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Upload images to your Wordpress blog without FTP?

Dave, I host my images on my own server, but I hate using some of the more primitive tools to work with it, especially FTP. So, tell me, is there a way to add images to my blog entries if I'm using Wordpress without using the file transfer protocol software?


Dave's Answer:

That's a great question. I'm more of a Movable Type expert, so I asked my pal Sherman Hu of Wordpress Tutorials for his suggestion. He offered the following method which will show you a simple way to upload and host images on your own server, and posting it to your blog.

Let's customize the upload settings first before uploading our image.

First, login to your blog's 'Dashboard' eg. www.domain.com/wp-login.php.

Secondly, click on the 'Options' tab, 'Miscellaneous' sub-tab. Here you can customize which folder will be the default folder where all your future image uploads will be stored in.

Wordpress misc options

I've chosen my 'images' folder, and checkboxed for my uploads to be organized into month/year based folders. Click on the 'Update Options' tab to confirm changes.

Ensure that the folder you've chosen above has the global write permissions assigned for Wordpress to use it effectively.

How do you do this? Simple.

Login to your host account using FTP software, right click the 'images' folder, and change your permissions to 'All Write' privileges, or "chmod 777".

The other option is to login to your host account's cpanel, and use the File Manager to accomplish the same permission tasks as above.

Now that we're done the initial setup, let's walk through how we can upload images to your Wordpress blog without the use of FTP software.

In your Dashboard, click on 'Write' tab, then 'Write Post' sub-tab.

Wordpress: upload image options

Scroll down to the 'Upload' feature box, click the 'Browse' button to locate your image in your computer files, along with any descriptions, then click the 'Upload' button. Your image has now been uploaded to your host account.

Wordpress ftp file structure

Just for testing purposes, I've included a screenshot above of what the file structure may look like on your host account using this method.

As you can see, Wordpress created a thumbnail image, along with my original image. I'll use the original image for our example.

So let's paste the code to our new blog post, shall we?

If you're using Firefox, simply right click the image and select 'Copy Image Location'.

Wordpress: Copy Image Location

In your 'Write Post' section, fill in your post title, and body content. Then paste in your image code. Below is an example of what it could look like.

Wordpress: Publish Post

Click the 'Publish' button, and let's view our blog to see what our post looks like...

Wordpress: View Blog

There you go! A simple process to upload images to your host via your Wordpress blog dashboard that precludes the need to use FTP software.

If you're interested in Wordpress customization, I do recommend you checking out Sherman's Wordpress Tutorials site. He has tons of customization tips and tricks and a very active discussion board too.


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Categorized: Blogs and Blogging   (Article 6669, Written by )
Tagged: blog customization, file upload, ftp, image hosting, wordpress
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Reader Comments To Date: 12

Satish Talim said, on July 15, 2006 7:53 AM:

Very useful article. Thanks!

Alan Kay said, on July 18, 2006 3:55 AM:

Hi
You dont need to right click the uploaded image and copy the URL then paste into the editor to use the original uploaded image dimensions. If you left click the uploaded image, an image option menu appears, just click 'Using Thumbnail', which once clicked turns into 'Using Original' then click 'Send To Editor' and the image will be sent to the editor with its original uploaded dimensions. I have written an article about this on my blog at http://www.alanwho.com/web-development/wordpress/full-width-and-height-images-with-the-upload-tool.

Tim said, on March 27, 2007 4:32 PM:

Thanks for the most helpful article on how to upload an image w/o using FTP.
I have a lingering question for some time now:
- like with your image, or more so with a video clip, how do you set up a blog page spot such that the clip ALWAYS plays on the same spot in the page?
For example, I am thinking of having a small 1/3 column sized rectangle TV graphic at the top RH corner of the blog page and perhaps a list of clickable links that will play/show the video/image, but wishing to have it shown at this corner location (so user doesn't have to scroll down as new clips are added). Can this be done?
Any examples/templates that I can follow?
Many thanks,
Tim

tom said, on October 11, 2007 2:26 AM:

i might of missed it but whats the maximum file size your allowed to upload.

heyyou said, on March 31, 2008 5:22 PM:

You can fully manage the files on your server via the my ftp wordpress plugin.

http://trialsoftwarez.com/wordpress-myftp/

jack said, on December 23, 2008 3:06 PM:

I can't believe you are recommending that bloggers chmod 777. Might as well tell bloggers to pull down their pants and tie their shoelaces. Don't you know the security risks??!!!

Mason said, on May 19, 2009 11:21 PM:

I agree with Jack. Asking users to use chmod 777 on their images folder on their webserver is outrageous and irresponsible. Wow.

Anonymous said, on November 16, 2009 6:54 PM:

Dave, I've read so many different answers to this question in my quest to find the right image upload solution...the add media function was not functioning in my wordpress...yours was the first that worked well on the first shot...and offered the easiest directions to follow for a non IT person. MANY THANKS! You are a genius!!!!

greg k said, on April 12, 2010 5:37 AM:

hi dave, im using wordpress.org and there is no 'settings' button

i need the settings so i can try and upload the photos because right now when i try to upload a photo , i get this

Unable to create directory /home/sbucciar/public_html/puppycareguide.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04. Is its parent directory writable by the server?

i understand this is an issue with the original designer, so i have found a solution

but it involves finding the 'settings' button first, any advice?thanks,greg

Heidi said, on June 26, 2011 1:16 PM:

Hi Dave! First, I'm not a web designer/tech or anything close to that! In fact, I almost know nothing about this stuff. I had someone originally design my site and he turned out to be Crazy! Then, thinking I could trust a girl...I hired a chick to re-vamp it adding some much needed seo help. Same thing...Crazy. Charged a lot with little help. So...I'm having some trust issues by now. I'm trying to learn the basics now on my own, but get easily frustrated when I can't figure it out quickly.

My latest problem is: I updated last night to 3.1.3 and the latest plugins. In doing so, I now cannot upload images in my galleries. It says "Error to Failure" then 0 images uploaded. I tried searching forums on this problem and it seems most everyone who has downloaded the latest version of NextGEN 1.8.1 with WP 3.1.3.

What can I do??? Please help. ;*/

Thanks! Heidi, Phx AZ

Vivek Bhatt said, on October 20, 2012 3:49 AM:

this article found really helpful, i would like to thank you admin. i got some information from here.. i want to bookmark this blog now. thank you so much. :)

Isak said, on December 24, 2012 5:54 AM:

I couldn't find out the 'Options' tab, 'Miscellaneous' sub-tab in admin panel i tried in blog-in-blog plugin and in that having 'Misc' tab but i cant find out 'Store the image ....'

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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