If you want to move your media files or upload bulk images manually to your WordPress website – simply uploading them to the /wp-content/uploads directory isn’t enough as WordPress won’t display the files in your media library.
Once the folders/images are uploaded to your account, you need to install a third-party WordPress plugin to scan and display the media files in your WordPress media library.
Here’s how to move your existing media files to your WordPress website manually:
Upload
Log in to cPanel and go to the File Manager. In our example, we’re using cPanel.
Navigate to the public_html -> wp-content -> uploads directory, and click Upload at the top menu bar:
Make sure to have your images compressed in an archive (ZIP) to upload them easily as a single file. Select the archive file, and File Manager will automatically upload it once you select it:
Select the archive file, and click Extract at the top right corner:
Click Extract File(s) to complete the operation:
Install the Media Sync plugin
Log in to your WordPress dashboard, head to Plugins -> Add New, and type in Media Sync in the search bar at the top-right corner:
Click Install Now to install the plugin.
Once installed, click Activate to activate the Media Sync plugin:
Scan files
Navigate to Settings > Media Sync, and put in the newly uploaded directory in the Scan Directory setting (in our example, the name of the directory is 2017):
Click Save Changes to save changes. We’re doing this because we don’t want this plugin to scan our entire media library and use unnecessary resources.
Head to Media -> Media Sync, and click Scan Files:
Uncheck the Dry Run option, select the files you want to import, and click Import Selected to go to the next step:
The plugin will show the import progress and let you know once the import is completed:
We recommend importing images in batches to ensure your WordPress website stays optimized.
That’s it! You should be able to see the imported files in the media library of your new WordPress website now!
