Introduction

Welcome to the official documentation for Nova Media Cleaner Pro. This guide will help you install, activate, and get the most out of your WordPress media optimizer.

Quick Takeaway: Nova Media Cleaner Pro has a dual benefit. It automatically cleans database and server space by deleting redundant duplicates, and significantly speeds up page load speed by converting images into Next-Gen WebP format!

System Requirements

To ensure Nova Media Cleaner runs smoothly without any interruptions, please ensure your hosting environment meets these minimum requirements:

• WordPress Version: 5.8 or higher
• PHP Version: 7.4 or higher (8.1+ recommended)
• Storage: Adequate temporary disk space for background processing.

Installation

License Key Warning: Your unique license activation key is sent immediately after checkout to your registered email. If you can't find it, please check your spam folder or access your Lemon Squeezy customer portal.

License Activation PRO

To unlock Pro, you must activate your license key. You will receive this key in your purchase confirmation email.

• Go to Media → NMC Settings in your WordPress sidebar.
• Click on the License Activation tab.
• Enter your License Key (format: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX).
• Click Activate Nova Media Cleaner Pro.

Lemon Squeezy Management: You can activate the same license key on up to your plan's maximum allowed concurrent domains, and deactivate or transfer active domains directly inside your Lemon Squeezy user portal.

Image Optimization

Duplicate Finder

Nova Media Cleaner scans your media library to find identical images using SHA-256 hashing. It safely groups them together so you can delete redundancies and free up database and storage space.

Unassigned Media Finder PRO

Nova Media Cleaner Pro scans your entire website to detect unassigned media files. These are media attachments that are not utilized or embedded in any WordPress posts, pages, or WooCommerce product galleries, details, or descriptions, enabling you to clean up junk files and save server disk space safely.

WebP Conversion PRO

Convert your existing JPG/PNG images to WebP format to reduce file size by up to 80% without losing quality. This significantly boosts your Google PageSpeed scores.

Staging Trash & 1-Click Restore PRO

Nova Media Cleaner Pro never deletes a file straight away. Every duplicate, unassigned file, or orphaned file you delete is first copied into a protected internal Staging Trash folder before the live copy is removed from your Media Library.

• Click the restore icon on any trashed item to instantly bring it back to the Media Library, exactly as it was.
• Click the purge icon to permanently delete a single item and free its disk space for good.
• Trashed items are auto-purged automatically after your configured retention window (Settings → Advanced → Trash Retention Days).

Skip Trash Option: If you'd rather have deletes be immediate and permanent (no recovery step), enable Skip Trash under Settings → Advanced. With it on, deleted files bypass Staging Trash entirely and cannot be restored.

SEO Media Renamer PRO

Rename any Media Library file's physical filename to something SEO-friendly and keyword-rich — directly from the Media Library, without breaking anything on your live site.

• Updates the physical file on disk to the new name.
• Automatically rewrites every reference to that file across your posts, pages, and content, so images never turn into broken links.
• Optionally update the attachment's Title and Alt Text at the same time.

Bulk Alt Text Generator PRO

Scans your entire Media Library for images that are missing Alt Text — a common on-page SEO and accessibility gap — and lets you fill them in fast.

• Smart mode auto-generates readable Alt Text from each image's filename.
• Template mode lets you define your own pattern (e.g. including your site or brand name) applied across every image.
• Bulk Apply processes your whole library — or just the images missing Alt Text — in one click.

Filesystem Orphaned Scanner PRO

Goes beyond the Media Library database and scans wp-content/uploads directly on disk for orphaned files — files physically present on your server that have no matching WordPress attachment record at all (often left behind by old themes, plugins, or manual FTP uploads).

• Safely lists every orphaned file it finds, with its size and location.
• Deleting one moves it to Staging Trash first, just like every other cleanup module, so it's still recoverable.
• Great for reclaiming server disk space that regular Media Library cleanup can't reach.

Troubleshooting

Encountering issues? Check these common solutions before reaching out to support.

Invalid License Key

If your key is rejected, ensure you haven't copied any empty leading or trailing spaces. Also, check your Lemon Squeezy dashboard to ensure the license hasn't expired or reached its maximum site limit.

WebP Conversion Failing

This usually happens if your server lacks the required image processing libraries. Contact your host and ask them to enable the Imagick or GD Library PHP extensions on your server.

Scanning Stuck at 0%

This may be due to a WordPress REST API blockage or a caching/security plugin conflict. Try temporarily disabling your caching or firewall plugin to see if the scan initiates correctly.

Restore From Trash Fails or Does Nothing

Restore can only bring back files that had a physical copy on disk at the moment they were deleted. If a Media Library entry's file was already missing before you deleted it (shown as "N/A" size or "Not found in content" in the list), there was nothing for Staging Trash to back up, so it can't be restored — this is expected, not a bug.

Deleted Files Aren't Going to Staging Trash

Check Settings → Advanced — if Skip Trash is enabled, every delete becomes immediate and permanent by design, bypassing Staging Trash entirely. Disable it if you want deletes to stay recoverable.