Delay in searching images from WordPress media library

We are still facing the issue of extended search times for images with Alt text in the WordPress media library. Your attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, we’ll be happy to look into this. Could you open your browser dev tools and check for any browser console errors? A screen recording of your experience using a service like Loom or Recordit would be helpful, then you can share the URL here.

I’m sharing the loom video here for your reference. Please share your next steps based on this recording.
https://www.loom.com/share/af1e5a48e49e475a8b6dd6d77ffb3df2?sid=146a1388-5f20-48c7-8c7a-628313c7334a

Thank you. A few additional follow ups:

1. Could you please follow these troubleshooting steps to rule out any plugin/theme conflict?

2. Could you provide your Site Health information? You can share privately if you prefer.

Have shared the site health info in the above link privately.
We have also noticed the following in the database logs –
[Wed Apr 03 14:12:50.077207 2024] [php7:notice] [pid 27323] [client ] WordPress database error Lock wait timeout exceeded; try restarting transaction for query UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = '1712133692.8649129867553710937500' WHERE option_name = '_transient_doing_cron' made by require('wp-blog-header.php'), require_once('wp-load.php'), require_once('wp-config.php'), require_once('wp-settings.php'), do_action('wp_loaded'), WP_Hook->do_action, WP_Hook->apply_filters, _wp_cron, spawn_cron, set_transient, update_option


• This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by anoop1mg.

We’re still facing the issue. I’ve already provided the Loom video and site health information. Could you kindly check and expedite the resolution?

@luckynasan Any updates on the issue?

We have enabled WP_DEBUG, but no logs are being created. Our team is facing significant challenges due to this issue. Please investigate and expedite the resolution.

Is the search also slow when you search for images in the regular post editor or in the media library itself? Why is it limited to the Web Stories editor?

Both WordPress and the Web Stories plugin have some extra logic to improve media searches. They might make things slower depending on your setup. To disable those, you can try using this code in a custom plugin:

add_filter( 'wp_allow_query_attachment_by_filename', '__return_false', 100 );
add_filter( 'web_stories_hide_auto_generated_attachments', '__return_false', 100 );

Search results might be a bit different after adding this code.

Hi @swissspidy

I wanted to bring to your attention an observation regarding the media search load time on our platform. We have noticed that the load time for media search differs for different team members.

In a specific scenario, when the first team member searches for a query term, it takes minutes to load the media results. However, when a second team member searches for the same media using the same query term, the results are loaded instantly.

This discrepancy in load times is causing inconvenience for our team members and impacting their efficiency on the platform. I have attached a video demonstrating this issue for your reference.

Given the impact on team member experience, I kindly request that this issue be treated as a priority. Your assistance in resolving this matter promptly would be greatly appreciated.

Please let me know if you need any further information from our end to investigate this issue.

@abhilashagulliya I already shared some pointers above that I asked you to try. You haven’t tried those yet.

Second, if the performance is different for individual users, I don’t think this is a Web Stories issue. It’s probably an issue with your database or your site configuration. If the above pointers don’t help, I highly recommend reaching out to your hosting provider or site administrator to look into this.