Thanks for your thoughtful reply. Unfortunately this only works in a specific case where you change themes and move cleanly from one set of images to another. For me, and I suspect most others, it’s an ongoing process of swapping images in and out, within the same theme over months and years, resulting in a mishmash of current and old images even when sorted chronologically.
Topic summary
Core Issue:
Shopify merchants struggle to identify which uploaded image files are actively used in their stores versus unused files that can be safely deleted. Over time, file libraries become cluttered with experimental uploads, duplicates, and outdated assets, creating confusion and risk when attempting cleanup.
Current Limitations:
- Shopify provides no built-in feature to track file usage or display total file counts
- The “References” column in Content > Files shows a dash (-) for seemingly unused files, but this is unreliable—it misses images used in metafields, third-party apps, or certain theme locations
- No filtering options exist to sort by usage status
- Users cannot track proximity to plan-based file storage limits
Proposed Workarounds:
- Sort files by upload date (oldest to newest) and delete pre-theme-change files—only works for clean theme migrations
- Use third-party tools like Filetastic app (now includes beta functionality to search for used files) or Screaming Frog SEO Spider to crawl the site for image links
- Manual verification remains necessary due to incomplete reference tracking
Status:
This remains an unresolved, ongoing issue spanning 4+ years with no official Shopify solution announced. Multiple users continue requesting this feature.
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