The new WordPress 3.5 Media Manager is arguably the biggest improvement to the WordPress core since 3.0 added custom menus, custom post-types, and the header/background customizations in 2010. That was a huge release and stands as the update that added the most functionality at once.
WordPress 3.5 is a milestone because it’s an exercise in efficiency — options and functions being removed — and improvements to existing functions. Fluff has been removed and what remains has been improved drastically.
Media Manager
You’ll notice as soon as you’re ready to insert your first image of WP 3.5 that the buttons above the post/page toolbar has changed. Gone are the words “Upload/Insert” with the icon of a camera and musical note. It’s also sporting a cleaner toolbar without shading or button outlines.
Once you click the Add Media button, you’re introduced to the new image experience: a full-screen drag-and-drop zone. Everything within the browser viewport is a drop zone now.
That’s just the start, though. Once you navigate to or drag in images, the new uploader shows itself. I’m putting so many images in this article, I wish I’d upgraded this install to 3.5 RC3, because it’s that much better than 3.4.2. Anyway, you’ll see all of the media in the Media Library after it’s done crunching the new images. There is a drop-down menu for various media, and you’ll most likely want to stay in the current post image, but a nice addition is being able to add a gallery using any image in the library. Prior to 3.5, only images attached to a post/page could be used in a gallery unless you edited the shortcode.
New to 3.5, you can now include/exclude images attached to the post (or just in the library) without editing any shortcode, which was one of the biggest pains of using galleries up until now. Pick and choose and sort the order. Man, I wish I was using 3.5 right now… because this sucks in 3.4.2 — I’m editing shortcode now to get 3 images above and a few below, which requires finding the image ID number. Trust me, it’s awful if you’ve ever tried.
Wrap-up
That’s it for an overview of the changes to the Media Manager in WordPress 3.5 for now. Hit me in the comments if you want a tutorial on something specific once you update and start using it. I’m here to help. I’ll be posting some more info on 3.5 in the following weeks highlighting the other changes.
Response to comments
I have a comment below that you can’t NOT link to anything and that the insert from URL is missing. Here are screenshots that say otherwise… although both of these images are already shown in the images above if clicked to see the entire windows of the Media Manager – these are just small areas of the larger shots above.
Thanks for the post. It’s been fascinating watching the development of this thing over the past month or so. It started out as a totally broken barely functional thing, but has slowly grown into a very easy to use feature.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Definitely big improvements from RC1 to RC3. I was too busy with projects to install a test site to do anything earlier than that, but confidently put RC on a production site of mine.
I love how it keeps evolving!
It was pretty good by the time RC1 hit. Before the first betas came out it was very sketchy to use though. I ended up having to downgrade at one point as it prevented me from uploading post thumbnails.
I just updated my wordpress to 3.5, and all of my previous posts galleries were broken by it. Before they showed up full size, now they all show up as thumbnail attachments, any idea how to change this setting so they just show up as one list of full size images?
Weird.
Use my contact form and shoot me a login and I’ll take a look – give me a specific post to go into to look at.
Were you able to figure this out?
Yeah, it was just a simple use of the gallery shortcode for image sizes. codex.wordpress.org/Gallery_Shortcode
What Jesse says about the shortcode is correct, adding the size option, but what I ended up doing was changing the template file, as my templates media.php file was outputting images as thumbnails, I changed it to large and now I don’t have to worry about the shortcode. This way you don’t have to worry about the shortcode it’s automatically outputted the way you want it.
Thanks for posting, Im trying to get used to the new 3.5 manger. Trying to attach a pdf to a post, It’s not inserting correctly. When I look at the code text I can see that it;s not really a path to the pdf but more like a title, and it doesn’t work when the link is clicked
Thanks for commenting. If you send me a new login via my contact page, I’ll go in to look for you tomorrow and give you a hand.
Maybe you set the link to none, you can use the dropdown in the right panel once you selected an attachment. Use attachment file url (i’m not sure i forgot). If there’s none chosen in the dropdown, only the title will be inserted.
Sorry , but I think it sucks. I can no longer remove the file url for some of pictures that I prefer do NOTHING when clicked on. WP 3.5 forces me to choose attachment page or link to file now when using a gallery. If WordPress does not stop messing with things that work well, I am going to have to find a new CMS. And where has the ‘Insert From URL gone?” Maybe I am blind, but I can not find it. Very Disappointed with 3.5
Also, 99% of my themes used for other people are no longer compatible with WP3.5
( and yes, I purchase them, but now has to wait for theme updates by authors to accommodate WP 3.5 )
I’m afraid you are indeed blind on both counts. I’ll post the screenshots at the end of the post and reference your comment as I do.
Also, I have yet to find a single theme that isn’t compatible with WP 3.5. Not a single premium theme. Then again, no one should be using anything other than Genesis, Thesis, Press75, or WooThemes for just such reasons. You can’t expect ThemeForest or CodeCanyon devs to update their themes… and barely anything in WP 3.5 changed that would actually break.
I tried to upload a Flickr image, using the ‘Upload from URL’ link in the Media Manager. Unfortunately, the images doesn’t show up in the post. All that appears is a link to the image. Anyone else with this problem?
Having the same problem! I’m super frustrated! I don’t have the toolbar to make stuff bold, hyper-link, etc. I’m trying to find out how to post my darn blog how I want it!
The toolbar 100% absolutely positively did not disappear w/ 3.5. You have a WP install issue or some other issue about knowing WP well enough if you don’t have the basic toolbar. Are you running an admin editor plugin that broke in 3.5? Send me a login via my contact page – I’ll have it figured out in a minute or two.
I’ll test that now an see if I have an image issue from Flickr.
Mary – yes, Flickr isn’t allowing images to be pasted via URL. It does, however allow links from dozens of other sites, blogs, etc., so I have a feeling it’s got to do with permissions on the Flickr accounts. On other URL images, the instant you paste the URL, it appears in the Media Manager window and allows you to enter a caption, title, etc.
Hi Jesse, I ran into a very particular problem using the free WordPress theme Pinboard from One Designs, (not the themify Pinboard). they offer a feature called gallery designated in the Format box at Dashboard that inserts e images in a Golden Spiral arrangement and supplants Featured Image. I was unable to load the images from the Media Gallery and have them show up. Even if the same images were in the Media Gallery, they only loaded into the (somewhat confusing) Format: Gallery if the images were uploaded into it, even if that meant that the same images were loaded into the Media Gallery in the process. Maybe they haven’t caught up with 3.5. Thanks for your Post!
Yeah, I’ll bet the theme devs just haven’t updated yet. With such a huge functional change, certain things have a possibility to break if a feature is using items that get changed or even depreciated. It’s a good idea to check all of your plugins and themes for compatibility before doing an upgrade with such a big developer modification.
Hope you get it sorted out with them.
Jesse, we’re trying to use the custom link for attached images (not inserted) that JS calls for a custom slideshow. The drop down and text field appear, and I can input the data, and it will show on refresh. But if I clear the cache and refresh nothing is there. I see no save button or any command button to make the custom URL stick after leaving the page.