How do I delete imported images?

Not being able to delete old graphics/photos is really annoying.  This feature has been requested for years.  Why wasn't it automatically built into Squarespace?

On 10/5/2021 at 1:13 PM, DonnaV said:

Why wasn't it automatically built into Squarespace?

SS's image handling is designed with an auto-aging system that is supposed to auto delete unused images. I think it is a laudable feature. Kind of a set it and forget it deal. Unfortunately that functionality is not sufficient for a number of use cases.

As a photographer, not being able to delete photos makes Squarespace unwieldy to use. After about a year, all my portfolio images get  updated. It's a hassle to scroll through old photos I'll never use again. I may have a logo from years ago that I need to find, but it's buried in back of the unused images.

At this point, it would be easier to find a new host and build a new site.

This is an issue that needs to get fixed.

On 5/1/2020 at 11:25 AM, Susana_SQSP said:

Hi everyone, 

Thank you for flagging this issue. We’ve noted this for our Design and Engineering teams to review, and they’ll use this feedback when implementing fixes and improvements in future releases.

For any further questions regarding this issue, please reach out to the Customer Support team.

What is happening with this feature?
It's making working for clients impossible, they want to delete images they uploaded by accident and I want to delete my placeholders, they are not happy and I'm very disappointed to find such a basic feature is missing... Not sure I would recommend it to my next client.

On 10/25/2021 at 2:42 PM, IvyN said:

What is happening with this feature?
It's making working for clients impossible, they want to delete images they uploaded by accident and I want to delete my placeholders, they are not happy and I'm very disappointed to find such a basic feature is missing... Not sure I would recommend it to my next client.

This is what I got from Squarespace Support:

Quote

All images you upload will appear in the My Library tab until you delete every instance of the image from your site. Once it's deleted, our system automatically removes images sometime between 8 to 38 days.
 
Here's a guide with more information:
https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205812748-Image-and-file-URLs-in-Squarespace#toc-remove-your-image-or-file-url 

Though I still need a delete button. 😕

I agree that this is a serious flaw with Squarespace - enough of one to recommend all my clients use a different CMS. I sincerely hope that the UX/UI developers introduce an accessible media library that allows us to edit titles, add alt descriptions, and permanently delete files and images. That Squarespace doesn't provide that is beyond me. Most sites I've inherited from clients who've built their sites on Squarespace have a TON of duplicate images and none of them were initially added with any alt tags, which makes the SEO work very challenging to say the least. The way Squarespace is setup, that would mandate that I replace every single image asset with a new duplicate upload simply to change the title and alt description, with no way to delete all the other images. That is terrible. Come on Squarespace! You can do better than this!

On 9/28/2021 at 10:22 PM, vicnico said:

Thought I was the only one who couldn't find the delete button.. Would love this feature. it's so frustrating working with an overcrowded media library.

Would you find a library program that resides on your PC to be helpful? One that allows you to drag and drop images from it to Squarespace? That is what I use. I have a  totally free one and I can provide a link to it if you wish. And it will import images into the folder of your choice from a memory card or direct from certain cameras. You can then do simple editing of the image. 

New user here.

It is with much disappointment that i find that deleting uploaded images by my own hand is impossible. I share the frustration with everyone else in this thread. 
I really like the presentation and ease of use that SS provides, but again;  seeing how this is a common feature in other builders , i am left to wonder about SS business practices and if i should move to another... uh, space. 

 

I am also very frustrated with the fact that Squarespace doesn't offer a way to delete images or to organize image files within folders. Looking for alternatives now since this issue seems to be ongoing.

same here. absurd situation. how long does it take to make this work? please PLEASE solve it. 

I asked about this today with customer service (12-7-2021) because I couldn't find a way to delete my test images.  I was told there is no information on a planned fix for this.  I was told to subscribe to emails for updates on "new features".  I find this to be a big miss for squarespace.  I was a user for several years and was considering coming back to the platform but I must have control to add or delete images in my library.  I do not want deleted images "hanging around" for 8-30+ days somewhere out there.  It's a pretty important missing feature.  

On 1/19/2020 at 10:23 PM, Lingwisyer said:

I am guessing SS has never implemented it due to all plans having "unlimited storage", while Wix has a 50 GB cap. Still a poor reason to not include the function...

You'd think they would want to eliminate unused files that bloat their server.  There is no reason why this simple feature is not standard.  I'm finding this to be the case with many simple features that are lacking on squarespace.  I understand keeping the interface simple but basic functionality would be nice.

They, Squrespace does eliminate deleted files after a time. The problem is that folks here think that an uploaded image stays as a standad image file in Squarespace's system on the same server as your site. It does not. It is stored on a  CDN (content delivery network) server,   by a third party provider,  and converted to multiple sizes, given a specific url and stored as a static asset. Your site links to an image using the assigned url. This is done so multiple browsers, including mobile ones,  can quickly load the most compatible image for that browser. This reduces load times both on the site and for Google's search engines. That is a function that I personally would not want to lose, which would most likely be the case if our sites had a typical website hosted library functon like IONIS and others  use. This method does create multiple copies of the same image if that image is uploaded more than once. So searching thru images using the "library" is a bit of a pain.  As posted above I use my own image library/index application, which is free by the way. 

Sony Imaging indexing sofware

Squarespace Image storage

Squarespace data Storage (CDNs)

On 12/8/2021 at 1:47 PM, derricksrandomviews said:

They, Squrespace does eliminate deleted files after a time. The problem is that folks here think that an uploaded image stays as a standad image file in Squarespace's system on the same server as your site. It does not. It is stored on a  CDN (content delivery network) server,   by a third party provider,  and converted to multiple sizes, given a specific url and stored as a static asset. Your site links to an image using the assigned url. This is done so multiple browsers, including mobile ones,  can quickly load the most compatible image for that browser. This reduces load times both on the site and for Google's search engines. That is a function that I personally would not want to lose, which would most likely be the case if our sites had a typical website hosted library functon like IONIS and others  use. This method does create multiple copies of the same image if that image is uploaded more than once. So searching thru images using the "library" is a bit of a pain.  As posted above I use my own image library/index application, which is free by the way. 

Sony Imaging indexing sofware

Squarespace Image storage

Squarespace data Storage (CDNs)

 

I completely understand that when someone is invested in the platform like you would defend the platform, but in the real world missing functions have real world consequences. One thing is to run amateur website and another is to use it for marketing. Not being able to delete file even when tidying up assets is nonsense and as they most like hook up to the third party provider via API, if enough people ask for the feature it will appear and SQ will be better product in the end. 

It's 2022 and I'm wondering if there are any updates on this issue!

I thought I was going crazy when I couldn't find a delete button.
I upload a lot of placeholder/test images and need to delete them after the design is done.

Please implement this feature. I was shocked to hear this basic functionality wasn't available. 😬

I can't believe this is still not resolved. All this "Influencers" on youtube that are getting sponsored and nobody mentions anything. I wish I knew this before, because i would never used Squarespace.

New SS user here and discovered not being able to directly delete images in My Library. Even if the images are hosted on a third party to speed up loading of images, as one has suggested, it is not an excuse to not have this feature or improve on what is occurring.

Search Help section with the phrase "Image and file URLs in Squarespace" to find details on what has been discussed on this thread.

One thing, SS can do is require the CDNs to shorten the time it takes to purge the images/files. Instead of it taking 7 days, or 30 days, why not require them to remove it sooner?

Keep in mind when uploading images, if someone knows how to find the URL to the image (which is described in the above mentioned Help article), they can have extended access to that image until it's finally scrubbed 30 or so days later, even if you "delete it" or don't publicly display it your site.

I am also a relatively new user and just discovered that there is no way to remove images or even just "declutter" by moving those files to a different folder.  So, if I want to avoid additional aggravation, I can't use any "place holder" images or images that aren't 100% complete/ready while building new pages or modifying existing. 

I can't imagine the fact that a third party CDN is involved would mean that it is not technically (or economically) feasible to provide a very basic functionality for managing images and/or marking them for deletion.  

Trade-offs for simplicity and lower prices are totally understandable (and expected) but this seems like an odd choice from multiple perspectives.  

Also a user/business frustrated by this lack of functionality. I have a client that just recently had the need to clean up their library. I (like many others) thought I was going crazy not being able to find a "delete image" button. Or even better - a way to select many images to remove at once. I have been pushing clients to Sqaurespace for years. I'm going to have to start sending them somewhere else.

Site URL: https://yakaza.squarespace.com/

I cannot find any page to manage my Image Library. It is full of redundant images that I uploaded to test or not used later. I want to delete them.

Also  I want to rename used ones more logically.

How can I manage my Image Library? can't find it.

Please don't tell me that I can't do such simple but important task, because that can be a rock-solid reason for me to leave Squarespace.

Reading this thread it is obvious we are all sharing the same frustration. It would seem pedestrian that a high end product like SS would have some kind of a 'multiple image delete in Library' as a standard function/feature.  

On 5/1/2020 at 11:25 AM, Susana_SQSP said:

Hi everyone, 

Thank you for flagging this issue. We’ve noted this for our Design and Engineering teams to review, and they’ll use this feedback when implementing fixes and improvements in future releases.

For any further questions regarding this issue, please reach out to the Customer Support team.

The Fact that nothing has been done about this since 5/1/2020, reflects really poorly on what I thought was a well designed and put together website/host etc etc. It really bothers me that 3 pages of users have commented on his yet your site fails to address this problem.

Today is Fri. 18th Feb 2022 if this is not resolved in one week, then I will close my new account and search elsewhere. Resulting in lost revenue and potentially new accounts for you since I'm starting a new social media brand, primarily around YouTube, and would of been happy to recommend your site in the future. This is not meant to be a threat in any way, which wouldn't be anyway to a company of your size, but merely an expression of extreme disappointment in your company's lack of desire to  address your customers concerns.

Francis Bradford.

On 12/8/2021 at 8:47 AM, derricksrandomviews said:

"They, Squrespace does eliminate deleted files after a time. The problem is that folks here think that an uploaded image stays as a standad image file in Squarespace's system on the same server as your site. It does not."

 

No, the problem is that our libraries have become absurdly bloated and cluttered with old, unwanted, obsolete, and placeholder images for no reason beyond "Squarespace doesn't want to implement basic functionality in how we manage our images."

It's genuinely infuriating. There is no excuse for not having a "delete" function in 2022. None.

To say its inclusion is common sense would be an insult to common sense. If I asked my grandmother to design a CMO, she would know to include a "delete" function. And even if, somehow, Squarespace managed to make $621 million dollars without ever considering the most obvious thing in existence, it has roughly six dozen people a week in its forums asking for a "delete" function. 

But you know what's most insulting? The condescending belief that "Uhhhhh, yeah, I guess we'll, like, hire some NASA engineers and begin researching if this is possible" is an acceptable response. 

Really Squarespace?  You're "looking into it"? For over two years? How gullible and naïve do you think we are?

To leave it out is pure sloppiness and laziness, nothing more. But to blow us off with "we'll look into it" as if we just demanded the impossible is beyond patronizing to our intelligence.

Hi there. You can delete images from your image library! Navigate to your image library (click 'search images' when adding a new photo to a gallery or image block), and when you hover over an image, a white box appears in the upper corner. If you check this box, 'delete' will pop up at the bottom of the panel. If the image is not being used anywhere on your site a message will pop up telling you so, and you can delete it.

You need to delete images individually. Batch process deletion would be excellent, but for now, this is the you can clean up your gallery one by one. My clients often find it easier to view their library images in list order instead of icons (you can toggle view options in the upper right), then go down the list one by one and delete.