Editing Automatic Folders
Automatic folders cannot be renamed, moved, deleted or dropped into. What to change instead, and why this is a feature rather than a limitation.
On this page
Automatic folders are generated data, so they are not hand-editable.
Why
An automatic folder mirrors a page, a post or a term.
- Renaming it would put it out of step with its source until the next refresh undid the rename.
- Dropping a file into it would claim the file is used somewhere it is not, and the next refresh would remove it again.
Either way the edit would be silently reversed later, or MediaFlow would have to remember the exception somewhere — a second source of truth for a folder that is supposed to be derived from one.
What to change instead
| You want to | Do this |
|---|---|
| Rename an automatic folder | Rename the slug of the page, post or category it mirrors. The folder follows. |
| Move a branch | Move the category under a different parent. The branch is reparented. |
| Remove one folder | Remove or unpublish the content it mirrors. |
| Remove a whole tree | Switch that post type off in the settings, then run a refresh. |
| File a specific image somewhere | Put it in a manual folder. Manual and automatic memberships coexist. |
Manual folders cannot nest inside automatic ones
For the same reason: a refresh that deletes a derived branch must never have to decide what to do with something you made inside it.
Manual folders sit beside automatic roots at the top level.
Folder suppression is not in this release
There is no “ignore this page” or “hide this folder” option yet. It was left out deliberately rather than forgotten: adding it would introduce a second source of truth for a derived tree before anyone had asked for one. The underlying data model leaves room for it later.
Telling the two apart
Automatic folders carry an Auto badge in the sidebar, and its tooltip names the page, post or term behind the folder. Manual folders carry no badge.
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