Media Cleanup marks a file In use when it finds the file referenced anywhere on your site, and Possibly unused when it finds no reference at all. It never marks a file as definitely unused, because some uses can't be seen from inside WordPress.
What Media Cleanup checks
The scan looks for your files in:
- Post content for published, scheduled, draft, pending, and private posts and pages, including gallery shortcodes and Divi and Avada layouts.
- Page builders including Elementor, Beaver Builder, Bricks, and Oxygen.
- Featured images and WooCommerce product galleries.
- WooCommerce product category images.
- ACF image, file, and gallery fields, on posts, terms, users, and options pages.
- Widgets and theme settings like your logo, header image, and site icon.
- Your public pages, as visitors see them. The scan loads your home page and every published post and page and reads the images, backgrounds, videos, and links on them.
It finds files whether the reference uses your local uploads address or your Infinite Uploads CDN address.
The three statuses
- In use: at least one reference was found. The Usage column shows how many places, like In use (32 places).
- Possibly unused: no reference was found, and nothing suggests the file might be used elsewhere. Recent uploads are included, so check the upload date before deleting anything.
- Unknown: no reference was found, but we can't rule out a use.
Why a file shows as Unknown
A file is marked Unknown instead of Possibly unused when any of these are true:
- It's a document or other non-media file, like a PDF, ZIP, or spreadsheet. These are often linked from emails, other websites, or printed material we can't see.
- It's attached to a post that isn't published, like a draft or private post.
- Some of your public pages couldn't be loaded during the scan. The scan shows a Some pages couldn't be checked warning with the list of pages, and files that might only be used there are marked Unknown to be safe.
Ignored files
Mark as ignored is a flag you set, not a status. Ignored files show an Ignored badge and stay ignored across future scans, but they're still counted under their real status.
Why It Works This Way
Deleting a file that's still in use breaks images on your site, and that's much worse than keeping a file you don't need. So Media Cleanup leans toward caution: it tells you what it found, shows you where, and leaves every decision to you. Think of it like cleaning out the garage with a list of everything you've touched in the last year. It shows you what's collecting dust. You decide what goes to the curb.