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Autoremove Attachments

By Polygon Themes

Site Administration & Utilities / Site Migration & Cloning

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Autoremove Attachments Review - In-Depth Analysis

Autoremove Attachments automatically deletes media files linked to deleted posts, pages, or custom post types. It helps keep your Media Library organized by removing orphaned files.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.83/10

User Rating

5/5 (based on 15+ reviews)

Active Installations

3,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

Autoremove Attachments helps you keep the Media Library clean by deleting all media files attached as child attachments to a post, page, or custom post type when the parent is deleted.

By default, when you delete content from your website, regardless if it's a post, a page, a product, or any kind of post type, WordPress keeps the media files previously associated with it, even if after the removal of your content they are not used anywhere else.

Autoremove Attachments tries to solve this problem by automating the removal of all media files that have a child-parent relationship with the removed content. This means you don't have to manually track and remove orphan files left on your server.

Important considerations include that a soft delete that places your post, page, or custom post type in Trash will not trigger the removal of its child attachments. The purge happens when you empty your trash. Additionally, when you delete a post, page, or custom post type, the plugin tries to determine if its child attachments are used anywhere else on your website. If they are, it does not remove them to prevent broken links.

The additional checks before the automatic removal can be disabled from the Media Settings for improved performance on large websites with thousands of posts and media files. The plugin only removes files tracked by WordPress, so some poorly coded themes that generate additional thumbnail sizes not tracked by WordPress may still lead to orphan files left on your server.

Compatibility and third-party support include WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads, along with all themes and plugins that adhere to WordPress standards. If you use a plugin to optimize and clean your database of revisions, trashed posts, etc., make sure it relies on native WordPress functions for maintenance tasks. We recommend WP-Sweep.

Comparing to Alternatives

Autoremove Attachments stands out in its category with no direct equivalent offering the same streamlined functionality for automatic media removal upon post deletion.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Automatically deletes media attachments when posts are deleted, saving manual effort.
Highly efficient, capable of handling bulk deletions quickly.
Simple and easy to use with minimal configuration required.
Works well with custom post types and complex setups.
No known security vulnerabilities, ensuring safe use.

Weaknesses

Does not delete images uploaded within post content if not attached as featured images.
Limited to media attached directly to posts; may not cover all orphaned media scenarios.
No premium version, so advanced features or support options are limited.
Relies on integration with other plugins for bulk post deletion workflows.

User Sentiment Analysis

With a perfect 5-star rating from all 15 reviewers, user feedback is overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the plugin's reliability and time-saving benefits.

Positive highlights

"Saves tons of time & server resources" — wordmax
"Worked when the image is featured image to the post" — Mohsin Alam
"Perfect, works flawlessly with custom post types" — doulou
"Simple and easy to use" — Weiching
"Solved my use case with custom post types and media management" — jemcbade

Common complaints

Weaknesses

Does not remove images uploaded inside post content if not attached as featured images.
No advanced features due to absence of a pro version.
Limited scope to only attachments directly linked to posts.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users who need a straightforward, reliable solution to automatically delete media attachments when posts are removed, especially those managing large blogs or custom post types.

Not ideal for

Users requiring deletion of all orphaned media including images embedded within post content but not attached, or those seeking advanced media management features beyond automatic attachment removal.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers full functionality to automatically remove attachments when posts are deleted, covering most common use cases without restrictions.

Final Verdict

Autoremove Attachments is a highly effective and secure plugin that excels at automatically deleting media attachments tied to posts, saving users significant time and server resources. Its flawless 5-star rating reflects strong user satisfaction and reliability in diverse scenarios, including custom post types.

While it lacks a premium version and does not handle all orphaned media cases, its simplicity and focused functionality make it an excellent choice for users seeking an easy-to-use solution without security concerns. Alternatives exist for broader cleanup needs, but this plugin delivers outstanding value for its specific purpose.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Autoremove Attachments plugin.

Attachment

Custom Post Type

Media

FAQ

Yes, it does. It works with posts, pages and custom post types. All child attachments are removed when the parent is deleted.

Yes, you can. By default, all media files attached to a post, page or custom post type are removed automatically. If you need granular control you can use the filter autoremove_attachments_allowed to define custom rules for controlling when the child attachments should be removed automatically.

Here is an example on how you can remove the attachments only for specific custom post types:

function autoremove_attachments_custom_rule() {     // Global variables.     global $post_id;      // Variables.     $post_type          = get_post_type( $post_id );     $allowed_post_types = array(         'project',         'product',     );      // Default return value.     $allowed_to_remove = false;        // Custom rules for removing attachments.     if ( in_array( $post_type, $allowed_post_types ) ) {         $allowed_to_remove = true;     }        // Return.     return $allowed_to_remove; } add_filter( 'autoremove_attachments_allowed', 'autoremove_attachments_custom_rule' );

The returned value should be true for the cases in which you want the attachments removed. (false otherwise)