Hi,

I am self-hosted and I have a very old folder (dated back to 2010) with images (not attached but linked directly in thousands of posts):

My site/custom (also lots of subfolders)

I would like to consolidate items + make easier my file system backups and move the whole folder here:

My site/uploads/custom (including all subfolders)

(then I also could update en masse links in the database to point to the new location)

My questions are:
1. Is it safe to place the custom folder there in the meaning: your software won't alter/delete it as not belonging to the software? Any "disallowed" names?
2. Will the custom folder be preserved "as it is" after deciding to upgrade to the Cloud solution? I know that after upgrading no access to the file system at all but will the already posted links pointing the custom location still work in posts?

53 minutes ago, Luuuk said:

1. Is it safe to place the custom folder there in the meaning: your software won't alter/delete it as not belonging to the software? Any "disallowed" names?

Typically, we do not alter/delete unless the system is aware of it. It being in a folder not in the storage configuration, it would not be aware of it.

54 minutes ago, Luuuk said:

2. Will the custom folder be preserved "as it is" after deciding to upgrade to the Cloud solution? I know that after upgrading no access to the file system at all but will the already posted links pointing the custom location still work in posts?

You will want to ask in Sales. Typically, we do not allow anything that does not live in our software itself.

12 hours ago, Jim M said:

Typically, we do not alter/delete unless the system is aware of it. It being in a folder not in the storage configuration, it would not be aware of it.

This is sort of related but I cannot find the topic where it was discussed. Like the OP, I also have images not attached but linked directly in thousands of posts, coming from the monthly folders under Uploads, whose urls are often copied manually when opening images from the gallery albums in a separate tab. So you get an url like this for example:

https://domain.com/uploads/monthly_2024_09/large.275220.jpeg.7ca4cd251d1d7a02c980939745bc95d7.jpeg

Did I read correctly that in version 5, those "monthly" folders will be discontinued? And if so, what happens to the existing ones (like in my example the "monthly_2024_09")? Do they remain there? Because if not I foresee a disaster of broken links among posts; unless the system automatically modifies the path. Could you please clarify? And I apologise in advance if I misunderstood anything about the plan going forward. Cheers.

The first thing you need to know about the software, is internally, the system knows where its linked, even if the system itself changes its location. This is why we have the "Insert Existing Attachment" function. If you decide to use the direct location of an item, there is no guarentee in any way that link will always work. We have had many many instances where this is not the case.

Example:

• User A uploads an image to a post
• System internally knows x attachment was uploaded, logs where it stored it, and what its attached to
• You grab a direct link to that image and use it on 6 article
• Someone deletes the original post

What happens there, is when the original post is deleted, the system deletes all attachments from that post, provided they have not been attached elsewhere (using add existing attachment). In this case, the image, as far as the system is aware, isnt linked elsewhere so it removes it. Your 6 articles now have missing images

In terms of the second question, thats not the case

On 1/9/2025 at 8:02 PM, Jim M said:

You will want to ask in Sales. Typically, we do not allow anything that does not live in our software itself.

As far as I understand, when you supply the Uploads folder to IPS for the Self hosted -> Cloud conversion anything custom inside the Uploads folder would be lost.

I can eventually manage moving ancient images to an external hosting service and update massively my database to point there. What bothers be is a custom SVG folder (my site/uploads/SVG) holding recent SVGs because they can't be attached (for a reference my old topic) . I guess nothing changed in IPS 5 and attachments still would disallow SVGs, right?

11 hours ago, Luuuk said:

As far as I understand, when you supply the Uploads folder to IPS for the Self hosted -> Cloud conversion anything custom inside the Uploads folder would be lost.

I can eventually manage moving ancient images to an external hosting service and update massively my database to point there. What bothers be is a custom SVG folder (my site/uploads/SVG) holding recent SVGs because they can't be attached (for a reference my old topic) . I guess nothing changed in IPS 5 and attachments still would disallow SVGs, right?

We cannot guarantee anything outside the core software would be preserved. We can only guarantee things within the core software.