Category assignment during upload

Thanks for starting a new topic with this question. There are a couple of ways to accomplish your goal depending on the source of your category information.

You can apply values for standard fields, taxonomy terms and custom fields by defining rules on the Settings/Media Library Assistant IPTC/EXIF tab, and there is information about the process on the Documentation tab. IPTC and EXIF refer to meta data sources within image and PDF files, but you can also use Content Templates to apply categories from other sources as well. Here is a recent topic along similar lines:

How to get metadata from pdf’s?

If your mapping requirements are more complex you might be able to use the hooks MLA provides from the mapping functions to implement them. If you can tell me more about your application I can be more specifically helpful.

I will leave this topic unresolved until I hear back from you.

Hi, thank you for your answer.

The ways you explained are not suitable for me.

Often I upload a bunch of images, then assign them to a my gallery category, and so I show it with your shortcode inside a new article.

For that reason I asked to enter the category at the moment I’m going to upload the media.

Thank you,
Antonio

Thanks for considering my suggestions and for your update with the additional details on your process.

I have been thinking about different ways to “hack the upload screen“. The WordPress Media/Add New admin screen (“Upload New Media”) has a large dashed-box area labeled “Drop files here” and an alternative, the “Select Files” button. Is this the screen you use for uploads, or would it be an acceptable way to do uploads?

The best approach I can think of is to extend or replace the “Upload New Media” screen. I imagine adding to the screen (below the “Maximum upload file size” notice) most of the Media/Assistant “Bulk Edit area” controls. You could use these controls to assign taxonomy terms as well as default values for fields like Title and Caption, settings for fields like Parent ID, Author, Comments and Pings, or for entering custom field values.

Is that something you would find useful? If so, I will investigate further. If you have a more specific method in mind, any additional information you can provide would be helpful.

Thank you for stimulating my thinking on this potential enhancement.

I think your suggestion maybe a very good solution!

Actually I upload files by the /wp-admin/media-new.php .

Thank you again,
Antonio

Thanks for confirming my approach. The /wp-admin/media-new.php file generates the “Upload New Media” screen I referenced, so we are writing about the same screen.

I will add this project to my list of enhancements for a future MLA version. It may take some time given the amount of work required to implement a complete solution. I will leave this topic unresolved and post progress when I have it.

I would also be very interested in this option.

I am currently using Document Gallery plugin and am a bit frustrated with needing to deal with files individually.

Is this plugin a replacement for Document Gallery or can it be used in addition to it?

@downunderdabbler,

Thanks for adding your interest in the extended Upload New Media screen. I am planning to start work on this project soon.

Regarding Document Gallery, I have not had personal experience with it but I did look through its Repository listing. My impression is that Document Gallery would be an alternative to MLA. You could, I believe, use MLA to organize your documents and assign taxonomy terms and then use Document Gallery’s [dg] shortcode to display galleries with “document thumbnails” drawn from the document content. More information can be found in the “Support for Other Gallery-generating Shortcodes” section of the Settings/Media Library Assistant Documentation tab. In my quick review, the “document thumbnail” feature is the main difference between the two plugins.

If you pursue an application using both plugins and have problems or specific questions, please start a new Support Topic and I will give you what help I can to make sure you get the results you want. Thanks for your interest in MLA.

Thank you David. I will play around with both on a dummy site and see what happens. I have a lot to learn about how to use taxonomy correctly so will do some research.

Best wishes and many thanks for your support of WordPress

Hakim

I have just uploaded a new Development Version that contains some code changes for supporting a “bulk edit area” on the /wp-admin/media-new.php file’s “Upload New Media” screen.

I have also developed a preliminary implementation of this feature as a custom plugin. When the new features are completely finished I can integrate them in the standard MLA version, but for now the custom plugin approach lets development proceed without disrupting other MLA development and support tasks.

I would really appreciate your testing of this new feature. If you would like to participate, send me your contact information and I will respond with a copy of the custom plugin for you to experiment with. You can use the Contact Us page at our web site:

Fair Trade Judaica/Contact Us

I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for your interest in the plugin and for inspiring this new feature.

I have just uploaded a new Development Version that contains all of the code required for the “bulk edit area” on the /wp-admin/media-new.php file’s “Upload New Media” screen.

I would really appreciate your testing of this new feature. You can find step-by-step instructions for using the Development Version in this earlier topic:

MLA errors when using plugin

I will leave this topic unresolved until the new feature is released in the next MLA version. If you get a chance to try the Development Version, let me know if it meets your needs. Thanks for your interest in the plugin.

Thank you David, but as I said in the past, I owns only a production environment, so I can install only officially released plugins.

Thank you!
Antonio

@daredevil73,

Yes, I know – I was hoping to reach @downunderdabbler with my updates.

The new version will be released soon, and I hope you will find it useful. Thanks for following my progress on this feature.

I have released MLA version 2.02, which contains the new “bulk edit area” on the /wp-admin/media-new.php file’s “Upload New Media” screen.

I am marking this topic resolved, but please update it if you have any problems, questions or suggestions regarding the new feature.

Thanks again for inspiring the enhancement!

Great work, thank you!

Hi David,

Thank you for you work on this very useful plugin, I was excited to see the addition of Bulk uploading feature in v2.02, I am trying to Bulk assign a category when uploading small amounts (5-10) of files, I am having difficulties, am i doing something wrong?

I am navigating to wp-admin/media-new.php, opening the Bulk Edit area, choosing from the Att. Categories list, then dropping files onto the “Drop files here” area.

Once uploaded & crunched! the files do not appear to be assigned to the category I selected.

I have tried this on an empty WP 4.1.1 install with the same results.

Regard

Matt