django-filer provides model fields to replace djangos own django.db.models.FileField and django.db.models.ImageField. The django-filer versions provide the added benefit of being able to manage the files independently of where they are actually used in your content. As such the same file can be used in multiple places without re-uploading it multiple times and wasting bandwidth, time and storage.

It also comes with additional tools to detect file duplicates based on SHA1 checksums.

company.disclaimer.sha1
company.disclaimer.size
company.logo.width
company.logo.height
company.logo.icons['64'] # or {{ company.logo.icons.64 }} in a template

They are subclasses of django.db.models.ForeignKey, so the same rules apply. The only difference is, that there is no need to declare what model we are referencing (it is always filer.models.File for the FilerFileField and filer.models.Image for the FilerImageField).

Simple example models.py:

from django.db import models
from filer.fields.image import FilerImageField
from filer.fields.file import FilerFileField

class Company(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    logo = FilerImageField(null=True, blank=True)
    disclaimer = FilerFileField(null=True, blank=True)

multiple file fields on the same model:

from django.db import models
from filer.fields.image import FilerImageField

class Book(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    cover = FilerImageField(related_name="book_covers")
    back = FilerImageField(related_name="book_backs")

As with django.db.models.ForeignKey in general, you have to define a non-clashing related_name if there are multiple ForeignKey s to the same model.

django-filer plays well with easy_thumbnails . At the template level a FilerImageField can be used the same as a regular django.db.models.ImageField:

{% load thumbnails %}
{% thumbnail company.logo 250x250 crop %}

The default widget provides a popup file selector that also directly supports uploading new images.

• Clicking on the magnifying glass will display the file selction popup.
• The red X will de-select the currently selected file (usefull if the field can be null).