I wanted to know how to delete files when we don’t want them. Like sometimes users upload large size files and upload multiple copies of the same file. How can I delete the repeatedly uploaded items and keep my disk space clean? We run a blogging community forum at http://ask.mybloggertricks.com and we often need to upload graphic images and some css files
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There is no way to delete files from the UI currently.
There is a cleanup task that automatically removes images which are no longer referenced in any Discourse post. It’s something @zogstrip added a year+ ago.
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That is weird but at least I am glad the cleanup task exists. Images and uploaded files are an important part of community activity and there should have been a better control system for it.
Why is it weird? If an image is not displayed in any posts, why should it exist in the filesystem? Who will view it, and how?
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You are right for images but what about js files. We sometimes need to host files at our forum and then link to them from </head> tag
That’d be a very risky use of uploads, since you would be allowing all users to upload javascript files that your site would then execute.
I … can’t … say I would recommend that.
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That is right but we upload the js ourselves and have not given rights to anyone else. We disable the js upload as soon as we are done uploading some front-end js files.
Then make sure a hidden staff post links to the files. (There is a private staff category in every install.) And you should be fine.
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I have just one new question in mind that is troubling me.
How does Discourse handles illegal hosting done by users using the PM system? What if a user uploads large files via PM and then links to it from an external source. Will cleanup task delete them or not?
Good question! Illegal activity in Messages is another reason admins need visibility into them, cc: @downey.
There is not a way at the moment to browse the largest file uploads but that would be a good thing to have eventually.
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I am glad you agreed here. I will be more than pleased to have this option added in future updates 
“Illegal” is going to depend on the jurisdiction. For example, in the United States, the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act provides safe harbor for service providers (such as someone running a Discourse site) against actions of their users. As long as the service provider responds to notice of infringing activity, and can produce good records of what that user did or did not do (emphasis hint for @codinghorror), and how they responded to that user and that user’s infringing content, then they are generally not liable for those actions.
In other words, it may not (or may, depending on where you are) be the job of the service provider to police and snoop on its users’ activities.
Sure, Nginx or Apache server logs would exist in all cases for all websites. So you are covered. This is real basic web stuff.
Whether the uploads are illegal or not, the site owner might not appreciate a user who signs up, achieves trust level 1 (necessary to message at all) and then posts 1 GB of files per day in PMs.
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Still no such feature? How can I remove uploaded image?
Uploaded files that aren’t used anywhere are automatically removed.
Are you talking about an image that is used somewhere?
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This are a good news, thank you. Can I delete 'em manually?
Para evitar dudas, cuando se edita una publicación y se elimina la única instancia de una imagen o de una imagen vinculada a Dropbox en cualquier lugar, ¿se considera que esa imagen no se está utilizando en ningún sitio? Actualmente es visible al revisar el historial de ediciones, algo que no esperaba.
Son dos cosas diferentes.
Una imagen se ha subido y tiene un registro Upload en la base de datos.
Una “imagen vinculada a Dropbox” es un enlace a una imagen que es “servida” a los clientes (navegadores) por Dropbox.
La limpieza automatizada solo se refiere a las imágenes subidas. No a las vinculadas.
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Así que una imagen con un registro upload que nunca se publicó realmente o que fue editada fuera de un comentario se eliminaría automáticamente. ¿Es eso correcto?
edited.png
El archivo PNG de arriba proviene de un enlace de Dropbox. Mi experiencia previa con un .gif fue que, al eliminar el enlace subyacente, la imagen persistía en el comentario. Si editaba la publicación y eliminaba el enlace, la imagen persistía en la versión original de la publicación. Esta publicación será editada, así que espero que demuestre lo que quiero decir.
Esto no parece estar siendo “servido”, sino que parece estar siendo subido. ¿No es así?
Edición #2
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Eliminé el enlace en el extremo de Dropbox y de inmediato dejó de ser visible en la publicación.
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Reactivé el enlace y, en su lugar, edité la publicación para eliminar el enlace, pero en otro navegador no pude ver las ediciones anteriores de la publicación: no hay un lápiz para probar esto:
Si editaba la publicación y eliminaba el enlace, la imagen persistía en la versión original de la publicación.
El comportamiento del punto uno contradice la publicación aquí; si revisas el historial de ediciones de la primera publicación, puedes ver un .gif. El enlace subyacente no funciona y la publicación ya no lo incluye, así que estoy confundido por las diferencias entre esto y aquello.