Using the Alt Text Tab on the Manage Media page

You already know about the  Manage Media⁠  page, but did you know that page contains a tab where you can view the Alt Text for each of your images? This guide explains the process as well as what you can do from that tab.
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Jump to: 
﻿ Navigating to the Alt Text tab⁠ ﻿
﻿ What You'll See⁠ ﻿
﻿ Ways to Utilize this Page⁠ ﻿
Video Tutorial
There are some VERY useful hidden gems within the Alt Text tab. Jump to the bottom to find out how to quickly and efficiently perform functions like:
﻿ Adding Alt Text⁠ ﻿
﻿ Adding additional info about your image⁠ , such as caption/credit or updating the file name to something more internally searchable
﻿ View the usage of an image⁠ . Most exciting of all, this feature pulls up a list of all the places where a particular image is used on your website!
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Navigating to the Alt Text tabFrom your Shortcuts menu, select "Manage Content" then "Manage Media."
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Screenshot showing the Manage Content menu. The options for "Manage Content" and "Manage Media" are outlined.Screenshot showing the Manage Content menu. The options for "Manage Content" and "Manage Media" are outlined.
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This will bring you to a page where ALL of your media items are listed. From here, click on the "Alt Text" tab.
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Screenshot of the "Manage Media" page. The tab for "Alt Text" is outlined.Screenshot of the "Manage Media" page. The tab for "Alt Text" is outlined.
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This will bring you to a page where just your images are shown in a list. 
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Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page.Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page.
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What You'll SeeFrom the Image Alt Text page, you'll be able to see a list of all of your images. There is a column that displays the current Alt Text. 
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Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The column for Alt Text is outlined.Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The column for Alt Text is outlined.
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If you wish to see only the images that do or do not have Alt Text, you can filter the results. To do so, choose either "is not blank" or "is blank" from the Alternative Text dropdown menu, then click "Apply."
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Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The dropdown filter for Alternative Text is open, showing the options of "-Any-," "is not blank," and "is blank." This dropdown menu and the "Apply" button are both outlined.Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The dropdown filter for Alternative Text is open, showing the options of "-Any-," "is not blank," and "is blank." This dropdown menu and the "Apply" button are both outlined.
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You can also sort your list, with or without filtering the results, by clicking on the sort button next to the "Alt Text" column header. This will sort your results so that the images without Alt Text are displayed first. The images with Alt Text will be ordered alphabetically by the first letter/word of the Alt Text following that. 
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Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The sort button in the "Alt Text" column is outlined.Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The sort button in the "Alt Text" column is outlined.
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You can reverse the order by clicking on the arrow that appears once the list is sorted.
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Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The sort order arrow in the "Alt Text" column is outlined.Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The sort order arrow in the "Alt Text" column is outlined.
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Ways to Utilize this PageEdit an Image to Add Alt Text as NeededThis page is incredibly helpful because it allows you to locate each and every image on your site. You'll be able to easily find the images that lack Alt Text so you can work to add that in as necessary. 
As a reminder, including Alt Text is both the right thing to do so that all of your website's users can access your content regardless of their disability status, as well as a legal requirement.  More information about Alt Text is always available at SODA .
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From this page, click on the "Edit" button in the row of the image you wish to edit. 
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Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The "Edit" button is outlined on the second row, which is an image entitled, "nicholas_bloom.jpg" and does not contain Alt Text.Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" page. The "Edit" button is outlined on the second row, which is an image entitled, "nicholas_bloom.jpg" and does not contain Alt Text.
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Clicking the "Edit" button will bring up a page where you can edit most aspects of the image.
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Screenshot of the image editing page that is pulled up from clicking "Edit" on a specific image from the "Image Alt Text" tab of Manage Media. Screenshot of the image editing page that is pulled up from clicking "Edit" on a specific image from the "Image Alt Text" tab of Manage Media. 
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In this example, the "Decorative Image" slider is selected. This means that Alt Text cannot be added. Because the image is a headshot of a person, it is unlikely to be purely decorative. A best practice would be to deselect this slider, which will pull up an additional field.
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Screenshot of the image editing page that is pulled up from clicking "Edit" on a specific image from the "Image Alt Text" tab of Manage Media. The "Decorative Image" slider is outlined to highlight that it is selected in this example.Screenshot of the image editing page that is pulled up from clicking "Edit" on a specific image from the "Image Alt Text" tab of Manage Media. The "Decorative Image" slider is outlined to highlight that it is selected in this example.
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Screenshot of the image editing page that is pulled up from clicking "Edit" on a specific image from the "Image Alt Text" tab of Manage Media. The "Decorative Image" slider is no longer selected and a field for adding Alternative Text is now present.Screenshot of the image editing page that is pulled up from clicking "Edit" on a specific image from the "Image Alt Text" tab of Manage Media. The "Decorative Image" slider is no longer selected and a field for adding Alternative Text is now present.
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Add your Alt Text here. In this case, we would add the name of the person in the picture.
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Add Additional Information About the Image as NeededWhile in this image editing interface, you are also able to edit other information. 
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Screenshot of the image editing page that is pulled up from clicking "Edit" on a specific image from the "Image Alt Text" tab of Manage Media. The "Name" field, "Caption/Credit" box, and "Save, Delete, Cancel" buttons are outlined.Screenshot of the image editing page that is pulled up from clicking "Edit" on a specific image from the "Image Alt Text" tab of Manage Media. The "Name" field, "Caption/Credit" box, and "Save, Delete, Cancel" buttons are outlined.
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Change the Name of the ImagePerhaps the name of the image is generic or non-descriptive and you had a hard time locating it. Since our sites include the functionality to search for images, we recommend replacing generic image names with something more relevant and searchable. 
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Add a Caption or Photo CreditWhile not mandated, best practice is to always identify and provide credit for the source of your images. We encourage you to list the name of the photographer as well as where the image was found, e.g. Getty Images, Stanford SALLIE images, etc. Additionally, there are several options for styling this text that can be found in the toolbar.
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Save, Delete, CancelBe sure to save your work when you're done! 
You can also permanently delete an image from your site, but we DO NOT recommend this. A better practice is to simply leave the image in your library without having it utilized anywhere on your site. 
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View the Image's UsageProbably the most useful hidden gem on this page, the Usage option will pull up a list of any and all of the locations where each image is used on your website. To pull up this list, click the arrow next to the "Edit" button on the same row as your image. An option for "Usage" will appear. 
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Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" tab. The arrow next to the "Edit" button has been selected, showing options for "Delete" and "Usage." The arrow and "Usage" options are outlined.Screenshot of the "Image Alt Text" tab. The arrow next to the "Edit" button has been selected, showing options for "Delete" and "Usage." The arrow and "Usage" options are outlined.
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Clicking this option will pull up a list of all of the pages on which your image is used.
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Screenshot of the list of pages where this image can be found. This image is currently displayed on only the Home Page of its site.Screenshot of the list of pages where this image can be found. This image is currently displayed on only the Home Page of its site.
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The Usage list can be helpful in determining which Alt Text to provide, as Alt Text can be situational. It can also let you know if deleting an image will have any impact on your site, for example removing it from the 3 pages where it is used.
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From this list of usage, you can select "View" to see where the image is used on a specific page. You can also click the carrot next to the "View" button to pull up additional options, specifically "Edit" which brings you back to the  page where you edit an image's information⁠ .
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Video TutorialThe relevant section spans from 22:14-25:44.
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https://youtu.be/XXsGweX2WNY?si=WOtpCVx1ahh2_Lyf&t=1334
Video tutorial for finding and using the Alt Text page.Video tutorial for finding and using the Alt Text page.
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