Imported Markdown (or HTML) - Image attachments w/o file extensions, not displayed - How to fix?

[zereshk146]

Hello there,

I migrated from another app, via Markdown import, incl. attachments, mostly images. Tried HTML, same result.

Many of those do not show a file extension, just a number, when viewed inside their folder - or the linked note.
They are visible in the attachments folder. I can download and rename them...
Those with extensions are displayed fine.
All others are just a number inside the note's text, with that icon 'broken-image-link' showing.

Is there any way I could rename those attachments - my idea... i.e. add the missing extension?
In other words: How to fix?

Reason for this, my guess at this point: I copy&pasted many of them from my screenshot app into the original notes app.

Thanks in advance.

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi @zereshk146! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the Trilium team.

Trilium doesn't display images if the attachment lacks a file extension—this is a known limitation of its importers for Markdown and HTML. The filename for attachments is based on the note or attachment title and its MIME type, but if Trilium can't confidently infer the extension, the file may be saved without one, causing the broken image icon you see. There's no built-in feature to batch-rename attachments or add missing extensions after import, so the usual workaround is to manually download and rename the files with the correct extension, which then allows them to display properly in notes (source).

For future imports, using an external tool like trilium-py can help: it uploads Markdown files with images, automatically handles image uploads, and fixes links, avoiding this issue (source). For existing attachments, you could use external scripts to identify file types (e.g., with the file command on Linux or tools like TrID) and batch-rename them before re-importing or re-linking in Trilium, but this process is outside Trilium itself.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[eliandoran]

@zereshk146 , your best bet would probably be to write some kind of Bash script to add extensions to your attachments. Since Trilium uses the file extension, I don't see any way around it directly in Trilium (you could do some migration directly on the database, but it would be simply too complicated as opposed to altering the input in the first place).

[zereshk146]

Thanks, will do! Should be doable, not a developer myself I'll have to check possibilities. Yet, I am experienced and a simple script I might try to find using an AI plugin based on Claude, in MS Visual Studio Code... (as opposed to searching around forums using the classical search engine.) :) Thanks again!

[zereshk146]

@zereshk146 , your best bet would probably be to write some kind of Bash script to add extensions to your attachments. Since Trilium uses the file extension, I don't see any way around it directly in Trilium (you could do some migration directly on the database, but it would be simply too complicated as opposed to altering the input in the first place).

Hello,
I tried that, the script I had created for me as a .BAT-file worked fine, extensions are all there now (working on Windows for that).
But when I import into Trilium, it shows images as being deleted...
Before: That icon and a number...
Added extensions to that number with a dot and the extension, mixed JPGs and PNGs.

Would you be able to suggest a different solution?
Thanks in advance.

[eliandoran]

@zereshk146 , if you have these attachments are images referenced by ![alt](./path) then it’s not enough to rename the files, you would also need to rename the references in the text documents (e.g. ![alt](./path.png)).

[zereshk146]

Thanks, that makes sense. But how do I do that...? Looked around the settings and haven't found a way to change those.
Is there a default inside Trilium? Or would I do that before importing...?