File Manager, Multimedia Manager, and Resources: Why Migrate?

Resources is tailor made to host and serve website files. It's designed to be flexible, so that you can organize the images, videos, documents and other files used on your website in a manner that works for you.

What can Resources do that File Manager or Multimedia Manager can’t?

• Resources can automatically optimize media files for responsive display.
• Composer elements allow you to create sophisticated, interactive gallery displays and slideshows without custom code.
• Files uploaded to Resources can be moved from folder to folder without impacting how they're displayed.
• You can create custom Galleries in Resources to group files together and display them regardless of where they're saved in Resources folders.
• Videos and other files in Resources can be attached to (and distributed via) Posts.
• Resources has built-in privacy controls to limit access to files and galleries.

If these files are migrated to Resource Manager, would one need to go through the website and update various places the photo or media appears?

Yes. You can migrate files into Resources whenever you want to, but the actual published website configuration won’t change until you go into Composer and update individual pages, banners, etc. to use Resources rather than File Manager or Multimedia Manager.

Is there any advantage to migrating the files associated with current live web pages to Resource Manager, rather than leaving them where they are?

Sure - all of the features listed above apply to any file uploaded to Resources. What many clients really need to know is, is it worth the time involved to migrate files over? 

In many cases, large sites (especially multi-school sites, such as for school districts) have so many files from File Manager or Multimedia Manager displayed on their site pages that doing a whole-scale migration of all files doesn't make sense. Instead, gradually transitioning to Resources can get the benefits of the new module for commonly-used files, and provide a framework for migrating legacy files as they're needed.

In most cases, schools begin by identifying a few areas where Resources can be implemented relatively easily, such as updating a header slideshow, or starting up a new blog in the Posts module. As the Resources module is used, files can be organized and re-sorted into folders as needed, to match the site's layout. Existing files from File Manager or Multimedia Manager can then be imported into Resources folders one-at-a-time, or folder-by-folder, as they're needed.

Once files have been imported, the pages and banners on the website that use the 'old' files can be updated to pull from Resources, instead. When all of the references to File Manager or Multimeida Manager have been updated, the legacy files can be deleted. 

What’s the downside to migrating and leaving original File Manager or Multimedia Manager files in place?

Files that are migrated into Resources (and not deleted from File Manager or Multimedia Manager) are counted twice against your school's disk space allotment: once for File Manager/Multimedia Manager, and once for Resources. That's another reason why it can be helpful to import files as they're needed rather than all-at-once.