Knowledge Base › Ultimate Markdown › Image Import

Importing Public Images from Markdown

The plugin can import images referenced in Markdown files using publicly available URLs. These images are downloaded during the import process and integrated into the WordPress Media Library.

When to Use Public Image Import

Use this method when your Markdown file references images available via public URLs.

This approach is ideal when:

  • Images are already hosted online (e.g., your site, CDN, or third-party sources)
  • You want the plugin to automatically download and attach images to your Media Library during import

When using images from external websites, ensure you have the rights to download, store, and use those images on your site.

Requirements

Before using this method, ensure that external image import is enabled:

1. Go to Options → Conversion
2. Locate the External Images section
3. Enable image import for the desired context

Example Markdown File

Next, create a Markdown file that uses the standard Markdown image syntax with absolute URLs to public images. In the example below, https://example.com/image.jpg represents a publicly accessible image URL. The image can be hosted on your own website or any other website:

## Heading

Content.

![Image Example](https://example.com/image.jpg)

During the import process, the plugin will download the image from https://example.com/image.jpg, upload it to the WordPress Media Library, and update the image URL in the resulting document or WordPress post content accordingly.

In the WordPress block editor, the content is rendered as shown below. In this context, https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image.jpg represents an image of the WordPress Media Library located on your WordPress website:

<!-- wp:heading -->
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Heading</h2>
<!-- /wp:heading -->

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Content.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:image -->
<figure class="wp-block-image">
  <img src="https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image.jpg" alt="Image Example" />
</figure>
<!-- /wp:image -->

If instead the document is imported as a plugin-managed Markdown document, the content is rendered as follows:

## Heading

Content.

![Image Example](https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image.jpg)

This method applies only when images are publicly accessible via absolute URLs (for example, URLs starting with http:// or https://). Relative paths or local file references are not supported with single Markdown file uploads. To import local images, use the ZIP-based method described in Importing Markdown Files with Local Images Using a ZIP Archive.

Also note that an image will be uploaded to the WordPress Media Library only if it is publicly accessible. If the image URL is not available, protected, requires authentication, or is blocked, the plugin will skip the image during the import process.

How the Plugin Technically Handles Image Imports

During the import process, the plugin performs the following steps:

  1. Download the referenced images
  2. Upload the images to the WordPress Media Library
  3. Replace the original public URLs with the URLs of the images stored in the WordPress Media Library
  4. Create a document or a post using the updated content with the correct image URLs from the media library