How can I effectively organize my files in Shopify?

[Grubbybub]

Is there a way to organise your files in Shopify? 

I can see, edit and scroll through my files, and can add 'views' - but cannot add any files to these views. 

What is 'views' in files for? Is there some way to organise uploaded files into folders in Shopify?

I spend so long searching through uploaded images to find what i need - it would be so much simpler if i was able to organise them properly!

[beauxbreaux]

Views in Shopify refer to customized perspectives or filtered displays of your product or collection lists.

Purpose:

• Organization: Views help organize products and collections by allowing you to create duplicate or filtered lists based on specific criteria.

• Experimentation: They provide a safe way to experiment with collections without affecting the original setup.

• Search and Filtering: Views facilitate searching and filtering by collection type, sales channels, or other criteria, making it easier to locate and manage specific products.

How to Use Views:

1. Create a New View: Make a duplicate of the original view to experiment with collections.
2. Filter the Original List: Apply filters to the main product or collection list based on your criteria.
3. Create Views from Filtered Results: Generate views from the results of applied filters.
4. Comprehensive Overview: Take a comprehensive look at the various views, exploring assigned products within each view.

Optimization Tips:

• Naming Convention: Adopt a naming convention for views to easily identify their purpose.

• Regular Maintenance: Periodically review and update views based on changes in your product offerings or organizational needs.

Overall Benefit: Views provide a flexible and organized way to manage collections, aiding in efficient product management and easier navigation within the Shopify admin interface.

[Grubbybub]

Thank you for this. I now understand what views is for.

unfortunately, it doesn’t fulfill the need of organisation for uploaded files, rather than products/collections. 

obviously, websites have a lot more images/documents/videos etc that aren’t linked to products/collections. It would be great to be able to organise these uploaded files

[sloodietravel]

Agreed this is definitely something that would be helpful to implement shopify! Otherwise it is just a bunch of random images in no order except the order they were uploaded in, which is usually random!

[Sambelina]

Did you manage to find a way to organise your uploaded files? I have 1,000s of image files and cannot find a way to easily manage them. It very frustrating. 

[Craftware]

@Sambelina I noted this elsewhere in this thread but it's not immediately visible given the number of comments.

I developed Simple File Manager for precisely this purpose. You can immediately begin organizing your files with directories and even upload your existing directory structure. Your file names are also updated based on the directories they're in so that you can easily look them up in the Shopify Products page.

Here are a couple of tutorials I've written to help you get the most out of the app:

• https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-apps/can-organizing-a-massive-shopify-file-library-into-fold...
• https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-apps/update-product-media-in-a-jiffy-with-simple-file-manage...

[CristianB]

Thanks for your explanation, but I strongly disagree. The views is just a bad half-baked solution to find files specially if you have thousands of them. Search for tags would be a much better one and organize them in folders with automatic rules. All the files organization of Shopify in the files section is very primitive and something they should be working on for version 3.  Right now it is really bad.

[yotamcuralife]

Hey there! As a long-time user of Shopify, we've come to realize that managing our file store can be a real pain in the neck. Over time, we've accumulated a ton of images that were used or tested in the past, and it's become a massive junkyard that's hard to navigate. Plus, trying to figure out which images we can delete without breaking something is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

The problem gets even worse when new team members take over website maintenance and aren't familiar with our file store history. We don't want to risk accidentally deleting something important and hurting our site's performance, but we also don't want to waste time sifting through thousands of images to find what we need.

That's why we're reaching out to Shopify to request a new feature that can help us better organize and manage our file store. We think it would be a huge help if there were tools that made it easier to delete unwanted files without worrying about damaging our site. And let's be real, who doesn't want a cleaner, more organized file store?

We know that Shopify is always looking for ways to improve user experience, and we believe this would be a game-changer for many of us. We hope you'll seriously consider our request and help make our lives easier! Thanks for your consideration.

[RH_TB]

Hi All,

Thank you in advance for assistance. My company is in the process of transferring our store from another platform to Shopify. So far I am very impressed but having difficulty believing there is really no way to organize photos/files. My company has thousands of product photos and hundreds of "general" photos used on various other pages throughout the site. In the past, I have been able to upload files and store them in different folders making them easy to find. When I upload the photos to Shopify, I am not seeing any way to organize them or find what I need. If I end up uploading my thousands of photos I would spend hours trying to locate the correct photos.

How do all of you organize your photos/files? Is there a good app that will help with this?

[Karlie]

Hey, there! 

Karlie here from the Shopify Guru Team! Currently, there isn't a way to manage your image files from your Shopify Admin by sorting or organizing - but I can definitely see how this type of functionality would be beneficial for Shopify merchants. I would be happy to pass this feedback along to the appropriate team here for you so that we can help improve the Shopify platform for future merchants. 

Although there isn't an organizing system for image files already in place within Shopify, I would be happy to share some ideas that could potentially be work-arounds for the functionality you're looking to achieve. Because you had mentioned the use of an app in your post, I thought I would mention the app, Image Manager. Image Manager wasn't created purely for organizing images, but you do have the ability to sort and filter through your images by using Image Manager.  With Image Manager, you can also bulk upload images, drag and drop images to product and variants as well as filter products. 

Another option would be to export your products to CSV files. Exporting your products via CSV file would allow you to view all of your product information, including image file URLs in a spreadsheet format - which you could use to manually sort that information. If you're interested in this method, you can check out how to upload files to your website by using our handy doc and then you can review how to use CSV files, here!

I understand that this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but I hope this helps provide some sort of work-around for you. If you have any further questions - be sure to ask and I would be happy to help!

Karlie
Shopify Guru
support@shopify.com

[DebVT]

I agree this is a big issue if you have a large number of products and pages.  Can you delete a file once you have used it and no longer need it in the library, or does that remove its visibility on the web page?

[Nancy12]

This post is almost a year old, and I still don't see a way to organize images.  Can you update on where this enhancement is in the product development life cycle?

[DebVT]

The only workaround I have found is to use Settings>Files which stores all of the images.  You can then search by name for a specific file.  This works fine if your images are named well but that's not always the case especially if they are sourced from vendors.  It also supplies the URL if you want to upload via URL.  Hope that helps.

[Bob_Meyer]

How do you search for the name of a file?  The only filter is see is for file size.  And clicking on File sorts them from Z to A, and a second click breaks them into small groups and only shows about half of them.

[DebVT]

I enter the name of the file in the filter field.  Still a terrible system but this does seem to work if your files are well named.

 

[Bob_Meyer]

Hey, that does work.  And I can even use a couple of parts of the file name to search. 

I've been including photo dimensions in the file name, so that'll help a lot.

Thanks!

Bob

[Carlo_Hive365]

@DebVT 

That's an ''if....'' but file naming convention and mgmt across a team is difficult. The additional admin for an SME brand is awful because Shopify (happy to take above market sub fees) is too mean to give any any standard file mgmt functionality.....

[Ryan_Johnson]

Hoping to keep this thread alive, as Shopify has still not addressed the need for a file/photo management section. I've got tons of images that I need to organize on my site, and also see what's not being used, so we can purge the data not needed. 

Please, Shopify, give us a media manager. It's a no-brainer as a feature!

Ryan Johnson

NewRuleFX.com

[jarcustomsllc]

I would also like to make sure this happens, I'm surprised this isn't already a feature.... with  all the organizational tools for products how was this overlooked???

[CharmingOrange]

It's been two years - does Shopify not have an answer for this? How do we keep images organized? Or what is an app or outside place to store images in an organized manner? This is incredibly frustrating!!!

[Arlcrane]

Yes, this is a real head scratcher why there can't be an acceptable image management system.  Mind boggling, actually.  

[Carlo_Hive365]

Yes another very significant shortcoming of Shopify.

As someone here said its a head scratching/mind boggling weakness which any merchant with a high number of SKUs and/or images ie ALL merchants in 2020 that want to have a visually strong eshop!!

Usually its a cynical way of getting the Shopify merchant to increase his ecommerce overhead needlessly and install yet another paid-for app but check them out here they are left asking on that level too https://apps.shopify.com/collections/image-editing

[Bob_Meyer]

I have a slightly different question about how to use the images in Settings/Files.

Since the images in Settings/Files are used in multiple places in what I think is called the Theme Editor (Customizer?), the dimensions recommended for the various places I might use them are quite different.  I might also want to use a particular image in BOTH a banner and a gallery.  Or change a banner image (rec. size of 1600x1000 in my theme) to a gallery position (rec size of something like 1024x768), and vice versa for the gallery image.

However, when I bring up the Image Library, there doesn't seem to be any way to differentiate between different versions of the same photo.  There are no file names visible, let alone dimensions - and the photos are cropped in a way that doesn't allow differentiation between any of them.

Right now I'm testing to see how it works with all 1600x1000 images, regardless of where they go.  It just doesn't seem likely to give me the best result, though.

As I'm fine-tuning the site, I'd like to be able to have a comprehensive pool of images to choose from - for all the various parts of the site I might need them.  It's looking like I might have to process the images one by one as I determine what image I need for which banner or gallery.

Has anyone run into this?  Or figured out a way to deal with it?  Thanks.     

[linia]

Karlie - is there a feature request or any other way we (the users) can help push this enhancement forward?  I'm also really interested in this feature and it looks like there is lots of interest.  I'm in the process of exploring migrating from another platform and cannot imagine that I cannot organize my brand photos vs. my individual product photos, freebies and general images in a coherent way.

Let us know if there is a feature request we can all go upvote somewhere! I'm new to the platform so don't know the best way to make my voice heard.

Thanks so much!

[Carlo_Hive365]

Crazy to think we are all out here struggling with a core functional shortcoming - image management - while Shopify makes continuous UX tweaks to the backend and focuses on adding other functions that leave us merchants underwhelmed.

Meanwhile others here try helping and suggest ridiculous DIY workarounds that would make you think we are in the 2010 PC (pre-SaaS) computing era.

[IconicEd]

This was 20218 and its still not sorted Please please shopify make it possible to organise images on products, its shambless.. 

[RH_TB]

Awesome, thank you for this information. I appreciate you taking the time to address my question. I do think passing this on to the appropriate team would be a great idea because I can't imagine I am the only one with this frustration.

Thanks again!

[BCPablo]

I just want to add that this is an important issue for me as well. I'm investigating the possibility of using Shopify, and this could be a problem. Aside from having over 2000 products, we have hundreds of additional photos and PDFs that we use throughout our site. Not having an efficient way to organize them will be a big problem. I'll investigate the idea of using an app for it, but it really should be part of Shopify's basic functionality.

[cmyers1979]

BCPablo,

DON'T DO IT!!!!! We rebuilt our website and my boss decided to move from Magento to Shopify (it appeared to be the less expensive option) IT'S NOT! You have to purchase monthly subscriptions to app to make ANYTHING function properly. And I chose a very robust theme.  Don't get me started on managing images and making bulk edits... oh and filtering your products or adding extra data? Hire $$$$$$$$$$ an expert. There is nothing and really do mean nothing intuitive about this platform. Oh and the customer service? Good luck with that. I really hope you have not bit the bullet yet. We are too deep in $40,000 to back out now.

[BCPablo]

Thanks for the info. We haven't made the switch as of yet. Your figure of around $40,000 sounds close to the estimates I've heard so far to move our site over. Thankfully, we don't have a pressing reason to move at the moment, so we have plenty of time to consider our options. Since I'm the one that deals with product page setup and image management at my company, it's important for me to actually be able to manage those images efficiently. 

[ederecat]

I am perplexed by this.  Not being able to organize and delete images that were uploaded in the variant image window makes zero sense.  I just started this today and have spent hours uploading only to find this feature lacking.  Deal breaker for me.  Too bad, this is a great system other than the image management.  

[packagesplan]

Hi, I Hope You are Fine I have the same issue my site was about jazz internet packages. I am also very worried. It took time sometimes but it will be solved don't worry.

[Bob_Meyer]

Wow, you have a lot of packages!  Looks like it could be a little tricky.  Interesting stuff, though!

Bob

[Hard_Bar]

Completely agree.

The fact that product imagery management would be such a time intensive option operation is the reason my clients with larger inventories won't switch over. They're not big enough stores to afford Shopify plus which may offer more functionality but still at $299 a month for the advanced package it's a shame there is not a more intuitive option.

Look forward to hearing if anything changes.

[Propelguru]

Use Folders and Subfolders

When you are categorizing images and files, but the more folders you have separating out unique events, trips, and projects, the more quickly you’ll be able to find a particular one that comes to mind.

Use Favorites and starred

Use Favorites or starred only for the very most significant or often-needed photos and files in your collection. Use Favorites to set aside images for specific projects and empty them out after each project is completed.

Cloud Storage Options

Cloud storage is very convenient you need to sign up, sync, possibly pay a certain amount, and then you don’t really worry about data again. It’s accessible from anywhere with an internet connection and you can share photos easily with a quick link and create a backup.

[CharmingOrange]

Shopify doesn't have a folder or subfolder option within the platform.

THAT IS THE PROBLEM

Please don't suggest something that isn't possible because OF THE ACTUAL PROBLEM.

Also please don't suggest generic "cloud storage". Not all cloud storage works with Shopify because you have to have a static address and many storage options are not compatible.

This is a Shopify platform issue. They need the option for internal organization and filtering through tags and store categories. It does not exist.

[Carlo_Hive365]

Hey @Propelguru 

What he/she said.

Thanks @CharmingOrange couldnt have put it better myself 😉

[Siamesekrazy]

An internal naming convention might help, using "header", "productimage" or other terms at the beginning to keep like images and files stored together and easier to find. Putting the image size at the end of the file name "1000x1000px" is also useful.

[CharmingOrange]

Internal naming isn't effective when all the files are in the same folder/directory. Or maybe it would if you only had a hundred or so photos. But if you have a decent inventory and 4-5 images of each product, that is a complete waste of time. It also messes with your SEO algorithms to have weird names for your product photos.

[trishasingh4]

We're looking for the same solution. Is shopify any closer to proving an image management system?  

[Bob_Meyer]

Yeah, I've spent hours and hours trying to get something workable.  It eventually became clear that I simply wouldn't be able to use the Shopify photo system (under Files) for the bulk of my photos.  Of course, there are a number of places where I HAVE to - but it's incredibly time-consuming to scroll through all the photos - maybe 5 new ones at a time - to find what you're looking for.  And then none of the labeling I've added is visible, just as everyone else has noticed.

I'd go so far as to say that if it wasn't for the Gallery apps, I would've had to give up on Shopify.  These apps only address part of the photo needs, but they're infinitely more usable.

I would suggest that if Shopify can't come up with an improved photo-handling system, they should let the Gallery apps somehow take care of ALL the photos.

[jpruellage]

Didn't Shopify give a sneak peak of an upcoming content management system at Unite in 2021 when they announced Shop 2.0?  Has anyone heard any updates about this?

Every time I'm customizing something on the site and think "I know I used that photo someplace else but where is it?" I either go through a laborious process to find it (and am not even sure it is the right dimensions) or I just upload it again and further clog my content store.  And the fact that in the theme customizer it only shows the most recent content uploaded so you have to keep hitting "Load More" to find something you uploaded a while ago is maddening.

The fact that we haven't seen anything yet makes me think the entire Shopify infrastructure was built without content management in mind and because it touches on some many different parts - products, files, themes, etc. it will not be an easy fix or migration.

Still - I'd love to just know there is a light at the end of the tunnel (as opposed to a train). 

[DebVT]

The best solution I've found is to be very diligent in naming the image files that I upload and then I am easily able to find them using the files search.  But, yes, so little progress for such an important component.  It seems like Shopify is better than this in every other facet.

[Bob_Meyer]

That works when you're looking at the photos in Files, but not when you're adding those photos directly in the editor - at least with my theme.  For instance, some fields will state a 1600x1000 ideal ratio, and some will be much smaller.  But all I can do is scroll through the photos, maybe 5 at a time, until I get to one that looks right.  And if it's not, I have to start scrolling from the start again.  Each photo is totally un-named and unidentified in any way, regardless of how I have them named.

[DebVT]

My theme will let me add the image using the url from the files.  Does yours have that option?  

[Bob_Meyer]

It lets me upload a photo from my pc, but I can't see any way of referring to a URL.  Still, I've ended up with all sorts of duplicates in Settings/Files by adding photos rather than scrolling through all of them.  Then, when I go to Settings/Files to delete duplicates, I can't tell which ones are actually being used. 

I could go back and forth between Settings/Files (where I can see what I have) and (what I think is called) the site editor, but that's just not practical with a lot of photos. 

Think of it in terms of my present situation - my theme has received a major upgrade, where there's a "new OS 2.0 editor".  It's apparently major enough that I have to rebuild the entire content.  Knowing the incredible time suck I experienced setting up my site initially - especially messing around with the photos - I'm not sure I'm ever going to do it.  (besides, I can't tell at all whether OS 2.0 would be enough to make it worthwhile)

[Carlo_Hive365]

Hi @Bob_Meyer which Gallery apps do you recommend?

[Bob_Meyer]

Carlo, I actually just tried the least expensive couple of apps first.  I ended up with Robin Pro - not only was it the least expensive, but it had all the features I needed.  And the guy that wrote the app seems extremely receptive to changes, and has done a couple at my request. 

It's also still one of the rare 5.0 rated apps I've run across.

I tried a couple others, and they have what seem to be extra features - but they ended up being very minor.

[Stacy_Zhuk]

I suggest you should take a look at this article https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/shopify-admin/productivity-tools/file-uploads 

You can name the image using some system (with the name of the page for which it is loaded or the product)

[Bob_Meyer]

Hi Stacy,

Right, within the Settings/Files section, you can do all sort of organization of the photos. You can see the file name, file size, file type, etc., etc., and filter them, sort them - yes, you can do all sorts of things there.

I have to ask, though, whether you've had occasion to go further, into Themes/Customize, to actually add those photos to your page.  The format of those photos there is NOTHING like was you see in Files.  You get to see 19 photos at a time, and have to "load more" to see another 19, ad infinitum.  And there is no way to sort, filter, see a filename, file size, or anything else other than the thumbnail.  Maybe it's just the template I'm using, but I don't think so (it's a paid template, and not a cheap one).

I think this applies to your post as well, Stan.  You can have the finest DAM software around, and I don't see how it would change how the photos are actually put into your site - you still have to deal with the incredibly severe limitation of how to actually place the photo on the page.

Also, any way you sort or customize filenames or anything else in Files, NONE of that translates into what you see in Themes/Customize.  None.  Well, if you delete items from Files, you won't see it any more in Customize, but that's not a lot of help, is it?