Updating WordPress Thumbnails: Quick and Easy Solutions

Forcing WordPress to regenerate thumbnails is essential when you update your site’s image dimensions or switch to a new theme with different thumbnail sizes. WordPress creates multiple thumbnail sizes upon image upload based on your site’s settings and theme requirements. However, existing images don’t automatically change to these changes.

Regenerating thumbnails ensures consistency, preventing stretched or improperly cropped images that can negatively impact your site’s aesthetics and user experience. It also provides compatibility with features like responsive design and custom layouts that rely on specific thumbnail dimensions.

Additionally, regenerating thumbnails is helpful after installing plugins that require new image sizes, such as sliders or galleries. This process optimizes media for faster loading times and better performance. By forcing regeneration, you avoid manually re-uploading images, saving time and ensuring your WordPress site’s polished, professional appearance.

One of the simplest plugin options for regenerating thumbnails for images is to use Force Regenerate Thumbnails. After the plugin has been installed and activated on the site, it will add a new menu item to the tools menu item in wp-admin;

Tools > Force Regenerate Thumbnails

Using the reGenerate Thumbnails Advanced plugin from ShortPixel, you can select which images should be force regenerated or if only the features images are the ones that have the thumbnails for it to be regenerated. To regenerate thumbnails, you must remain on the plugin settings page.

If you have used WP-CLI commands before, then there is a command that would regenerate all feature image thumbnails to run it. You will need to use the command from Terminal or Putty from the html folder of your WordPress site;

wp media regenerate –yes

Using either of the two plugin methods or running from WP-CLI is an easy way to force upgrade thumbnails for images on your site.

Useful Links

https://shortpixel.com/knowledge-base/article/quick-guide-to-using-regenerate-thumbnails-advanced-settings