Reuse and replace images from week to week
Next week's spreadsheet alone reuses the images your site has. How an unchanged image is recognised, and how to replace, remove or share one.
- 3 min read
- Updated October 13, 2026
The first file needs the images. After that, most weeks do not.
Reuse: a spreadsheet alone is enough#
When a row names p12.jpg and this configuration already sent that image to the site, the file name is found among images this configuration sent to the site before. No ZIP is needed, nothing is uploaded, and if nothing else about the item changed the item is unchanged and costs nothing.
An unchanged image is recognised by its content, not by where it came from. A new spreadsheet that names the same file, or the same web address, leaves the item alone.
Replace an image#
Give Content Uploader a different image:
- upload a ZIP that contains a different
p12.jpg: the content differs, so the item's image is replaced and the item shows as updated, with its image listed among the changed fields, or - name a different file in the cell (
p12-new.jpg) and include it in the ZIP, or - use a different web address.
A web address whose picture is changed behind the same address is not noticed: Content Uploader keeps the image it already has for that address. Use a new address (or a new file name) when the picture changes.
The old image stays in the site's media library: Content Uploader never deletes anything.
Remove an image#
- An empty cell removes the image from that item (on update).
- Remove the image from every item removes it from every item the file publishes, whatever the cell holds.
- Keep existing on updates is the opposite: the file never touches the image.
- A missing image (a name that is not found) never removes anything.
The same image on many items#
If forty rows name logo.png, the image is delivered to the site once and shared by all forty items. Alt text, title and caption belong to the image on the site, so items that use the same image share them; a different alt text for the same image on another row changes the shared text. If items need different alt text, they need different image files.
For allowances, a distinct image counts once per site in a run, with the first record that uses it (plans and allowances).
When a delivered image is deleted on the site#
If someone deletes an image from the site's media library after Content Uploader delivered it, the next time an item needs it the site answers that it is gone: An image for this item was removed from the site's media library. It is uploaded again when this item is retried. and Content Uploader delivers it again on retry, as long as the image is still named in the file and available (the ZIP is kept 30 days; for an older file, upload it again with the images).
Practical advice#
- Keep the images in the ZIP only when they are new or changed.
- Keep file names stable: renaming
p12.jpgtop12-final.jpgis a new image. - To see what will happen to an image before you publish, open the item in the review: it names the image, where it comes from, and, for an update, shows the change.
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