What's New in Version 2.0?

Background Image Processing

The main innovation is true background processing. Now you can close your browser and the plugin will continue importing images on the server. This is especially important when working with large sites that may have thousands of external images.

The plugin uses WP Background Processing architecture, which ensures reliable operation even on servers with script execution time limits.

Detailed Statistics and Logs

The new Statistics tab shows detailed information about the import process:

• New Downloads — successfully downloaded images
• Cached/Existing — images that were already in the media library
• Failed — failed to download
• Removed — removed from posts
• Placeholder — replaced with a placeholder

All events are recorded in log files, which can be viewed directly in the plugin interface or exported to CSV for analysis.

Srcset Support

Version 2.0 fully supports the srcset attribute. The plugin finds and processes all image sizes specified in responsive markup, not just the main src.

Improved Web Archive Integration

The plugin uses the post publication date to search for snapshots in the Wayback Machine. This increases the likelihood of finding images exactly as they were when the content was created.

When the original source is unavailable, the plugin automatically tries several archive search strategies:

1. Exact post publication date
2. Latest available snapshot
3. Gradual search in earlier dates

Duplicate Protection

The new database-level locking system prevents re-downloading the same images during parallel processing. This saves time and bandwidth.

How to Use the Plugin

Step 1: Configuration

Go to Settings → Archivarix Images Importer and select the download mode:

• Try original, then Web Archive — first tries to download from the original URL, if it fails, searches the archive
• Try Web Archive, then original — first searches the archive (useful for old sites)
• Only original — original sources only
• Only Web Archive — Wayback Machine only

Step 2: Scanning

On the Process tab, click Start Scan. The plugin will analyze all posts and pages, find external images, and show statistics:

• Number of posts
• Found external images
• Local images with 404 error
• Invalid URLs

Step 3: Processing

Click Process to start the import. You will see a progress bar and can close the page — processing will continue in the background.

Integration with Archivarix

The plugin is especially useful when working with the "Extract structured content" feature of our service. When you restore a site from Web Archive and export content in WXR format for WordPress, images remain as external links.

After importing articles through the standard WordPress importer, activate our plugin — it will automatically download all images to the media library and update links in posts.

Requirements

• WordPress 6.0 or higher
• PHP 7.4 or higher
• cURL extension for PHP

Installation

The plugin is available in the official WordPress directory:

Archivarix External Images Importer

Or install directly from WordPress admin: Plugins → Add New → search "Archivarix External Images Importer"

Support

If you have questions or suggestions:

• Support forum on WordPress.org
• Plugin documentation
• Contact us

The use of article materials is allowed only if the link to the source is posted: https://archivarix.com/en/blog/external-images-importer/