How to Undo a WordPress Media Offload Safely

To undo a WordPress media offload safely, get every file back on your server and check it first. Only then change where images load from, and only after that delete the cloud copies. If your tool rewrote your database, undo that before you switch back. Check first that your disk has room for the whole library.

What should you check first?

• Free disk space. Your whole library, in every size, has to fit.
• A current backup of your database.
• Whether your database was rewritten. If your posts contain cloud addresses, they'll need changing back.
• Whether local copies exist. If they do, you may just need to stop rewriting addresses.

What's the safe order?

1. Undo any database rewrite, or plan for it, because those images depend on cloud copies until then.
2. Download every file, and check each one.
3. Switch your site back to local files.
4. Check real pages, and leave the bucket alone for a while.
5. Delete cloud copies, only when you're sure.

Doing this in another order is how images break. Deleting first, for instance, removes the only copy of anything that failed to download.

How do you do it in Offloft?

1. If you used Replace URLs in database, click Undo from backup in Tools.
2. Open Jobs and choose Bring everything back to my server.
3. Leave Also delete from … afterwards off, unless you're sure.
4. Click Start bringing back. Each file is checked on your server, and your site keeps loading media from the cloud until everything is back.

It's available on every plan, including if a Pro license has ended.

Can you go back quickly in an emergency?

If you still have local copies, turn off Rewrite media URLs in Settings → Delivery. Every image switches back to loading from your server right away. Nothing is deleted, and you can turn it back on. Clear your page cache so visitors see the change.

What about after you uninstall?

Offloft doesn't delete files from your bucket on uninstall. Delete the bucket yourself once you no longer need it, because your provider will keep charging for what's stored.