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Regenerate thumbnails on your website

Create the newly defined image sizes for pictures that were uploaded earlier, with the free Regenerate Thumbnails plugin — from installing it to running it over every attachment on your site.

1 minute read

Regenerating thumbnails creates new sizes of previously uploaded images, by producing copies of them in the newly defined sizes.

Install the plugin

  1. 1 Open Plugins > Add New

    Visit /wp-admin/ > Plugins > Add New.

    The WordPress admin sidebar with the Plugins flyout menu open, Add New highlighted between Installed Plugins and Plugin File Editor, and arrows pointing at Plugins and at Add New.
  2. 2 Search for Regenerate Thumbnails

    Type the plugin name into the keyword search and click Install Now on the first result.

    The Add Plugins search results for "Regenerate Thumbnails": the first card, with 1+ million active installations, is outlined in green with its Install Now button marked, next to a card for reGenerate Thumbnails Advanced.
  3. 3 Let the plugin install A close-up of the plugin card's button turned into a spinner reading "Installing...", with the mouse cursor over it.
  4. 4 Click Activate A close-up of the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin card after installation, with a green arrow pointing at the blue Activate button that has replaced Install Now.

Regenerate the thumbnails

About the second checkbox
Deleting the thumbnail files of old, unregistered sizes frees up server space, but it may result in broken images in posts and pages that still point at those files.
  1. 1 Open Tools > Regenerate Thumbnails

    Visit /wp-admin/ > Tools > Regenerate Thumbnails.

    The WordPress admin sidebar with the Tools flyout menu open and Regenerate Thumbnails highlighted at the bottom, below Scheduled Actions; arrows point at Tools and at the entry.
  2. 2 Set the two checkboxes

    Please make sure you selected them this way: deselect "Skip regenerating existing correctly sized thumbnails (faster)" and select "Delete thumbnail files for old unregistered sizes in order to free up server space".

    The two Regenerate Thumbnails options: the "Skip regenerating existing correctly sized thumbnails (faster)" box is empty and the "Delete thumbnail files for old unregistered sizes" box is ticked, above the blue Regenerate Thumbnails For All 126 Attachments button.
  3. 3 Start the regeneration

    Click the Regenerate Thumbnails For All XX Attachments button, where XX is the number of attachments on your site.

    An arrow pointing at the blue "Regenerate Thumbnails For All 126 Attachments" button, with a second button below it for the 5 featured images only.
  4. 4 Wait for it to finish

    Regeneration will start — please wait. The Regeneration Log lists each image as it is processed.

    Regeneration in progress: a partly filled progress bar, a Pause button, and a Regeneration Log listing the first three regenerated images as links.
  5. 5 Check that it reached 100% A browser tab titled "100% | Regenerate Thumbnails", showing the progress in the tab title.

Keep reading

Thumbnails and Adaptive Sizing Explained

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