⚓ T77154 Notification: Your file was used
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T77154
Notification: Your file was used
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Assigned To
None
Authored By
MingleTerminator
Dec 8 2014, 4:27 PM
2014-12-08 16:27:34 (UTC+0)
Tags
Notifications (Echo)
(Backlog)
German-Community-Wishlist
(Incoming)
Community-Wishlist-Survey-2016
(Wishlist 11-30 (needs owner))
Wikimedia-Hackathon-2017
(Featured Projects)
Commons
(Incoming)
Referenced Files
F19805: Screen_Shot_2014-02-06_at_3.38.05_PM.png
Oct 26 2015, 10:25 PM
2015-10-26 22:25:50 (UTC+0)
Subscribers
Ainali
Aklapper
CBogen
Ckoerner
Crang115
El_Grafo
FNDE
View All 22 Subscribers
Description
Proposed in
Community-Wishlist-Survey-2016
. Received 45 support votes, and ranked #27 out of 265 proposals.
View full proposal with discussion and votes here.
Also proposed in
German-Community-Wishlist
'15 and was ranked #12. Task is here
T143002
Some general and up-to-date developer details are at
Questions and problems to consider
(please add more questions or any answers here, or comment in the discussion below.)
Single image opt-out. Example use-cases...
"I've uploaded a flag image, and it is used as an icon in thousands of places" - I.e. I don't want to be spammed thousands of times.
"I've merely cropped/rotated an existing image, and am not interested in following it" - I.e. I don't want to be spammed for hundreds of images that I've merely fixed/tweaked.
"I've uploaded a new version of a file, and the original version was subsequently deleted" - I.e. (clarification needed)
Who to notify:
only the uploader of the original version.
only the uploader(s) of the original version, and of the current version.
All uploaders of the file.
All uploaders who were not just
revert
ing to an earlier version
Note: Some example images with >1 uploader:
File:Neptune_Full.jpg
, and
File:John_Hewson.jpg
, and
File:Lyriothemis_acigastra_male_at_Kadavoor.jpg
Old task description - updates are needed
Narrative
As a user, I want to know if know if my file was used in an article, so I can see how it was used -- and feel good that my work is useful.
Acceptance Criteria
We want to let users know if a file they uploaded (or overwrite.
To that end, we need to do the following:
Check the Global File Usage API to see if a file I uploaded has been used recently
If a file has been used since the user's last file notification, show a
file notification
(e.g. '
We would leverage the
Echo notifications
infrastructure to make this happen
The proposed specsfor this new notification are listed in the Echo section below, as well as on the
Echo Feature Requirements
page.
We would also use
Echo's bundling feature
to make sure we don't flood the user with too many notifications in a row for the same file (same as what we did for Page Link notification bundling)
Design Notes & Mockups
This is a very rough mockup from our
Echo
tool, in case you're not familiar with this project.
The actual text and icon of the notification will be different, as specified on this card.
Tasks
Use the Global File Usage API to trigger each notification
Look up all users who uploaded or edited a file that was just used
Use the Echo extension to show/send notifications to those users
Bundle the notifications if multiple pages use this file within the same 4-hour period
Echo Specs
This notification occurs when a media file you uploaded or edited is used on a page:
Golden-crowned sparrow close-up
was used by
Smallbones
on <
Bird Migration
> at English Wikipedia.
or, if the file was added to multiple pages since the last notification, bundle additional notifications as so:
Golden-crowned sparrow close-up
was used on
Bird Migration
and 2 other pages at German Wikivoyage.
Here are some key attributes for this notification:
Trigger: User edit (on a page that now uses your file) > as reported by Global File Usage extension
Main Link: page that uses your file (if only one page)
Secondary Link: Commons file info page's File Usage section (ideally shown in Media Viewer, with meta-data panel open)
Payload: None
Frequency: Medium
Priority: High (positive)
Category: Media files
Flyout Summary: [icon]
Golden-crowned sparrow close-up
was used by
Smallbones
on <
Bird Migration
>.
All-notifications Summary: [icon]
Email Subject 1: Your file was used on Wikipedia
Email Summary:
Web preference default: Enabled for all users
Email preference default: Enabled for all users
Web bundling: Enabled
Email bundling: Enabled
Dismiss feature: Enabled (web-only)
Metrics group: Positive
Metrics type: "file-use"
Special requirements
: This notification will only be shown/sent to users on Commons -- as cross-wiki notifications do not currently work. It would be ideal if it could be sent to all users who uploaded or edited a particular file (not just to the uploader, who may no longer be active).
New category
: Note that we need to create a new category called 'Media files' in
Notification settings
, so that users can enable or disable these types of notifications.
New icons
: We will also need to create a new icon for 'Media files' in
Icons and types
, so that file notifications can be distinguished from others (if necessary, we could re-use the 'cross-reference' link icon, but a cool 'media' icon would make these notifications stand out more.)
New metric type
: We also will need to add a new Metrics type to our schema: "file-use" -- as well as update notification dashboards for Commons, so we can track the usage of this notification.
(Old task description, above)
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Duplicates
Status
Subtype
Assigned
Task
Open
None
T125653
Create new types of notifications
Open
Feature
None
T77154
Notification: Your file was used
Resolved
None
T143711
Open questions to fulfill "Be notified when your file is used somewhere"
Resolved
None
T165493
First discussion how to realize "Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere"
Mentioned In
T143711: Open questions to fulfill "Be notified when your file is used somewhere"
T165493: First discussion how to realize "Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere"
T46787: Allow excluding pages from the page links notifications
T154988: Promote a selection of Community Wishlist Survey 2016 projects well suited for volunteer developers
T143002: Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere (#12)
T56609: Recent changes email workflow is inefficient
T119336: Fix async upload by url
Mentioned Here
T123866: Notify users about deletion tags being added to pages they created
T143002: Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere (#12)
T137758: Allow tracking recent changes over images (via Special:MediaChange?)
Duplicates Merged Here
T143002: Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere (#12)
Event Timeline
MingleTerminator
raised the priority of this task from
to
High
Dec 8 2014, 4:27 PM
2014-12-08 16:27:34 (UTC+0)
MingleTerminator
added projects:
Multimedia
UploadWizard
Comment Actions
In
mingle
on 2014-02-07 at 13:53:24,
@Pginer-WMF
wrote:
Need ‘media file’ icon for file notifications.
MingleTerminator
added a comment.
Dec 8 2014, 4:27 PM
2014-12-08 16:27:45 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
In
mingle
on 2014-02-07 at 13:54:25,
@Pginer-WMF
wrote:
General question: Do we want to communicate differently about different kinds of files?
El_Grafo
subscribed.
May 29 2015, 7:53 AM
2015-05-29 07:53:59 (UTC+0)
Jdforrester-WMF
moved this task from
Untriaged
to
Next up
on the
Multimedia
board.
Sep 4 2015, 6:46 PM
2015-09-04 18:46:42 (UTC+0)
Restricted Application
added subscribers:
Steinsplitter
Matanya
View Herald Transcript
Sep 4 2015, 6:46 PM
2015-09-04 18:46:42 (UTC+0)
Quiddity
added a project:
Notifications (Echo)
Sep 7 2015, 11:32 PM
2015-09-07 23:32:00 (UTC+0)
Quiddity
subscribed.
Restricted Application
added a project:
Collaboration-Team-Triage
View Herald Transcript
Sep 7 2015, 11:32 PM
2015-09-07 23:32:00 (UTC+0)
Matanya
added a comment.
Sep 7 2015, 11:38 PM
2015-09-07 23:38:11 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
a point to consider: many users upload files, and then link them across the wiki, no one wants to be pinged about his own actions.
Quiddity
added a subscriber:
Wittylama
Sep 8 2015, 12:19 AM
2015-09-08 00:19:59 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
Adding
@Wittylama
per
:)
Wittylama
added a comment.
Sep 8 2015, 3:10 PM
2015-09-08 15:10:32 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
Thank you
@Quiddity
for adding me here! Since my suggestion on the wiki was auto-archived after several weeks with no response, I assumed the idea had 'sunk like a stone'. So, I'm very glad to see it's not just a valid idea but one that is being actively worked on!
One thing I would add to the suggestions above is that we ALSO need to know what wiki the file was used on. Because these notifications are on Commons, it's possible that many different wikis might be using the file.
So, for example:
[icon]
Golden-crowned sparrow close-up
was used by Smallbones on
Should say:
[icon]
Golden-crowned sparrow close-up
was used by Smallbones on
on English Wikipedia
zhuyifei1999
subscribed.
Oct 4 2015, 1:17 PM
2015-10-04 13:17:03 (UTC+0)
Mattflaschen-WMF
subscribed.
Oct 6 2015, 6:40 PM
2015-10-06 18:40:41 (UTC+0)
matmarex
removed projects:
UploadWizard
Multimedia
Oct 26 2015, 10:25 PM
2015-10-26 22:25:50 (UTC+0)
matmarex
set Security to None.
Quiddity
updated the task description.
(Show Details)
Nov 18 2015, 8:49 PM
2015-11-18 20:49:41 (UTC+0)
Tgr
mentioned this in
T119336: Fix async upload by url
Nov 22 2015, 11:55 PM
2015-11-22 23:55:23 (UTC+0)
MGChecker
awarded a token.
Jan 14 2016, 3:44 PM
2016-01-14 15:44:56 (UTC+0)
MGChecker
subscribed.
Luke081515
subscribed.
Jan 14 2016, 3:48 PM
2016-01-14 15:48:02 (UTC+0)
Pginer-WMF
added a parent task:
T125653: Create new types of notifications
Feb 3 2016, 11:51 AM
2016-02-03 11:51:47 (UTC+0)
CKoerner_WMF
awarded a token.
Feb 17 2016, 3:16 PM
2016-02-17 15:16:24 (UTC+0)
Ainali
awarded a token.
Feb 17 2016, 10:33 PM
2016-02-17 22:33:53 (UTC+0)
Ainali
subscribed.
Lea_WMDE
added a project:
German-Community-Wishlist
Jun 20 2016, 9:37 AM
2016-06-20 09:37:52 (UTC+0)
Restricted Application
added a project:
TCB-Team (now WMDE-TechWish)
View Herald Transcript
Jun 20 2016, 9:37 AM
2016-06-20 09:37:52 (UTC+0)
Lea_WMDE
moved this task from
Incoming
to
Other
on the
TCB-Team (now WMDE-TechWish)
board.
Jun 29 2016, 9:49 AM
2016-06-29 09:49:48 (UTC+0)
Thryduulf
subscribed.
Jul 21 2016, 1:35 AM
2016-07-21 01:35:03 (UTC+0)
Quiddity
mentioned this in
T56609: Recent changes email workflow is inefficient
Aug 25 2016, 9:10 PM
2016-08-25 21:10:51 (UTC+0)
jhsoby
awarded a token.
Oct 24 2016, 9:04 AM
2016-10-24 09:04:43 (UTC+0)
Sadads
subscribed.
Dec 15 2016, 2:48 PM
2016-12-15 14:48:21 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
Hi, I saw that this was supported as part of the 2016 Community Wishlist. I wanted to note that there are other applications of data about when images are used, under which revision, including but not limited to, notifying folks of deletion discussions if they have used the media file in their own projects, tracking if mass uploads have been used by users, where the "uploader" may be an institution or bot operator, not the creator themselves, etc. I have outlined a bit more robust way of tracking that kind of data at:
T137758
, which could then be used to populate these kinds of notifications.
Liuxinyu970226
added a project:
Community-Wishlist-Survey-2016
Jan 1 2017, 3:12 AM
2017-01-01 03:12:28 (UTC+0)
Liuxinyu970226
removed a project:
Community-Wishlist-Survey-2016
Jan 2 2017, 12:50 AM
2017-01-02 00:50:51 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
added a project:
Community-Wishlist-Survey-2016
Feb 18 2017, 4:02 AM
2017-02-18 04:02:56 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
updated the task description.
(Show Details)
srishakatux
moved this task from
Backlog
to
Wishlist 11-30 (needs owner)
on the
Community-Wishlist-Survey-2016
board.
Feb 18 2017, 4:05 AM
2017-02-18 04:05:22 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
subscribed.
Feb 28 2017, 2:23 AM
2017-02-28 02:23:45 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
This task was proposed in the
Community-Wishlist-Survey-2016
and in its current state needs owner. Wikimedia is participating in
Google Summer of Code 2017
and
Outreachy Round 14
. To the subscribers -- would this task or a portion of it be a good fit for either of these programs? If so, would you be willing to help mentor this project? Remember, each outreach project requires a minimum of one primary mentor, and co-mentor.
Lea_WMDE
mentioned this in
T143002: Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere (#12)
Apr 10 2017, 1:04 PM
2017-04-10 13:04:23 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
updated the task description.
(Show Details)
Apr 11 2017, 11:51 PM
2017-04-11 23:51:18 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
mentioned this in
T154988: Promote a selection of Community Wishlist Survey 2016 projects well suited for volunteer developers
Apr 12 2017, 12:05 AM
2017-04-12 00:05:15 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
added a project:
Possible-Tech-Projects
Apr 12 2017, 12:52 AM
2017-04-12 00:52:34 (UTC+0)
Tshrinivasan
subscribed.
Apr 12 2017, 6:22 PM
2017-04-12 18:22:40 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
updated the task description.
(Show Details)
Apr 13 2017, 8:21 PM
2017-04-13 20:21:55 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
added a project:
Wikimedia-Hackathon-2017
Apr 26 2017, 1:07 AM
2017-04-26 01:07:44 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
moved this task from
Backlog
to
Need Owners
on the
Possible-Tech-Projects
board.
srishakatux
moved this task from
Backlog
to
Featured Projects
on the
Wikimedia-Hackathon-2017
board.
FNDE
subscribed.
May 17 2017, 9:35 PM
2017-05-17 21:35:03 (UTC+0)
Crang115
subscribed.
May 18 2017, 12:51 PM
2017-05-18 12:51:31 (UTC+0)
Quiddity
updated the task description.
(Show Details)
Aug 7 2017, 11:42 PM
2017-08-07 23:42:32 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
added a comment.
Edited
Jan 16 2018, 11:22 PM
2018-01-16 23:22:31 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
Would there be any interest in mentoring this project for
Google-Summer-of-Code (2018)
or
Outreachy (Round-16)
? More here:
Roles and responsibilities of mentors before, during and after the program:
. And, the same comment applies to
T123866: Notify users about deletion tags being added to pages they created
Nicolas_Raoul
awarded a token.
May 14 2018, 12:11 PM
2018-05-14 12:11:53 (UTC+0)
srishakatux
edited projects, added
Outreach-Programs-Projects
; removed
Possible-Tech-Projects
Jul 11 2018, 12:48 AM
2018-07-11 00:48:52 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
Adding
Outreach-Programs-Projects
and removing
Possible-Tech-Projects
as we are planning on killing that workboard soon!
Restricted Application
added a project:
Growth-Team
View Herald Transcript
Jul 11 2018, 12:48 AM
2018-07-11 00:48:53 (UTC+0)
JTannerWMF
moved this task from
Inbox
to
Needs Discussion
on the
Growth-Team
board.
Jul 18 2018, 6:33 PM
2018-07-18 18:33:12 (UTC+0)
SBisson
moved this task from
Needs Discussion
to
Triaged but Future
on the
Growth-Team
board.
Jul 20 2018, 6:41 PM
2018-07-20 18:41:15 (UTC+0)
thiemowmde
merged a task:
T143002: Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere (#12)
Oct 9 2019, 8:22 AM
2019-10-09 08:22:55 (UTC+0)
thiemowmde
added a subscriber:
Lea_WMDE
Ainali
added a subscriber:
MingleTerminator
Oct 9 2019, 10:23 AM
2019-10-09 10:23:01 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
In
T77154#826230
@MingleTerminator
wrote:
General question: Do we want to communicate differently about different kinds of files?
I believe that would be overdoing it. I think it is just fine with the same sort of communication regardless if it was a jpg, webm, pdf or midi file that was used.
In
T77154#1616584
@Wittylama
wrote:
One thing I would add to the suggestions above is that we ALSO need to know what wiki the file was used on.
I agree completely.
Thryduulf
added a comment.
Oct 24 2019, 8:49 AM
2019-10-24 08:49:52 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
In addition to the single-image opt-out it would be useful to have:
opt-outs for multiple (sets of) images (so someone who has created lots of icons but is interested in other files they have created) doesn't have to uncheck all of them individually
opt-ins for single images, e.g. if you request an image or collaborate with someone to improve an image you might be interested in following where it is being used
opt-ins for multiple (sets of) images, e.g. if you want to track all images of a certain topic.
For multiple images I think something similar to the cat-a-lot inferface would work - load all the images (a) on a page, (b) in a category, (c) you uploaded, (d) you are following and being able to check/uncheck each one with options for select all, select none and invert selection.
Thryduulf
mentioned this in
T46787: Allow excluding pages from the page links notifications
Oct 30 2019, 10:20 PM
2019-10-30 22:20:57 (UTC+0)
thiemowmde
removed a project:
TCB-Team (now WMDE-TechWish)
Nov 2 2020, 10:19 AM
2020-11-02 10:19:11 (UTC+0)
MBinder_WMF
added a project:
Growth-Team-Filtering
Apr 15 2021, 7:05 PM
2021-04-15 19:05:07 (UTC+0)
Aklapper
added a subtask:
T143711: Open questions to fulfill "Be notified when your file is used somewhere"
May 15 2021, 4:20 PM
2021-05-15 16:20:36 (UTC+0)
Aklapper
added a subtask:
T165493: First discussion how to realize "Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere"
Aklapper
removed a project:
Collaboration-Team-Triage
May 25 2021, 9:09 PM
2021-05-25 21:09:47 (UTC+0)
thiemowmde
closed subtask
T165493: First discussion how to realize "Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere"
as
Resolved
Jan 7 2022, 1:16 PM
2022-01-07 13:16:34 (UTC+0)
thiemowmde
mentioned this in
T165493: First discussion how to realize "Receive notifications when files you have uploaded are used somewhere"
thiemowmde
closed subtask
T143711: Open questions to fulfill "Be notified when your file is used somewhere"
as
Resolved
Jan 7 2022, 1:38 PM
2022-01-07 13:38:52 (UTC+0)
thiemowmde
mentioned this in
T143711: Open questions to fulfill "Be notified when your file is used somewhere"
srishakatux
removed a project:
Outreach-Programs-Projects
Sep 9 2022, 12:12 AM
2022-09-09 00:12:17 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
In its current shape and form, this project does not feel ready to be promoted via
Outreach-Programs-Projects
. Also as it is now under
Growth-Team
's umbrella as well, removing the OPP tag.
Pcoombe
awarded a token.
Oct 14 2022, 12:01 PM
2022-10-14 12:01:27 (UTC+0)
Pcoombe
subscribed.
Pcoombe
added a project:
Commons
Oct 14 2022, 12:04 PM
2022-10-14 12:04:13 (UTC+0)
CBogen
subscribed.
Oct 14 2022, 1:20 PM
2022-10-14 13:20:20 (UTC+0)
Prototyperspective
subscribed.
Edited
Oct 17 2024, 12:24 PM
2024-10-17 12:24:19 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
It was also proposed
here
(with some further input). One could enable/disable these notifications in the preferences. This feedback is needed to keep/make contributing engaging and facilitate more of the media that gets used. The
Glamorous tool
can already show which of one's files got used so maybe some of its code / functionality could be used. Also important to only show the first use or have a setting for that instead each and every use. It would be good if the Idea image (design mockup) could be uploaded to Commons (to
here
), it seems okay that if not I upload it under CCBYSA(?)
Prototyperspective
awarded a token.
Oct 17 2024, 12:24 PM
2024-10-17 12:24:33 (UTC+0)
Aklapper
lowered the priority of this task from
High
to
Low
Oct 17 2024, 1:48 PM
2024-10-17 13:48:51 (UTC+0)
Aklapper
changed the subtype of this task from "Task" to "Feature Request".
Aklapper
removed subscribers:
Lea_WMDE
Mattflaschen-WMF
Ckoerner
subscribed.
Dec 4 2024, 6:24 PM
2024-12-04 18:24:33 (UTC+0)
Quiddity
added a comment.
Jul 28 2025, 10:42 PM
2025-07-28 22:42:42 (UTC+0)
Comment Actions
Another request for this feature at
Nemoralis
subscribed.
Oct 15 2025, 9:32 AM
2025-10-15 09:32:44 (UTC+0)
Urbanecm_WMF
removed projects:
Growth-Team-Filtering
Growth-Team
Oct 27 2025, 11:48 PM
2025-10-27 23:48:59 (UTC+0)
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