screen shot showing missing image thumbnail

When an image's file name contain special characters—such as #, (, or )—the image may not load properly to Drupal.

Problem or Known Issue: 

Can browse to and select an image or other file (from a desktop, share drive, etc.) to add to Drupal, but clicking upload doesn't load the file/image to Drupal. Sometimes you can see there's a problem right away. For example, on an image, you get the title, description, and alt text fields, but no thumbnail.

Why it happens: 

Several things may cause problems with images:

  • The type of file is not allowed.  Only certain file types — such as .jpg, .png, .gif — are allowed. See the help text for currently allowed options.
  • The file is over the maximum allowed file size. See the help text for maximum allowed size.
  • File names using special characters—such as #, (, or ) — can break across systems.  Drupal may not successfully load the file.  You may not get an error message, but you often can get a clue there's a problem because you don't see all the data you should see when you've loaded the file.
  • The file may be corrupted or have a problem. This will often be the case if you can see the image when you load it to the file node, but can't see it when you try to add it to other pages.
Solution: 
  • If the file type is not allowed, (for example, you're trying to load a .tif image), resave the file in a supported format (such as .gif) and reload.  Alternately, if you think the file type should be allowed, contact webguys.  
  • If the file is over the file size limit, optimize your file to see if you can shrink the file.  how to do so depends on your file type.  You can search the internet for tips, or contact webguys for more information.
  • If the file name contains special characters, remove them.  You can copy the file and save it under a different name or rename the file where it current resides (for example, on your computer or share drive).  Try reloading the file with the clean file name.
  • If the file may be corrupted, try to open it in Adobe Photoshop or another photo-editing program. If you can do so, re-save it using a different file name.  That will often fix the problem if the file has minor problems.