History Page

The AltTexty History page is a powerful tool that gives you visibility and control over the alt text for your images. It primarily tracks:

1. Initial Alt Text: The alt text an image had before AltTexty (or you, through AltTexty’s interface) first modified it.
2. Generated Alt Texts: The last few versions of alt text generated by AltTexty’s AI for an image.
3. Current Alt Text: The live alt text currently saved for the image in your WordPress Media Library.

This page allows you to review these versions, manually edit the current alt text, and revert to a previous version if needed. You can typically find this page under AltTexty -> History in your WordPress admin dashboard.

Understanding the History Table #

The main feature of this page is a table listing images that have an AltTexty history. Here’s what each column means:

• Checkbox:
  • Allows you to select multiple images for bulk actions (like bulk revert).
• Image ID:
  • Shows the unique WordPress Media Library ID for the image.
• Image Thumbnail:
  • Displays a small thumbnail preview of the image.
  • Clicking the thumbnail usually takes you to the “Edit Media” screen for that image in WordPress.
• Alt Text History:
  • This is the most interactive column. For each image, it shows:
    • A Textarea: Displays the image’s current “Alternative Text” as saved in WordPress. You can directly edit the text in this box.
    • Save Button: Appears next to the textarea. If you make changes in the textarea, click this button to save your edits directly to the image’s alt text in WordPress. The button is disabled until you make a change. A spinner will indicate processing, and a status message (e.g., “Saved!”) will confirm the action.
    • Revert to: A list of links allowing you to revert the current alt text to another version:
      • Initial: The alt text the image had before AltTexty first generated text for it or before you first saved it via the Playground/History page. This is your original safety net. A green checkmark icon appears next to this if it’s currently the active alt text.
      • Generated #X: The last few versions of alt text generated by AltTexty’s AI for this image (e.g., “Generated #1”, “Generated #2”). Hovering over these links might show a preview of that version (depending on implementation). A green checkmark icon indicates if one of these is currently active. Clicking a revert link will update the image’s main alt text to that version and also update the textarea above.
    • Status/Spinner: Small visual indicators for save/revert actions.
• History Updated:
  • Shows the date and time when the image’s alt text or its AltTexty history was last modified through an AltTexty process (e.g., generation, applying from Playground, saving from History page).
  • This helps you track recent changes. You can sort the table by this column by clicking its header.

Filtering and Searching History #

At the top of the table, you’ll find controls to help you find specific images:

• Date Filter Dropdown:
  • Use it to filter the list to show images whose history was updated within a specific period (e.g., “Updated Today,” “Updated Last 7 Days,” “Updated This Month”).
  • Select a period and click the “Filter” button next to it.
• Search Box:
  • Use it to search for images based on keywords present in their current alt text.
  • Enter your search term and click the “Search Alt Text” button.

Bulk Actions #

Above the table is a “Bulk actions” dropdown. You can select images using the checkboxes in the first column.

• Choose an action from the dropdown, such as “Revert to Initial,” “Revert to Generated #1,” etc.
• Click the “Apply” button next to the dropdown.
• This will attempt to revert the selected images’ alt text to the chosen historical version in bulk.

Clear History Data #

• • What it does: This button permanently deletes all AltTexty-specific history data for all images. This includes:
    • The stored “Initial” alt text snapshots – your images’ alt texts before AltTexty.
    • The list of “Generated #X” alt texts.
    • The “History Updated” timestamp.
    • The AI generation marker.
  • Important: This action does NOT delete the current alt text of your images. It only removes the historical versions and markers stored by AltTexty.
  • Confirmation: You will be asked to confirm this action as it cannot be undone.
  • Why use it? If you want to completely reset AltTexty’s historical tracking or free up a small amount of database space used by this metadata.

Using the History Page #

• Review AI Generations: See what AltTexty has generated for your images.
• Make Quick Edits: If an AI-generated text is mostly good but needs a small tweak, you can edit it directly in the textarea and save it.
• Revert to Original: If you prefer the image’s original alt text (or an older AI version), use the “Revert to” links.
• Maintain Quality Control: Regularly check the history for images, especially important ones, to ensure their alt text is accurate and descriptive.