Hi, Just a bit of a general question if I may. I have wondered a few times what happens to files/images once they are uploaded and was wondering if someone could enlighten me. We have a hosted solution. From time to time I provide screenshots for users when trying to answer their queries. Sometimes I edit the screenshot quickly and upload it and then think, hmm, I could have done better, so edit the post and upload a better version. Note: Fully appreciate the fault here is my workflow, not checking the images were better in the first place, but my slapdash approach to support at least provides us with an example :wink: So, there would now be two images uploaded, one in use in my post and one, if used at all, only in the version history of the topic. But if I edit my post within 5 minutes (our current configuration), a version history is not created, or at least not available to view. Would this leave an image effectively orphaned? Now I know how awesome you guys are, so I’m sure this has been considered/resolved already, but it dawned on me that I could be adding to our storage usage by having unnecessary images stored - somewhere - which I can’t self-tidy. Is there a process that looks for orphaned images/files and then removes them? I’m not overly worried about the storage usage at this time, it was more to understand the process that may be taking place, and thus, the impact of my poor workflow. :slight_smile:

[image] RobMeade: Is there a process that looks for orphaned images/files and then removes them? Yes, exactly, it is called “tombstoning”, any image not referenced by any post is eventually culled.

hehe, what a great term! Thanks for the prompt response and info Jeff, really appreciated :slight_smile:

Can images/files become orphaned?

Product Support

codinghorror (Jeff Atwood) November 29, 2017, 11:03am 2

Yes, exactly, it is called “tombstoning”, any image not referenced by any post is eventually culled.

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Can images/files become orphaned?

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