Deleting linked media may cause broken images, missing documents, or broken links on your live site, which can negatively affect user experience, SEO, or legal obligations.
If you're unsure whether a file can be safely deleted, review internal guidelines or consult your legal or compliance team.
Media Library items can be deleted if they are no longer needed, but it's important to first confirm they aren’t in use. For guidance on handling links after deletion, see Relinking Deleted Pages - Media Items - or Folders
The steps below demonstrate how to delete a document file or image two ways through the Media Library.
TIP: To see if an item has been attached to any pages, visit the View Linked Items page.
From the Content Tree
- Navigate to the document file or image you wish to delete.
- Right-click on the item and a menu will appear.
- Select the
Delete option.
- A dialog box will appear asking if you're sure you want to delete the file.
- If okay to delete, select OK.
- Relink items to prevent broken links (if the Breaking Links dialog message comes up).
- Publish the folder where the deleted item was located to ensure changes are reflected on the live site.
NOTE: When an item is deleted from Sitecore, the folder that contained the deleted item MUST be published to remove the deleted item(s) from the system. If this does not occur, then the item will remain published and accessible on the website. Please contact your System Administrator to publish the deletion of your item.
From the Ribbon
- Select the item you wish to delete.
- Select the Delete
icon on the HOME tab.
- A dialog box will appear asking if you're sure you want to delete the item.
- If you're deleting a folder with images or document files contained in it, select the arrow and then Delete subitems. A message will warn you that all sub-items will be deleted as well.
- If you're deleting a folder with images or document files contained in it, select the arrow and then Delete subitems. A message will warn you that all sub-items will be deleted as well.
- If okay to delete, select OK.
- Relink items to prevent broken links (if the Breaking Links dialog message comes up).
- Publish the folder where the deleted item was located to ensure changes are reflected on the live site.
Note: Just like with the Content Tree method, the deletion will not take effect on the website until the parent folder is published