Search for Alt Text

Thanks for your question.

MLA allows you to add custom “views” to the Media/Assistant submenu table, so you can filter the table display by MIME Type(s) or, for your application, by the value contained in a custom field. You can filter the display by a specific custom field value, the presence of any values or the absence of any values.

WordPress uses a hidden custom field (or post meta field) to store the ALT Text value for image items. You can add a custom View to the Media/Assistant submenu table to filter the Media Library by ALT Text, showing only those items without an ALT Text value. Here are the steps required:

1. Navigate to the Settings/Media Library Assistant “Views” tab.
2. Scroll down to the Add New View area on the left side of the page.
3. Enter something like “no-alt-text” in the Slug field.
4. Enter something like “No ALT Text” in the Singular and Plural Label fields.
5. Enter “custom:_wp_attachment_image_alt,null” (without the quotes) in the Specification field.
6. Leave the Post MIME Type box unchecked, since this is not a MIME type.
7. Check the Table View box, to add this as a Media/Assistant view.
8. Leave the Menu Order blank, unless you want to position the column in a specific place. (unusual)
9. Enter any notes you like in the Description box, or leave it blank.
10. Click “Add View” to add your view to the custom views list.

Once that’s done you can navigate to the Media/Assistant submenu table. You should see your “No ALT Text” view in the list below the page title, with a count of the number of items it will display when clicked.

MLA also includes ALT Text as a table column, but does not display it by default. You can pull down the Screen Options area and check the ALT Text box to display the table column. If you click on the column title you can sort the table by ALT Text. Click twice to get an ascending sort, which will put all the items without a value at the top/front of the list.

Either approach should give you the results you need. I am marking this topic resolved, but please let me know if you have any problems or further questions regarding the above suggestions. Thanks for your interest in the plugin.