# How to optimize/downscale already attached images?

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-optimize-downscale-already-attached-images/21874>\
**Category:** Features\
**Created:** [20 November 2021 13:24 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-optimize-downscale-already-attached-images/21874 "2021-11-20T13:24:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ribtoks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@ribtoks](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ribtoks)\
**Post date:** [20 November 2021 13:24 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-optimize-downscale-already-attached-images/21874/1 "2021-11-20T13:24:50Z")

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Hi

Is there a plugin or secret feature that allows to downscale or optimize (e.g. lower quality) for already attached images to reduce their size?

The goal is to optimize space used by Joplin resources and particularly images.

Thanks

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**Author:** ![Daeraxa](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/daeraxa/32/6172_2.png) [@Daeraxa](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Daeraxa)\
**Post date:** [20 November 2021 13:55 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-optimize-downscale-already-attached-images/21874/2 "2021-11-20T13:55:47Z")

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You can't change the image quality/file size (in base Joplin at least) but you can change how it is displayed by using an HTML tag rather than the markdown one:  
e.g.  
`<img src=":/4d3038829ac35a048e2c67ea143c365d" width="400">`  
rather than  
`![](:/4d3038829ac35a048e2c67ea143c365d)`

Otherwise you could always just run a batch image converter over your resources folder, so long as the names remain the same then it should work (just back it up first, it isn't something I've tried).

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**Author:** ![ribtoks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@ribtoks](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ribtoks)\
**Post date:** [20 November 2021 14:20 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-optimize-downscale-already-attached-images/21874/3 "2021-11-20T14:20:55Z")

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Hey @Daeraxa . Thanks for your reply, but I don't mean just "showing" a different size. My goal is to optimize space used by Joplin resources and images take the largest space. Do you know if after I will convert images in `resources/` as per your suggestion, will it be properly synchronized to other devices? In other words, does Joplin track resource file changes?

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**Author:** ![Daeraxa](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/daeraxa/32/6172_2.png) [@Daeraxa](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Daeraxa)\
**Post date:** [20 November 2021 14:30 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-optimize-downscale-already-attached-images/21874/4 "2021-11-20T14:30:06Z")

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Thats a good point. It definitely tracks changes if you open the resource from the note but I don't know if it will create a new sync if you just change the file sizes en masse.  
Depending on how essential it is, you could manually replace the resources directory on your sync target with your new, smaller one from your profile directory then it should work as they should be identical- with a massive caveat that you do so at your own risk after backing up as much as you can.

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**Author:** ![graphit0](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/graphit0/32/3435_2.png) [@graphit0](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/graphit0)\
**Post date:** [20 November 2021 15:50 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-optimize-downscale-already-attached-images/21874/5 "2021-11-20T15:50:25Z")

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Hello there, here's definitely not a secret but recent plugin that lets you replace your resources including images.

> [@Plugin: Replace Resources](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/plugin-replace-resources/21706):
>
> Replace Resources Introducing my beta release of "Replace Resources", a Joplin Plugin that mass replaces Resources. I got tired of manually replacing resized images (to save space on my free Dropbox account), so wrote this to automate the Joplin side of things. Note: due to Joplin's synchronisation conflict safeguards, this is a two-step automated process, first deleting resources and starting synchronisation for you, followed by posting (creating) resources using the original resource id. …

It works like that:

- You install the plugin
- You write down the path of the folder in the plugin settings where you will save your new reduced in size files
- You copy your Joplin files in resource directory to the path you wrote in the settings
- You use some quality/size reducing tool to all file in that copied folder (could be done with images in bulk via RawTherapee or lightroom)
- You click "Replace resources" from tool menu in Joplin
- Done, your new files are now in Joplin and will be synced with the cloud.

The advantages of this method:

- Works in bulk of any size
- Works with any file format
- Once setup you can run it multiple times: periodically (every sync) or until you get the result you need
- There's less risk messing data due to user error

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ribtoks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@ribtoks](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/ribtoks)\
**Post date:** [20 November 2021 16:03 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-optimize-downscale-already-attached-images/21874/6 "2021-11-20T16:03:10Z")

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@graphit0 Thanks! Looks very interesting and kind of what I need!

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/1/c/1c948e33314e232a0927789508474d8624f4270b.png) [@system](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [19 January 2022 16:03 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/how-to-optimize-downscale-already-attached-images/21874/7 "2022-01-19T16:03:28Z")

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