Image Manager: Upload & organize images in LibGuides
The Image Manager provides you with a central place to upload and store images, which you can then reuse throughout LibGuides and LibApps. For example:
- Images added to Rich Text/HTML content items in LibGuides
- Featured images used in LibCal calendar events
- Images added to LibAnswers FAQs
There are two types of image libraries where you can store images:
- Your personal library contains images that only you can manage and reuse.
- The shared library allows admin users to upload images that all users in your LibApps system can reuse.
Each library can be further organized by folders and keywords, with the ability to both browse and search for images.

Upload an image to your personal library
Your personal Image Manager library allows you to upload images that you can reuse throughout LibApps. Images you add to your personal library can only be reused by you -- other users (including admins) will not have access to your library.
To upload images to your personal library:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Make sure the Personal Library button is selected.
- Navigate to the folder where you want the image to be stored.
- Or, use the Create New Folder field to add a new folder for your image.
- Click on the Upload New Image button.
- Select the image from your computer to upload it.
- Only one image can be uploaded at a time.
- Supported formats include JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and ICO up to 5MB in size.

What happens to a user's personal images when their accounts are removed?
If a user account is removed from your LibApps system, their images will remain on our servers. That way, you don't have to worry about any broken images in the content they created.
Upload an image to the shared image library
The shared Image Manager library allows admin users to upload images that all users can reuse throughout LibApps. Although all users can browse, search, and reuse images in the shared library, only admins have the ability to add and delete shared images and folders.
To upload images to the shared library:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Make sure the Shared Library button is selected.
- Navigate to the folder where you want the image to be stored.
- Or, use the Create New Folder field to add a new folder for your image.
- Click on the Upload New Image button.
- Select the image from your computer to upload it.
- Only one image can be uploaded at a time.
- Supported formats include JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and ICO up to 5MB in size.

Add keywords to an image
Adding keywords to your images can help you more easily find images when searching through your folders and libraries. This can be especially helpful when uploading images that don't have descriptive file names.
For example, if you have a folder called "Animals", which contains images of different dog breeds (e.g. corgi.jpg, dachsund.jpg, poodle.jpg, etc.). If you were to give all of those images a keyword of "dog", then you could more easily find them by searching for that keyword.
To add keywords to an image:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Click on the thumbnail of the image you want to edit.

- In the Edit Image Properties modal, enter your keyword into the Keywords field (separate multiple keywords by a space).
- Click the Save button.

Add default alternate text to an image
Also referred to as Alt Text, adding alternate text to your images is an accessibility best practice. By adding descriptive alternate text to each image, you are providing users of assistive technologies (such as screen readers) a description of the content of the image. With the Image Manager, you can actually add default alternate text to your images.
Each time you reuse an image in LibApps, its default alternate text will be used (though you can customize it if needed). Not only does this save you time in the long run, but it greatly increases the odds that the alt text won't be overlooked -- especially for images in your shared library.
To add default alternate text to an image:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Click on the thumbnail of the image you want to edit.

- In the Edit Image Properties modal, enter your descriptive text into the Alternative Text field.
- This will appear in the image's
alt
attribute (e.g.<img alt="Your alternate text displays here">
).
- This will appear in the image's
- Click the Save button.

Using folders to organize images
In each library, you can create folders to help organize images. For example, you could have a folder for storing images related to your library's logo and branding, another of exterior images of your library building, and so on.
Create a folder
To create a new folder in the Image Manager:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Select the library where you want to add the folder.
- Note: Only admins can add folders to the Shared Library.
- Below the existing folders on the left-hand side of the image manager, give your new folder a name and click the Create button.

Rename a folder
To rename a folder in the Image Manager:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Select the library where you want to edit the folder name.
- Note: Only admins can rename folders to the Shared Library.
- Choose the folder to edit from the Folders list on the left-hand side of the image manager.
- From the Rename / Delete Folder menu, choose Rename. (Note: you cannot rename the ROOT (default) folder.)

- On the Rename Folder modal, rename the folder in the Name field.
- Click Save.

Move images between folders
While images cannot be moved between a Personal Library and the Shared Library, you can reorganize and move images between folders within the library where the image was uploaded -- only Admins can move images within the Shared Library.
To move an image to another folder in the Image Manager:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Click on the thumbnail of the image you want to edit.
- If the image is in a folder already, you must open the containing folder of the image first.
- If the image is in the Shared Library, only an Admin can move it to another folder.

- On the Edit Image Properties modal, choose the folder that you want to move the image to from the Folder dropdown.
- Note: It is not possible to move images between the Shared Library and a personal library.
- Click Save.

Delete a folder
To delete a folder from the Image Manager:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Select the library which you want to remove the folder from.
- Note: Only admins can delete folders to the Shared Library.
- Choose the folder to delete from the Folders list on the left-hand side of the image manager.
- From the Rename / Delete Folder menu, choose x Delete.
- Note: You cannot delete the ROOT (default) folder for a library.

- On the Delete Folder modal, confirm that you want to remove the image and click the Delete button.

Search for an image
To help in locating images that have been added to the Image Manager, you can search by the file names and keywords that have been added to an image -- and you can search within a single folder or across all folders in a library.
To search for an image:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Select the library (personal or shared) to search in.
- In the search box, enter your search terms.
- As characters are entered into the search box, the results/images displayed will update automatically.
- The Image Manager will search for terms in an image's file name, as well as any keywords you assigned to it.
- If you want to expand your search across all folders in a library, choose All Folders from the dropdown.
- Note: You cannot search across the Shared Library and a Personal Library.

View and copy an image's URL
To view the URL for to an image:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Select the library that contains the image.
- Click on the View/copy image URL () icon.

- In the View/Copy Image URL modal, view or copy the URL.
- To copy it, try right-clicking on the URL and selecting Copy from the context menu.
- Or, after highlighting the URL, press CTRL + C (Windows) or CMD + C (Mac).
- Note: The image URL will not change even if the image is moved to another folder.
- Click the Close button.

Delete an image
To remove an image from the Image Manager:
- Go to Content > Image Manager.

- Select the library containing the image you want to remove.
- Note: Only admins can remove images from the Shared Library.
- Locate the image you want to remove and click on the Delete this Image () icon next to its thumbnail.

- In the Delete Image modal, confirm that you want to remove the image and click the Delete button.
