Creating and Managing Folders
Create, rename, move, reorder, nest and delete folders, give them colours and icons, restrict them by role — and what happens to the media inside.
On this page
Manual folders are the ones you control. This page covers creating them, rearranging them, and what happens to the media inside when one is removed.
Creating a folder
- New folder at the top of the tree creates a top-level folder.
- The
+on any folder row creates a subfolder beneath it.
Folder names are tidied as they are saved: surrounding whitespace is trimmed, runs of whitespace are collapsed to single spaces, and the name is cut to 190 characters.
Rearranging the tree
Each manual folder row carries the same set of actions:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Rename | Changes the folder’s name. Nothing else moves. |
| Move up / Move down | Reorders the folder among its siblings. |
| Move into another folder | Reparents the folder, with its children and media. |
| Colour and icon | Pro. See below. |
| Download as ZIP | Pro. Packages the folder’s media as a single download. |
| Delete | Removes the folder. See below. |
Order is stored per folder. Folders you have not explicitly ordered fall back to a natural sort by name.
Finding a folder
A Search folders box sits above the tree. Matching folders keep their ancestors on screen, so a match is never left floating under nothing, and the collapse state of the tree is remembered between visits. Clear returns to the full tree. If nothing matches you get “No folder matches that.”
Colours and icons
Pro. The Colour and icon action on a folder row sets a colour swatch and an icon, so a large tree can be scanned by eye rather than read. None removes them.
Downloading a folder
Pro. Download as ZIP packages the media in a folder into one download. The files themselves are untouched — this is a copy, not a move, and nothing leaves your library.
Restricting a folder to certain roles
Pro. A folder can be limited to chosen WordPress roles.
This is a visibility setting, not a security boundary — it controls what the folder tree shows. What a user may actually do to media is decided by capabilities, which are enforced separately and on the server. See Permissions and capabilities.
Nesting limits
A manual folder also cannot be nested inside an automatic one. See How folders work for why.
Deleting a folder
Deleting a folder is not destructive:
- Its media returns to Unorganized.
- Its child folders move up to the deleted folder’s parent — they are not deleted with it.
- No attachment is touched. No file is moved and no file is deleted.
Automatic folders are different
Automatic folders cannot be renamed, moved, reordered or deleted from the tree. They mirror your content, so you change them by changing what they mirror — see Editing automatic folders.
Frequently asked questions
Does deleting a folder delete its images?
No. The media returns to Unorganized and every file is untouched.
What happens to subfolders when I delete their parent?
They are lifted to the deleted folder’s parent, keeping their own contents.
Can two folders have the same name?
Yes, in different places. MediaFlow keeps their identities separate.
Is there a limit on how many folders I can make?
There is no fixed limit on the number of folders — only the 10-level nesting cap and the 190-character name length. This is true on the free tier too.
Do I need a licence to create folders?
No. Manual folders are free and unlimited.
Can a hidden folder still be reached by URL?
Role visibility controls the tree. Permission to edit a given attachment is checked separately, per attachment, on the server — see Permissions and capabilities.
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