hello so I have several tens of thousands images which I preoptimized to webp with a python script beforehand.
my first plan was to upload them into folders by brand (trough wordpress media upload and FileBird) and then mention their name in csv import. the problem is I wont currently use all of them but I wanted to keep them there in case I start selling other products. does it slow down webpage because of too many database entries?
second option I thought of is to upload them manually into a folder somewhere on site and then mention absolute url so it “downloads” them and creates entries in database. but this approach seems complicated because it can potentially create duplicates if something goes wrong and I will run import twice.
what approach do you guys use?
How many products do you have to have that many images ??
One method I use for a book store client is to create a custom field for the book cover, and reference the file on my server that way. I don’t need it to be in the media library and I don’t need or want WP to generate thumbnails.
Check out mediacloud.press and HappyFiles.io
Mediacloud.press has this feature:
“Import Existing Media
Have an existing media library? Media Cloud can import your existing media to cloud storage in the background. Just start the import process and continue about your day. Browse Reddit, take a nap, enjoy some coffee, crush newbs in Apex Legends – whatever you choose to do, Media Cloud will continue the import process in the background. You can check on its status at any time by browsing to the import tool’s page in Media Cloud’s admin menu”
And happy files is great for organizing media but with this many files it might be a bit of a pain
I’m actually very curious about this as well.
Here’s what I just did recently so if you think there is a better way I’d love to know.
1. Directory structure was very important to me because the CSV files are referencing images that are within sub folders. For example “images/modelNumber/front_image.webp” would be the path in the CSV for the front image.
2. I read about registering the media files through WordPress being important if you upload images via FTP.
3. Used WP-CLI (which was not fun to figure out lol). I guess that one depends on your host. You basically run a command to get WP-CLI and then you run a command like “WP media import” to register all the media files. (You need to make sure you use the command in their docs that can catch subdirectories if I recall correctly).
This way, like you said, the files are all there and registered, for when the product is added via CSV and the image paths are basically auto generated.