About this plugin
Media Reference Inspector scans WordPress media references without modifying content. Administrators can also optionally select and remove files from Media Explorer, after reviewing a warning and explicitly confirming the action.
Scans never automatically delete files or modify content. Manual removal requires the administrator to review exactly which files will be removed, acknowledge the risk, and type DELETE. When Media Trash is disabled in WordPress, removal is permanent.
No tables, tracking or analytics are added. Scan results are advisory: “No supported references found” does not prove that a file is unused.
Scanner
Inspect one media item at a time with a professional WordPress-native workflow. 5, candidate content URLs and wp-image-ID classes are verified more strictly to reduce partial matches. Supported checks include:
- Post, page, custom post type, synced/reusable block, and other post content or excerpts containing the primary URL, generated image-size URLs, or the WordPress wp-image-ID class.
- Core Image, Gallery, Cover, Media & Text, File, Audio, and Video blocks that store attachment IDs.
- Featured images stored in _thumbnail_id metadata.
- Navigation menu custom URLs.
- WordPress Site Icon and Site Logo.
- Active theme Custom Logo, Header Image, and Background Image settings.
- Core media widgets and block widgets.
- WooCommerce product gallery and product-category thumbnail attachment IDs.
- Elementor saved media-control references when the saved JSON confirms the attachment ID.
- Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) Image, File, and Gallery fields when ACF confirms the field type and saved attachment ID.
- Reference evidence details including confidence, source category, and context for supported results.
Bulk Scan
Bulk Scan processes media items one at a time through bounded AJAX requests. It supports media type, upload-age, search, maximum-item filters, selected attachment IDs, live progress, potential-unused review filtering, reference evidence and file-health filtering, result sorting, CSV/JSON export, and a printable HTML audit report. CSV cells beginning with spreadsheet formula characters are escaped.
Broken URLs
Run a bounded, read-only scan for local WordPress uploads URLs saved in post content or excerpts where the corresponding local file no longer exists. The scanner checks local uploads paths only and does not make external network requests.
Page & Post Audit
Audit a post or page to list supported media attachment IDs, flag broken attachment IDs, and review local file health without modifying content.
Duplicate Finder
Run an on-demand, bounded exact-file hash scan of recent local Media Library files. The tool reports exact matches only and never deletes files.
Integration Coverage
The admin interface reports supported coverage for WordPress Core, WooCommerce, Elementor, and ACF so administrators can see which integration-aware checks are active on the site.
Dashboard
The responsive admin overview uses read-only attachment metadata to display total attachments, images, uploads in the last 30 days, a media-family breakdown, and a scan-coverage summary restricted to the eight most recent attachments. Its thumbnail gallery can be filtered by title or cached scan status without server requests or scans. The coverage percentage is not a full-library usage or safety score.
No automatic reference scan occurs on dashboard load.
Media Explorer
A separate paginated, searchable gallery of attachment records with media-type filtering, image thumbnails, cached-only reference states, and links to inspect or edit. 7 administrators can check individual items or all available items on the current page (up to 18), or use a single-tile delete action.
Before WordPress removes anything, the plugin obtains a one-time server-side review of the exact selected IDs with cached usage warnings, explains whether this site uses Media Trash or permanent deletion, and requires a risk acknowledgement plus a typed DELETE confirmation. Only the approved IDs can be acted upon. No automatic removal or background scans occur.
Reference Footprint
After an explicit one-item scan, a visual evidence summary groups supported references by source category, showing a count and brief labels for each category. This reflects only references returned by supported scanners; it is not a complete dependency graph or proof that a file is unused.
Media Library Status
Reference checks store a short-lived local scan-status cache for inspected attachments. Media Library workflows can show a recent reference count/status and offer an explicit re-scan without running a heavy scan on every page load.
Media Impact Preview
Single-item scans summarize supported reference categories that could be affected before a media item is replaced or removed. The preview is advisory and read-only.
Extended Metadata and Builder Coverage
4 adds bounded validation for media-like post meta, term meta, selected option values, known SEO/social image metadata, and supported Bricks, Divi, and Beaver Builder saved data. Candidate values are validated before a reference is reported.
Site Audit Summary
Run an explicit progressive audit of up to 100 recent Media Library items. Each item is processed in a separate nonce-protected AJAX request, with Pause and Resume (while keeping the page open), reference counts, file-health review, and per-item error reporting. For broken local URLs and duplicate groups, use the separate dedicated tabs.
Results are not automatically saved to an audit history.
Support
The Help tab includes an explicit support form for bug reports, feature requests, and questions. Nothing is sent until an administrator submits the form. The message and reply email are sent through the site’s configured WordPress mail system to plugin support.
Privacy
Media Reference Inspector does not send media or site data to analytics or telemetry services and stores no scan history. Short-lived scan-status cache data stays in WordPress. The Help support form sends a message only after an administrator explicitly submits it.