Title: Expose hidden attachment fields
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# Expose hidden attachment fields

 *  Anonymous User
 * (@anonymized-126485)
 * [13 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/expose-hidden-attachment-fields/)
 * Now that the new Media Library sidebar includes the Title, Caption, and Alt Text,
   can we finally be able to edit the following hidden data for attachments?
    - post_date — So we can set an image to be published in the future (e.g., a 
      designer could upload twelve images to a post about next season’s fashions,
      but set only the first one to be displayed with the remainder scheduled to
      be public after the expo)
    - comment_status, ping_status — If you add an attachment while comments or pings
      are enabled, and later disable them for a post, that does not disable viewers
      from still commenting or pinging existing attachments from the attachment 
      page. The fields exist in the database but the WP admin has no way to edit
      them without resorting to MySQL.
    - post_status — Currently all attachments get the status “inherit” but “draft”
      and “private” would be very useful when attachments are removed from the site,
      but we don’t want to **delete** them, just temporarily withdraw them from 
      a post or page.
    - post_name — Attachments get a hidden slug based on the attachment name, which
      cannot be edited without using MySQL. Many times it would be handy to edit
      this; there is already a [plugin](http://wordpress.org/support/plugin/slug4apig)
      for this, but it hasn’t been updated in ages.
 * It might also be worth noting in the Gallery editor, that changing a caption 
   on attachment, changes its caption in the database which will modify _all the
   galleries_ in which it is inserted — the captions are not on a per-gallery-insertion
   basis!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/)
 * (@ipstenu)
 * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist
 * [13 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/expose-hidden-attachment-fields/#post-3246949)
 * This sounds like a major change, vs fixes, and since 3.5 is so close, it’s probably
   a 3.6 thing. Not the caption thing, the hidden fields part.
 *  [George Stephanis](https://wordpress.org/support/users/georgestephanis/)
 * (@georgestephanis)
 * [13 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/expose-hidden-attachment-fields/#post-3246962)
 * _It might also be worth noting in the Gallery editor, that changing a caption
   on attachment, changes its caption in the database which will modify all the 
   galleries in which it is inserted — the captions are not on a per-gallery-insertion
   basis!_
 * This isn’t a regression, I don’t believe. Possibly worth addressing later, or
   just relegating to plugin territory.
 * RE: the extra fields, it would be relatively simple for a plugin to add those
   fields in, and sounds like it has been. Probably should be updated for 3.5, but
   it would be a relatively simple one to do. If noone updates the existing or writes
   a new one, ping me in a couple weeks and I’ll cobble it together quickly.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Expose hidden attachment fields’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [Comments](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/comments/)
 * [editing](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/editing/)
 * [media library](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/media-library/)
 * [slug](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/slug/)
 * [status](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/status/)

 * In: [Alpha/Beta/RC](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/)
 * 2 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [George Stephanis](https://wordpress.org/support/users/georgestephanis/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/expose-hidden-attachment-fields/#post-3246962)
 * Status: not resolved

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