The replacement happens immediately, preserving the file’s URL</li>
</ol>
<h4>From the block editor</h4>
<ol>
<li>Click on any media block (image, cover, video, audio, file, gallery, etc.)</li>
<li>Open the <strong>Replace</strong> toolbar dropdown</li>
<li>Choose <strong>Update existing file</strong></li>
<li>Pick your new file — the editor refreshes in place</li>
</ol>
<h4>Viewing and managing revisions</h4>
<ul>
<li>In the Media Library list view, the <strong>Revisions</strong> row action opens the full revision history for that file</li>
<li>On the attachment edit screen, the <strong>View Revisions</strong> button opens the same panel</li>
<li>From either, you can download any past version individually or as a ZIP, and restore any revision with one click</li>
</ul>


Smart Media Replacement

Replace media files in place — same URL, new content, no broken links. Includes versioned revision history with one-click rollback.

Steve Burge

andergmartins

PublishPress

Kevin Behrens

<p>PublishPress Revisions is the ultimate tool for making content changes. Users get a safe space to work on content updates. When the changes are ready, they can ask for approval to publish the update. Administrators can approve or reject the changes. They can also schedule them to go live in the future.</p>
<p>Your users can update posts using the normal WordPress editor, but their changes will not be published automatically. Instead, the changes are stored in a “Revision Queue”. The changes can be approved, rejected or scheduled. PublishPress Revisions works with the familiar WordPress interface, including Gutenberg and the Classic Editor.</p>
<h3>PublishPress Revisions Pro</h3>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Upgrade to Revisions Pro</strong><br />
  This plugin is the free version of the Revisions Pro plugin. The Free version of PublishPress Revisions supports the WordPress core. The Pro version of PublishPress Revisions supports ACF, Yoast SEO, PODS, WooCommerce, WPML, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and many more plugins and themes. <a href="https://publishpress.com/revisions" title="Revisions Pro" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here to purchase the best premium WordPress content update plugin now!</a></p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Submit Change Requests for Posts</h3>
<p>PublishPress Revisions allows your users to submit change requests for published posts. Your users can update posts using the normal WordPress editor, but their changes will not be published automatically. Instead, the changes are stored as a “pending revision” that can be approved or rejected.</p>
<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/revisions-start/" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here to see how to submit revisions</a>.</p>
<h3>Schedule Future Updates to Posts</h3>
<p>PublishPress Revisions allows you to schedule WordPress revisions to be published in the future. When you’re editing a published post, all you need to do is select a future date and click “Schedule Revision”. Your changes will be published at the specified time.</p>
<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/schedule-revisions-future/" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here to see how to schedule revisions</a>.</p>
<h3>Manage and Moderate Changes to Content</h3>
<p>After you create a revision with PublishPress Revisions, you can find that revision on the Revision Queue screen. This screen shows you all the revisions that have been submitted for approval. Underneath each duplicate post you can choose from several moderation tools: Edit, Delete, Preview and Compare.</p>
<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/schedule-or-publish-revisions/" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here to see how to manage and moderate revisions</a>.</p>
<h3>Compare Current and Former Versions</h3>
<p>Pending and Scheduled Revisions can include changes to post content, categories, tags, featured image, page parent and other options. Each of these changes can be reviewed in the familiar Compare Revisions interface.</p>
<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/compare-revisions/" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here to see how to compare revisions</a>.</p>
<h3>Frontend Moderation of Content Changes</h3>
<p>It is possible to preview and moderate revisions via the frontend of your WordPress site. If you click Preview for a pending revision, you’ll see a toolbar across the frontend of the site. This toolbar will change color so you can easily know the status of the revision. For example, if you’re looking at a pending revision, the toolbar will be green. For scheduled revisions, the toolbar will be grey.</p>
<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/publishing-revisions-frontend/" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here to see how to manage from the frontend of your site</a>.</p>
<h3>Email Notifications for Revisions</h3>
<p>PublishPress Revisions will notify Administrators and Editors when a new revision is submitted. They can log in to preview, compare and approve the changes. PublishPress Revisions can also send emails for revision approval and publication. The Settings screen lets you disable unwanted notifications.</p>
<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/emails-revisionary/" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here for more on revision notifications</a>.</p>
<h3>Additional Plugins Supported in the Pro Version</h3>
<p>Page builder / front end editing integrations:</p>
<ul>
<li>BeaverBuilder integration </li>
<li>Divi Theme, Divi Builder integration</li>
<li>Elementor integration </li>
</ul>
<p>Major plugins we maintain compatibility with:</p>
<ul>
<li>Advanced Custom Fields</li>
<li>Pods</li>
<li>WPML</li>
<li>The Events Calendar</li>
<li>WooCommerce</li>
<li>Yoast SEO</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/plugins-revisions-support/" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here for the full list of supported plugins in the Pro version</a>.</p>
<h3>You Can Set Very Detailed Revision Permissions</h3>
<p>PublishPress Revisions works with the default WordPress user roles, and also introduces a Revisor role:</p>
<ul>
<li>Contributors can submit revisions to their own published posts.</li>
<li>Revisors can submit revisions to posts and pages published by others.</li>
<li>Authors, Editors and Administrators can approve revisions or schedule their own revisions.</li>
</ul>
<p>To schedule changes to a published post, just set the desired future date before hitting Update.</p>
<p>By upgrading to Revisions Pro, you also gain advanced permissions control through the PublishPress Permissions Pro plugin. You can customize permissions by role or per-user, granting full editing or revision submission rights to specific posts, categories, or taxonomy terms.</p>
<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/permissions-revisions" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here for more on revision permissions</a>.</p>
<h3>Join PublishPress and get the Pro plugins</h3>
<p>The Pro versions of the PublishPress plugins are well worth your investment. The Pro versions have extra features and faster support. <a href="https://publishpress.com/pricing/" rel="nofollow ugc">Click here to join PublishPress</a>.</p>
<p>Join PublishPress and you’ll get access to these Pro plugins:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/authors" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Authors Pro</a> allows you to add multiple authors and guest authors to WordPress posts.</li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/blocks" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Blocks Pro</a> has everything you need to build professional websites with the WordPress block editor.</li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/capabilities" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Capabilities Pro</a> is the plugin to manage your WordPress user roles, permissions, and capabilities.</li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/checklists" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Checklists Pro</a> enables you to define tasks that must be completed before content is published.</li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/future" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Future Pro</a>  is the plugin for scheduling changes to your posts.</li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/permissions" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Permissions Pro</a>  is the plugin for restricted content and advanced WordPress permissions.</li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/publishpress" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Planner Pro</a> is the plugin for managing and scheduling WordPress content.</li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/revisions" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Revisions Pro</a> allows you to update your published pages with teamwork and precision.</li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/series" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Series Pro</a> enables you to group content together into a series.</li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/shortlinks" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Shortlinks Pro</a> allows you to create custom URLs for your posts and external links. </li>
<li><a href="https://publishpress.com/statuses" rel="nofollow ugc">PublishPress Statuses Pro</a> enables you to create additional publishing steps for your posts.</li>
</ul>
<p>Together, these plugins are a suite of powerful publishing tools for WordPress. If you need to create a professional workflow in WordPress, with moderation, revisions, permissions and more, then you should try PublishPress.</p>
<h3>Bug Reports</h3>
<p>Bug reports for PublishPress Revisions are welcomed in our <a href="https://github.com/publishpress/publishpress-revisions" rel="nofollow ugc">repository on GitHub</a>. Please note that GitHub is not a support forum, and that issues that aren’t properly qualified as bugs will be closed.</p>
<h3>Follow the PublishPress team</h3>
<p>Follow PublishPress on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/publishpress" rel="nofollow ugc">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.twitter.com/publishpresscom" rel="nofollow ugc">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/publishpress" rel="nofollow ugc">YouTube</a></p>


PublishPress Revisions: Duplicate Posts, Submit, Approve and Schedule Content Changes

Control how published content is updated. Users can duplicate posts and submit changes. Then editors can approve, reject or schedule those changes.

Smart Media Replacement vs PublishPress Revisions: Duplicate Posts, Submit, Approve and Schedule Content Changes