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Replace or add images

When to replace a product's existing images and when to add to them, and how to keep replaced files safe.

Choose Don’t replace existing images to add new images after the existing ones, or Replace existing images to clear a product’s gallery before its new images are uploaded. You choose per upload, in step 4 of Create upload.

The two options

OptionBehaviour
Don’t replace existing images (recommended for tests)New images are added to the product. Existing images are untouched. Re-running the same folder adds duplicates.
Replace existing imagesBefore the first new image of a product is uploaded, all existing images of that product are removed, not only images the app uploaded before, and not only the matched variant’s image.

How replace mode works

  • Removal happens once per product per job, right before that product’s first new image.
  • If a product matches no image in this run, its images are not touched.
  • With Don’t delete replaced images from ‘Files’ turned on in Settings, old images are detached from the product but kept in Content → Files. Without it they are deleted permanently.
  • We can restrict replacement to only the matched variant’s images for your store on request.

Safe testing

  1. Test replace mode on one product first.
  2. Turn on Don’t delete replaced images from ‘Files’ so nothing is lost.
  3. Confirm the gallery ends up with exactly the new set, then run the full batch.

Running the same folder twice

Without replace mode, a second run of the same folder adds the images again. The app can’t know you didn’t intend that. When re-running, use replace mode or unmatch the images you don’t need.

Automatic retries are different: they only process images that failed and never duplicate successful uploads.