Is Image Attributes Pro configured to update post HTML?

WordPress stores image attributes in two locations, the media library and the post HTML. By default Image Attributes Pro will update both these locations, but these can be modified in the Bulk Updater Settings.

Here is a screenshot of the setting to update post HTML. Check if that was disabled.

Is the image part of your theme decoration?

If you are testing for image attributes using an SEO tool, quite often it will report all images on a page including the ones in your header and footer and icons.

Some of these might be added in the theme for decoration or to build trust (award logos, payment logos) or sometimes even be background images.

When you see such a report, check what the images actually are. If a specific image appears multiple times across pages, then that’s very likely to be part of a header or footer or sidebar. Unless these images use standard WordPress functions for images, adding image attributes automatically is not possible.

Good news is that, fixing it is often easy and your website developer should be able to help you out.

Do every image need an image attribute?

The purpose of an image attribute is two fold. From an SEO perspective, it helps search engines identify the image. You are signaling the search engine and telling them, “Hey, this image is about my cat wearing a red hoodie”.

The second aspect is accessibility. Screen readers will read out the image and assist anyone that needs it. If someone opens your website on a slow internet and if the image fails to load, the image alt text will show up in place of the image, this adding more context to the reader.

If an image on your website is purely for decoration, then the image is irrelevant for the search engine. Someone who is not seeing the image (either they are visually impaired, or the image did not load) does not care about the decorative image either.

In both these cases it’s recommended to not have any image attribute and leave an empty image title and alt text.

Tools that check for alt text does not have a way to distinguish between a relevant image and a decorative image. It’s up to you to make an informed judgement.

If you need help, please feel free to reach out to product support. Always happy to assist.

• The Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater plugin which is the free version of Image Attributes Pro available on WordPress.org.
• The add-on plugin Image Attributes Pro which is available from your account.

When both of them are installed and activated, you will find them in the Plugins list of WordPress like so:

Currently both the free and pro add-on follow the same version number and are released simultaneously. i.e. version 4.x of Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater and Image Attributes Pro are released at the same time.

Since the free version is available to everyone for free, you will be able to update it even without an active license. However, updating Image Attributes Pro requires an active license at the time of download.

When you update Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater to the latest version without updating Image Attributes Pro, you might see a notice like so:

This is because you have Image Attributes Pro installed, but not the version required to use a particular feature.

Note: Users of Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater who do not have Image Attributes Pro will never see this message. The free plugin has always been and always will be usable without Image Attributes Pro.

How To Update Image Attributes Pro?

If you have an active license, simply head over to your account and download the latest version.

If your license has expired, your account dashboard will show you your renewal options and you may choose the one that best suits your needs.

For any questions or concerns, please write to me and I will be there to help you through it.

If you still face trouble with checkout, please try paying with a different payment gateway.

• Stripe is the default payment gateway where you can pay with most credit and debit cards.
• Alternatively, you can pay with PayPal as well. You can pay with your card without the need for a PayPal account.

No PayPal account is required to pay with PayPal. Simply opt to “Pay with Debit or Credit Card” and then checkout as a guest.

Payments From India

Payments from India are handled exclusively using Stripe. This will be the only available Payment gateway at checkout.

If you prefer or if Stripe payment fails, you an also pay directly via Google Pay to 9995394558. The total amount will be available on the checkout page in INR when you select the billing country as India.

How will I receive my license if I pay directly?

Once you make the payment, please follow these steps:

• Write to me about the payment.
• I will send you a coupon code with which you can checkout (with no further payment of course).

What delay is to be expected? During business hours on Monday through Friday, I will reply as soon as I see your email, typically within a few hours.

If you are still facing troubles, please contact support.

This happens for two reasons:

• You have entered incorrect license data.
• Your license has actually expired.

Fixing Incorrect License Data

To verify if your license data is correct, follow this guide to find where you can find and enter the license data: Where Do I Get / Enter The License Key

Note that BOTH the license key and the registered email should be an exact match of the info provided in the email. This info is cross checked with the data in our records to validate your license.

One you have the right info, head over to WordPress Admin > Plugins list and click on the Check for updates link:

License Has Actually Expired

If your license has actually expired, please renew your license to download the update. Here is how: How to Renew or Upgrade Your License

Also this happens when you have opted to set the post title or product title as attributes for your images. If you are setting the image attributes from the image filename, this is not likely an issue. 

The cause is that auto-saving of posts is disabled in your WordPress install. 

“Auto Draft” is the default title WordPress adds before saving the post. And since Image Attributes Pro pulls the data from the database, it reads “Auto Draft”.

Here is a test to confirm if this is the case.

• Add a title to your post.
• Save the post as a draft.
• Upload the image now.

Does your images have the attributes as expected now? 

How can I enable autosave? 

You might have to check with your developer or host to see how autosave was disabled. It could be either by one of these ways:

• Check your wp-config.php and see if you find a line like this: define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 86400);. This increases the autosave interval to an entire day. The default value is 60 seconds so changing 86400 to 60 would be a solution. 
• Check for a plugin or in the functions.php of your theme to see if there a line like this: wp_deregister_script('autosave');. If so, try removing it. 
• Check if there is a plugin that is removing the WordPress Heartbeat. WordPress uses the heartbeat API to autosave. 

When its all solved and done, here is how it is supposed to work. 

Two scenarios are possible:

1. The Bulk Updater keeps on updating the attributes of the same image over and over.
2. The Bulk Updater doesn’t progress and simply stopped.

Let’s look at the possible causes and solutions.

1. The Bulk Updater keeps on updating the attributes of the same image over and over.

If this is an issue that you are facing, check with your sever settings to see if object caching is enabled. If so, please disable object caching until the bulk updater is complete.

Once the bulk updater has done it’s job, you can enable object caching again.

Known environments with this issue:

• WP Engine hosting.
• LiteSpeed Object Cache in LiteSpeed Cache plugin.

How To Disable Object Caching

The steps to disable object caching varies from one web host to another.

• WP Engine has the option to disable object caching in the account admin (WP Engine admin > your website > Utilities > Cache Options).
• LiteSpeed Cache plugin has a setting for object cache in LiteSpeed Cache > Cache > Object tab.
• Cloudways Object Cache Pro plugin can be disabled using the instructions available in this doc.

For other hosts or plugins, you might have to contact their support and ask them to disable it and later enable it for you.

Please note that object caching is not the same thing as page caching (offered by plugins like WP Rocket, Super Cache, W3 Total Cache and the like), although some page caching plugins do include object caching as a feature. Page caching is NOT a probable cause for this issue.

2. The Bulk Updater doesn’t progress and simply stopped.

The reason why the Bulk Updater is stuck might be because the operation it was trying to do timed out. The server has a predefined time for how low long it will allocate it’s resources for a specific task and once the time is up, the server kills the process.

The server running out of resources could also be a reason. Typically if an image is used on too many posts or products and when the Bulk Updater tries to update them, this could happen.

Solution 1: Most of the time trying a bit later resolves the issue. Remember to refresh the page before trying again. The Bulk Updater remembers it’s progress, so you can continue where you left off.

Alternatively, you can try running the Bulk Updater when traffic on the website is low.

Typically staging servers have lower resources than production and if you face this issue on staging it might not happen on your production server.

Solution 2: Skip the current image using the Skip Image button. To enable this button, add the following code into the functions.php of your active theme.

// Enable the 'Skip Image' button in Image Attributes Pro > Bulk Updater > Tools
add_filter( 'iaff_debug_mode', '__return_true' );

Once added, you will see a new button in the Bulk Updater tab, under Tools section.

• Refresh the page and click the Skip Image button.
• Then click Run Bulk Updater button.
• The Bulk Updater will skip the image that it’s trying to update and move on to the next.

If you are still stuck, please feel free reach out to to me and I will definitely help you out.