Why did restoring an image fail?

These messages appear when you restore an original image or work with backups.

Original backup not found. Restore the original file manually before re-optimizing.

SlashImage keeps backups indefinitely by default. You'll see this error when:

• Auto-delete backups is on and the configured retention period has passed — the backup was automatically removed when it aged out.
• Keep backup of originals was off when the image was first optimized — no backup was ever made.
• Delete all backups was run from the settings page — all backups were permanently removed.

Put the original file back at the path WordPress expects before asking SlashImage to re-optimize. See Where are my image backups stored?.

Restore failed. The backup may be missing or unwritable.

The per-image restore in the Media Library found the backup record but couldn't complete the file operation. The most common cause is a site migration or clone that didn't carry the slash-image-backups/ folder. Permission errors on the uploads folder also trigger this.

Check that the backup file exists and that the uploads folder is writable, then try again.

Permanent danger-zone actions

Two actions in the settings are permanent. Read these before you confirm them.