How to compress images on a WordPress Multisite

One of the most common problems in multisite wordpress is the space that the images occupy in the different sites, of course, there are currently many plugins that help us with that but can cause problems in our multisite wordpress but that’s not a problem anymore with ImageRecycle.

Now imagine that you have a lot of images in your multisite, you should have to compress each image one by one and go to each site to compress everything… That’s really annoying, isn’t it? That won’t be a problem anymore Because ImageRecycle has a really friendly dashboard that will allow you to compress all your images a lot.

Install ImageRecycle in a wordpress multisite

For this example, we are going to create a wordpress multisite in a local server where we are going to upload some images in 3 different sites. 

Now we have Testmultisite, Multisite1, and Multisite2. 

Each site has a different media library with different images as you can see here: 

testmultisite

multisite1

multisite2

Now we want to compress all the images without having to go to each site and compress them one by one… There are just 3 so it shouldn’t be a problem but imagine that you have 5 sites with 1500 images in each site, that is a trouble if you are managing a business site.

So the steps are really easy, just go to your network admin and install ImageRecycle, you can find it by going to Plugins > Add new type “ImageRecycle” on the search tab and wait for it.

Now you should be able to see the ImageRecycle plugin with the option to install it, click on “Install Now”.

Wordpress will automatically install the plugin, wait until it is finished and click on “Network Activate”, it will appear on the same button where was “Install Now” before.

When everything is finished, you should be able to see the ImageRecycle dashboard, you will have 2 options, “Create a trial account” and “Use Existing Account” now let’s click on the option that corresponds to you.

If we have created an account before, just click on “Use existing account” you are going to be able to type your credentials and log in so you’ll use your compression quota. If you are logged into your ImageRecycle account on the ImageRecycle page, it will show you a quick helper.

Just select the account that you want to use and click on “Select”. Repeat this process in each site, so you won’t have to type your credentials anymore, the quick helper will help you to do it really simple just go to Settings > ImageRecycle and click on “Use Existing Account” in the other sites.

All the images in all your sites will be indexed automatically as you can see after login to your ImageRecycle user. There should be a new option in our sites in the media section called “ImageRecycle” where we are going to be able to see the images indexed.

We are able to see the size and some options like optimize each image one by one, optimize all the images and make a bulk optimization… Now let’s explain each option.

Let’s compress images in your Wordpress Multisite

Now that we have installed ImageRecycle and configured it in our sites, we are going to see how to use each option to compress images in your Wordpress Multisite.

First of all, go to the ImageRecycle dashboard click on Media > ImageRecyle on the first site when you are going to start compressing your images.

Compress images one by one

It is the first option that you will see when you go to the ImagRecycle dashboard, you will be able to see a blue button called “optimize” after each image and it is really easy to use, just click on it.

The image will start the optimization, wait for a few seconds and the image will be automatically optimized, now you will see two new things, the compression section that will show how much the image has been compressed and the button will change to “Revert to original” in order to revert the changes.

As we can see the image has been compressed an 11.73% which is a lot because that was a really small image, now what happens if we click on “Revert to original”? Easy! It will revert the changes ;)

It will load like before and when it finishes, the image will be the same that was before.

As you can see there is no compression percentage.

Bulk image and PDF optimization

Another really functional option is the bulk selection that you can use when you want to compress only a group of images. This option is really easy to use, are you able to see the little checkbox that is at the left of each image?

Just click on it on the images that you want to optimize, it will change from a blank space to a check as you can see in the image.

Now that you’ve selected all the images that you want to optimize just click the dropdown called “Bulk Actions”, select “Optimize selected and click on Apply.

It will start to optimize each image, it will load like before with a circle in each image, depending on the numbers of images that you’ve selected and your server, it will take a little. 

Finally, you will see your images compressed with the percentage on the compression section and the option to revert each image, you have also the option to select images and revert with a bulk action.

Optimize all

The last option and the best if you want to optimize everything on all your sites is the “Optimize All” button that is after the bulk edition options, you will see a blue button. This last option is as easy as clicking on the “Optimize All” button, the plugin will do everything for you ;) 

When you click on the button, it will start to optimize the images and show a progress bar with the images that have been optimized and the others that have not.

It will show you the time left to complete the optimization… It could take a little depending on the images and your server but after that, you will have one of your pages completely optimized.

Now you have all your images optimized and it was as easy as click on one button.

These are the 3 options that ImageRecycle offers you to compress your images, with the last you will only have to go to each site and click on “Optimize All” instead of going to each image and optimize them one by one. 

Keep your Wordpress Multisite Network optimized

As you can see ImageRecycle offers you the best compression options for your multisite network and it will compress all your images as much as it can to not break any of your sites, now your pages will charge faster and users will be able to see a perfect quality in your images.ImageRecycle also offers you other options to have your site optimized so what are you waiting for? Go here and download ImageRecycle for free, remember that you can expand your compression quota anytime ;)