Image Upload Problems: Overview

When I try to upload a logo or background, I get an error message "directory must be writeable".

This is most commonly due to permissions issues with the host server. Head to your WordPress files, either via FTP or through your hosts CPanel or Admin area, and find wp-content > themes > photocrati-theme > images > uploads.

Make sure both the "images" and "uploads" directories have permissions 755 - if they require 777 to function properly, you will need to contact your host to have them adjust your permissions, as 777 can be a security risk.


When I click on 'Add Photocrati Gallery / Album' and select 'Add Images' I either get an error and no images upload, or only some - but not all.

Here are a few common issues to check:

**No "Add Images" button? Either via FTP or through your web hosts Admin area / Control Panel, make your way to your WordPress Installation files and look for the following folders: wp-content > uploads > galleries.

Please confirm that the galleries folder is in place, and is spelled exactly as "galleries" without quotes. If the galleries folder does not exist inside wp-content > uploads > you will simply need to create it & give it permissions 755.

***Before trying any of the following: deactivate all of your plugins > clear your browser cache & cookies > restart your browser & refresh your site, and try again. If it still does not work, keep plugins deactivated (after finding the solution you may reactivate plugins):

1) CHARACTERS. Ensure you do not have any odd characters in your file names (!@#$%^&()). Even _ sometimes causes issues. So consider renaming 'IMG_123.jpg' as 'IMG123.jpg'. Apostrophes in some cases have also been found to cause issues.

2) IMAGE DIMENSIONS. Our theme has a maximum width of 960px, in order to ensure compatibility across varying screen sizes. Uploading images wider than 960px can often lead to HTTP uploading errors, so we suggest sizing your images no wider than 960px.

3) FILE SIZE. Please ensure images are sized for the web and are less than 2MB in file size.

4) FILE TYPE. Please ensure you are not using any odd file types. In the past, we have seen issues with .jpeg files (vs .jpg which work fine).

5) SAFARI? In the past, we've had a few people that have had experienced issues with Safari. Trying using Firefox or Chrome.

THE FOLLOWING WE STRONGLY SUGGEST HAVING YOUR SERVER HOST TECH SUPPORT MAKE THE MODIFICATIONS:

6) Upgrade your server account to PHP 5.4 and confirm with your server host that you're on MySQL 5.5

7) Mod Security may be blocking the user agent of the flash uploader, if so add this to .htaccess:

<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</IfModule>

More information on HTTP Error: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/http-error-on-image-upload-still?replies=41

8) Insufficient Memory: This means you'll need to increase the memory in your php.ini file to at least 128MB. WordPress is telling you that it needs more memory from your server to allow it to upload images. If you're unfamiliar with php.ini files, we would suggest contacting your server host tech support to help edit the file.

9) Directory must be writable CODEX: This means that WordPress is unable to write to the /wp-content/galleries directory. The server may be blocking this protocol. To put it more simply, you need to ensure that the /wp-content/galleries directory on your server exists, and has permissions set to 755. If it already is, and you cannot upload images, you'll need to contact your server host tech support to resolve how you can achieve writable permissions at 755 and not have to go any higher. You should NEVER have to go to 777. That is a huge security risk.

10) Never ending spinning wheel when creating gallery: If you are seeing this when attempting to save your gallery after uploading images, it may be due to your images dimensions or file names. The template maxes out at 960px wide so there's no real benefit to going much larger than that. You can read more about our recommended size and resolution here.

Otherwise, you likely need more memory allowed in your php.ini OR GD Library has not been enabled/activated on your account. In this case, contacting your server host tech support to enable this for you should resolve this.

More information on common server errors

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