Move WordPress uploads out of date-based folders afterwards

An alternative plugin solution is Media File Renamer (by developer Jordy Meow). Its Pro version also allows renaming media files and moving them to other folders. You can proceed as follows:

• Preparation: First disable date-based uploads in WordPress as described above so new files don’t end up in subfolders again.
• Using the plugin: With Media File Renamer Pro you can now reorganize your existing media. The plugin offers a bulk function to rename and move multiple files at once. You could move all files from a month folder into the main uploads folder. In the plugin interface you select the relevant media and either assign new filenames or keep them and use the option to move them to the main directory.
• Update references: Media File Renamer updates references in posts automatically when renaming. So if you move files to a different path, the plugin should likewise adjust all occurrences of the URL in posts. Check the result by spot-checking: does the image still display in the post? Is the URL correct?
• Redirects: As far as we know, Media File Renamer does not create automatic redirects from old to new URLs. That means external links or direct requests to old paths would produce a 404 error. You’d therefore need to handle redirects separately (e.g., with a redirect plugin or via .htaccess).

Assessment: Media File Renamer Pro is powerful and can also handle renaming/moving. However, it requires more manual steps and oversight. You may have to proceed folder by folder and monitor the result. With many media items this can be time-consuming. Also be careful: if two files from different month folders have the same name, moving them into a common folder would cause a conflict. In such cases you’d need to rename a file first to ensure unique names. So make sure no duplicate filenames exist before consolidating everything into one folder.

Conclusion: For advanced users, Media File Renamer Pro is an option to remove the “month folder.” If you already use the plugin, you can try the manual route. Otherwise neo Rename offers a purpose-built, simpler solution.

If you want to get rid of date folders but still keep a real directory structure, Media Library Folders (MLF) is a pragmatic compromise. The plugin extends the WordPress media library with a left folder sidebar and physically moves files on the server instead of only creating virtual categories. This keeps URLs clean while still logically sorting by topic.

Functions at a glance:

• Create folders via drag & drop: a folder management similar to Windows Explorer.
• Physical moving: When moving, MLF corrects all references in posts & pages automatically.
• Undo & bulk actions (Pro): undo last action; move multiple files/folders at once.
• Multiple assignment (Pro): an image can appear in multiple folders.
• Server sync (Pro): folders created via FTP appear in the backend – practical for very large libraries.

The biggest advantage over purely “virtual” folder plugins: the folders actually exist on the file system. That allows images to be backed up via FTP or copied to CDN storage without losing the folder structure. For editorial teams that like thematic folders ("/products/", "/teamphotos/" etc.) this is a familiar workflow and prevents filename collisions.

However, MLF does not create 301 redirects for old paths. If you come from the year/month structure, you’ll have to add redirects yourself via a redirect plugin or .htaccess – or go for the one-click solution neo Rename, which includes redirects. Also, drag-and-drop sorting with thousands of images takes some time; automatic tagging like in neo Library is not available here.

The plugin WP Original Media Path takes a slightly different approach. It lets you change the WordPress uploads folder — something that was possible in core up to WordPress 3.5. With this plugin you can, for example, set your media to live under "wp-content/media/" instead of "wp-content/uploads/", or even use a subdomain for media. This affects the base upload path. Important to know: WP Original Media Path is not retroactive — it does not automatically adjust existing entries. But you can use it to set up a new unified structure and then switch manually. A possible procedure:

• Install the plugin and set the new path/URL. You could keep wp-content/uploads (if you only want to get rid of subfolders) or specify a completely new path (e.g. wp-content/uploads_all or wp-content/media). Save the setting. WordPress records the new path in the options (database) — all future uploads will go there.
• Move files: Now move the contents of the old uploads folder to the new location via FTP or shell. If you only want to remove the year/month folders but keep the same main path, that means: move all files from the uploads/YYYY/MM/ subfolders directly into uploads/. (You can delete the empty year folders afterwards.) If you chose a completely new path, move the entire directory accordingly.
• Database replace: Now you need to adjust all references in the DB so WordPress finds the media under the new path. As described in the plugin docs, a search-and-replace operation is unavoidable. Search for the old base path (e.g. wp-content/uploads/2025/08/) and replace it with the new path (e.g. wp-content/uploads/). Practically this can be done with a plugin like Better Search Replace or with WP-CLI. Remember to consider serialized data as well.

After these steps all media will be available at the new path. Existing content will point to the new URL. WP Original Media Path informed WordPress of the changed path; you have to handle the rest yourself as with manual methods.

Use case: This plugin makes sense if you want, for example, a completely different storage location for uploads, such as a different directory or a separate domain/CDN. For simply removing the date folders within the same main folder it may be overkill, since the standard path (uploads) is retained. You could use WP Original Media Path to move all uploads into a subfolder “media” instead of “uploads.” Important: The plugin does not work with multisite.

For technically proficient users there is the option to remove the date folders without special plugins. For this, files must be moved manually and all database entries adjusted:

• Database backup: Always make a DB backup first! A wrong find & replace can ruin the database. Safety first.
• Move files manually: Use FTP with FileZilla or SSH with Termius or a script to move files from the year/month folders into the main uploads/ folder. Pay very close attention to filename conflicts. If two files share the same name (e.g. image.jpg in "2023/03/" and again in "2025/09/"), they cannot both coexist in "uploads/".
• Database search & replace: Now all places in the DB that point to the old paths must be rewritten. This mainly affects the post_content column of posts and pages where images are embedded via tags. Additionally, attachment metadata in wp_postmeta — the _wp_attached_file entries — must be adjusted; these store the path relative to the uploads folder, e.g. "2025/09/image.jpg". In rare cases widgets, menus or theme options also reference images whose paths must be updated.
  The most convenient way is with the Better Search Replace plugin or via the WP-CLI command. Example WP-CLI command:

  wp search-replace '/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/' '/wp-content/uploads/' --skip-columns=guid

  This would replace occurrences of the path string in all tables while skipping GUIDs. You would need to run this command per year/month combination or use regex (WP-CLI supports --regex). Alternatively use Better Search Replace in the WP backend, select all relevant tables and search e.g. for /wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ and replace with /wp-content/uploads/. Repeat for all existing year/month combinations. Serialized data: Better Search Replace handles serialized PHP data, which is important so widget configurations or _wp_attachment_metadata don’t break. WP-CLI's search-replace also respects serializations (as long as you’re not using regex mode).
  In the wp_posts table each attachment post has a GUID entry with the original URL. It’s recommended not to change these GUIDs, since they only serve as an internal unique identifier (and are used, for example, for RSS feeds). If you do a blanket search & replace you would catch the GUIDs as well. If possible, exclude the GUID column (Better Search Replace does this automatically in a standard run). WP-CLI offers --skip-columns=guid for this. If in doubt it’s not a disaster if the GUID is changed, it just needs to remain consistent and unique.

• Clear cache: If you use a caching plugin like WP Fastest Cache or a CDN, clear the cache so the newly linked images are served immediately.
• Check: After the run verify that media now load correctly without date folders. Especially in posts: do all images work? A quick way is to open the page and check the browser console for 404 errors. Thumbnails should still appear in the media library. Also disable the browser cache in the developer console.

This manual method ultimately achieves the same result as the plugin solutions but requires great care and experience. Advantage: You don’t need additional plugins (except possibly Better Search Replace, which you can remove afterwards) and you retain full control. Disadvantage: It is error-prone — a wrong search term or forgotten step can lead to broken images. And it is time-consuming, especially if many folders and files are affected.

If you do not want to move the files but still want to change the URL structure externally, you can work with rewrite rules. One solution is to automatically redirect visitors from an accessed URL with a date path to the corresponding URL without the date path or vice versa. Two approaches:

• Variant A: Files were moved, redirect old URLs: This corresponds to the manual method, complemented by a .htaccess redirect rule. Suppose you moved all files into the main directory. Now create a .htaccess in wp-content/uploads/ with the following content:

  RewriteEngine On\nRewriteBase /wp-content/uploads/\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d\nRewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{2})/(.*) /wp-content/uploads/$3 [L,R=301]

  This rule does this: If no real file is found under uploads/YYYY/MM/Filename, send a 301 redirect to /uploads/Filename. The placeholders ([0-9]{4}) and ([0-9]{2}) capture year and month numbers, $3 stands for the filename possibly with a following path (in case subdirectories in filenames exist in the future). So calls like /uploads/2025/09/menue.pdf will be redirected to /uploads/menue.pdf. The [R=301] status ensures it is a permanent redirect (good for SEO). This solution is very elegant to catch existing external links or search engine index entries of the old URLs and point them to the new paths. It should be placed in the uploads directory (not in the main .htaccess) so it takes effect before WordPress.

• Variant B: Files stay in subfolders, internally rewrite to new short URLs: This is the opposite case: you keep the files physically where they are (in 2025/09 etc.) but want to show “short” URLs on the site and to visitors. That means you’d have to change post content to reference images without the date path. To make those links work without moving files, you need an internal rewrite rule that resolves a request to /uploads/image.jpg to the actual file location /uploads/2025/09/image.jpg. This is more complicated because the server must somehow determine in which year folder the file resides. Writing a global rule for that is not trivial — you’d have to try all year/month combinations or have a fixed logic. If filenames are unique, you could try using a RewriteMap or a script to find the correct path, but that goes beyond standard .htaccess rules. In short: this variant is possible but labor-intensive and error-prone. In practice it’s rarely used. It’s easier to move the files or choose another approach above.

Use .htaccess redirects primarily as a supplement to catch old URLs after a restructure (Variant A). That preserves your images’ SEO juice and prevents 404s. If you use neo Rename you don’t need to worry about this — the plugin can add the redirects automatically.