Upload Widget

Cloudinary's upload widget is a complete, interactive user interface that enables your users to upload files from a variety of sources to your website or application. The widget, requiring just a couple lines of code to integrate, eliminates the need to develop in-house interactive media upload capabilities.

The upload widget responsively resizes to fit in the available width, with the display functionality automatically adjusting on-the-fly for use in mobile applications.

The widget offers uploading from a variety of sources: your local device, remote URL, the computer or mobile device camera, Google image search, and social media accounts including Dropbox, Instagram or Facebook. The widget supports drag & drop functionality, interactive cropping, upload progress indication, and thumbnail previews. The widget also monitors and handles uploading errors and offers extensive event handling for integrating your own code.

You can implement the widget for unsigned uploading directly from the browser to Cloudinary storage, without involving your servers in the process. The widget sends JavaScript callbacks on successful uploads, so you can integrate the upload process back into your existing media pipeline. You can addtionally configure Cloudinary to send server-side callbacks. Advanced users can also use the upload widget with signed uploads for a more secure process when required.

Once uploaded, images and videos can be resized, cropped and manipulated by Cloudinary on-the-fly so they can be embedded as needed in your website or mobile app.

The upload widget requires only pure JavaScript to integrate and is easy to use within any web development framework.

Quick example

To use Cloudinary's upload widget in your site with unsigned uploads, include the widget's remote JavaScript file and then specify the following (minimum) information when calling the createUploadWidget method to initialize the widget:

• Your Cloudinary account cloud name
• The upload preset to use for uploading files to your account

Once initialized, the widget is ready to be rendered when needed. The following sample includes code for binding to the click event of a button element in a web page, in order to call the widget's open method and display the initialized widget:

<button id="upload_widget" class="cloudinary-button">Upload files</button>

<script src="https://widget.cloudinary.com/v2.0/global/all.js" type="text/javascript"></script>  

<script type="text/javascript">  
var myWidget = cloudinary.createUploadWidget({
  cloudName: 'my_cloud_name', 
  uploadPreset: 'my_preset'}, (error, result) => { 
    if (!error && result && result.event === "success") { 
      console.log('Done! Here is the image info: ', result.info); 
    }
  }
)

document.getElementById("upload_widget").addEventListener("click", function(){
    myWidget.open();
  }, false);
</script>

You can try out this simple upload widget example by clicking the button below:

The following buttons were implemented with a few additional parameters to demonstrate additional capabilities.

These and many additional options are described on the rest of this page.

How to setup and integrate the upload widget into your site or app.

For most needs, you can set up the upload widget for unsigned uploads. Using unsigned uploads with your widget makes it quick and simple for you to provide a UI where users can upload content to your site.

Signed uploads require a bit more setup and coding, but provide a more secure upload process when required.

Unsigned uploads

Unsigned uploads are somewhat less secure than signed uploads. For example, it is possible for a customer to inspect your client-side HTML code to find your cloud name and preset, and use that information to upload unwanted files to your account. For this reason, unsigned uploads have some protective limitations. For example, existing assets cannot be overwritten. The options you set in the unsigned preset can also limit the size or type of files that users can upload to your account using that preset.

To setup and add an upload widget for unsigned uploads:

1. Include the cloudinary widget JavaScript file in your web page:
   https://widget.cloudinary.com/v2.0/global/all.js

   For example:

   <script src="https://widget.cloudinary.com/v2.0/global/all.js" type="text/javascript">  
   </script>

   Note

   If you want to support Internet Explorer 11, don't use any shortcut arrow functions (=>) in your code and include a relevant fallback polyfill script such as:

   <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/es6-promise/4.1.1/es6-promise.auto.min.js"></script>

2. Optional. Set your cloud name globally. If you include multiple widgets in your web page, you can use the setCloudName method to instruct all widgets on the page to upload to your Cloudinary account. Alternatively, you can set the cloud name as a parameter of each widget creation call.

3. Create an unsigned upload preset. In the Upload settings of the Cloudinary console, create a new, unsigned upload preset. This preset serves as a form of security override, allowing client-side unsigned uploads. You supply the preset name in your widget creation call.
   If you've never created an unsigned preset, you must first select to enable unsigned uploading. When you do this, an empty upload preset is automatically created for you. Alternatively, you can create an unsigned upload preset using the Admin API.
   You can optionally edit the preset to modify its name or apply any of the available upload options, such as applying incoming transformations to control the size or type of asset users can upload using your widget, or to automatically generate certain eager transformations on all uploaded assets. For details, see Upload Presets.

4. Add your widget. Use one of the widget creation methods described below. When you call the method, you specify the uploadPreset that you created in the previous step, your cloudName (if you did not set it globally), and any additional widget options you want to apply.
   For example, in the demo example earlier on this page, the method call includes the cropping option, which enables users to define cropping coordinates, and the folder option, which uploads all images from the widget to a specified folder.

Signed uploads

Instead of providing an upload preset name, you initialize the widget for signed uploads with the public API key and an upload signature that is generated either when the page is loaded or when the upload request is submitted.

To setup and implement the upload widget for signed uploads:

1. Follow steps 1-2 above.

2. Optional. Create a signed upload preset. When you use the upload widget for signed uploads, an upload preset is not necessary. But you can optionally create a signed preset if you want to define incoming or eager transformations on the uploaded image. Define the preset as described in Upload Presets and supply the preset name in the uploadPreset option when you call the widget creation method.

3. Select string or function as the upload_signature type and prepare the required code.

   • String:

     • Requires your page to connect to the web server on page load to generate the signature.
     • Requires that all parameters required for signing are known at page load time. If user-input will affect the parameters, for example, if you are using the widget's interactive cropping option, then you must use the function option.
     • The signature is valid for one hour from the timestamp used in the signature. If a user keeps the page open for a long time, the signature string may expire.
     • The signature string you provide must be generated from all parameters used, including 'source=uw' (this is a hidden parameter sent automatically by the upload widget, but must still be included in the string to sign). For example, a string to sign might look like: 'source=uw&timestamp=155307631&upload_preset=myPreset'.

     For details on generating the signature string, see Generating authentication signatures.

   • Function:

     • Requires you to create a function to generate the signature.
     • The function runs when the upload request is submitted, therefore, the timestamp does not risk expiring if the user keeps the page open.

     • The function receives the final parameters of the upload, including any parameters impacted by user interaction.

       Sample function:
       The following is an example of a function that uses a server-side endpoint to generate the signature.

         <script type="text/javascript">
           var generateSignature = function(callback, params_to_sign){
             $.ajax({
              url     : “https://www.my-domain.com/my_generate_signature",
              type    : "GET",
              dataType: "text",
              data    : { data: params_to_sign},
              complete: function() {console.log("complete")},
              success : function(signature, textStatus, xhr) { callback(signature); },
              error   : function(xhr, status, error) { console.log(xhr, status, error); }
             });
           }
         </script>

4. Add your widget. Use one of the widget creation methods described below. When you call the method, you specify your account apiKey, your cloudName (if you did not set it globally), the uploadSignature string or function, the uploadSignatureTimestamp (for string signatures only), and any additional widget options you want to apply.
   For example, the following method creates the upload-widget and calls the signature function shown in the previous step.

<script type="text/javascript">  
  $('#upload_widget_opener').cloudinary_upload_widget({ 
    cloudName: cloudName, apiKey: api_key,
    cropping: true, uploadSignature: generateSignature}, (error, result) => { });
</script>

Upload widget methods

The following JavaScript methods are publicly available after including Cloudinary's upload widget JavaScript file. The file instantiates the cloudinary class with access to the following methods:

cloudinary.setCloudName(name)

Globally sets the cloud name for all widget method calls.

For example:

<script src="https://widget.cloudinary.com/v2.0/global/all.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script>
  cloudinary.setCloudName("my-cloud");
</script>

cloudinary.createUploadWidget(options, resultCallback)

Creates a widget object and frame in memory, but does not display it until the open method of the returned widget object is called.

• options is a map of the upload widget options to apply. See the full list of options available below.
• resultCallback is an optional function called for event handling. The callback method has the following signature function(error, result) where error is either null if successful or an error message if there was a failure, while result is a JSON object detailing the triggered event.

For example:

var widget = cloudinary.createUploadWidget({ 
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1" }, (error, result) => { });
widget.open();

The following methods can be used with the returned widget object:

• open - Accepts an optional files URL, in which case the widget either skips directly to uploading the given asset, or skips the source selection options and opens the widget with the given asset ready for cropping (if that option is enabled). For example:

  var widget = cloudinary.createUploadWidget({ 
    cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1", cropping: "server"}, (error, result) => { });
  widget.open(null, {files: ["https://my.example.come/my_example_image.jpg"]});

• close - Accepts a single optional boolean parameter: quiet. When true, skips the confirmation box if the widget is closed while still uploading assets. For example:

  var widget = cloudinary.createUploadWidget({ 
    cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1"}, (error, result) => { });
  widget.close({quiet: true});

• update - Accepts a map of upload widget options to update the widget. Note that the following parameters are NOT supported by update: secure, uploadSignature, prepareUploadParams, getTags, preBatch, inlineContainer, and fieldName. For example:

  var widget = cloudinary.createUploadWidget({ 
    cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1"}, (error, result) => { });
  widget.update({uploadPreset: "1n3gh62"});

• hide - Hides a previously rendered widget without removing it from memory.

  widget.hide();

• show - Renders a previously hidden widget.

  widget.show();

• minimize - Minimizes the widget.

  widget.minimize();

• isShowing - Returns whether the widget is currently visible.

  if (widget.isShowing()){ // my code here };

• isMinimized - Returns whether the widget is currently minimized.

  if (widget.isMinimized()){ // my code here };

cloudinary.openUploadWidget(options, resultCallback)

Same as createUploadWidget except that this method also opens the widget.

For example:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1" }, (error, result) => { });

cloudinary.applyUploadWidget(element, options, result_callback)

Same as createUploadWidget except that it modifies the given element to a blue button (customizable look & feel) that, when clicked, opens a pre-created upload widget. In addition, the form and thumbnails options are implicitly set by default to the containing form of the given element.

For example:

cloudinary.applyUploadWidget(document.getElementById('opener'), 
  { cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1" }, (error, result) => { });

$.fn.cloudinary_upload_widget

(For use with jQuery - supported only for backward compatibility with upload widget 1.x)
Same as applyUploadWidget. Uses a jQuery selector to apply the widget on matching elements.

For example:

$('#opener2').cloudinary_upload_widget({ cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1" });

Third-party upload sources

In addition to the 'My Files', 'Web Address', and 'Camera' sources, the upload widget supports a variety of third-party upload sources from which your users can upload images and videos. The sources are presented on multiple tabs (web) or options (mobile/responsive) for your users, so they can select the relevant source, browse through their files and select the ones they want to upload.

The sources parameter

The sources parameter accepts an array of string values defining the source options to add to the upload widget, where each source defines a new upload tab or source option within the widget. The sources parameter can be included in the method used for creating the upload widget, and is only specified when you want to limit the available sources (all are added by default if this parameter is omitted). The possible values for the sources parameter are as follows:

Image Search source

The image_search option allows your users to select images from the web using your Google Custom Search account, and then upload them to your Cloudinary account. The search can be optionally confined to specific sites (e.g., your own website) and can be filtered by specified licensing criteria.

To enable the image_search option, add the following parameters to the method you use for creating the upload widget:

• sources (Array of strings) - Optional. If you add this parameter to limit the available options, make sure to include the image_search option.
• googleApiKey (String) - The API key for your Google Custom Search account.
• searchBySites (Array of Strings) - Optional. The domain names of sites you want to allow for the search. If more than one site is specified then a Search by Site dropdown will be added, so your users can select the site to search. To allow searching the entire web, use the value all. Default value: all
• searchByRights (Boolean) - Optional. Set to true to add a dropdown box so that users can select a licensing filter to apply to the image search. Default value: false.

Basic example:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1",
  sources: [ 'local', 'url', 'image_search'],
  googleApiKey: 'AIrFcR8hKiRo' }, (error, result) => { });

Example with sites filter and rights filter:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1",
  sources: [ 'local', 'url', 'image_search'],
  googleApiKey: 'AIrFcR8hKiRo',
  searchBySites: ["all", "cloudinary.com"],
  searchByRights: true }, (error, result) => { });

Dropbox source

The dropbox option allows your users to login to their own Dropbox account, browse through their folders and files, and then select the files to upload to your Cloudinary account. This option requires that the upload widget is embedded in a secure (HTTPS) page because the user sign-in to Dropbox must be over a secure connection.

To enable this upload option for your users, you must obtain an App key from Dropbox:

1. Create a new app on the Dropbox App Console: Click My apps, select the Dropbox API and Full Dropbox options, name your app, and click the Create app button.
2. On the next page, set the following redirect URI for your Dropbox application: https://widget.cloudinary.com/global/auth/index.html
3. Copy the auto-generated App key for your Dropbox app: this will be configured as the value of the dropboxAppKey parameter when including Dropbox as an upload source in the upload widget (see below).
4. Your Dropbox app is initially created in Development status for testing purposes. You can enable additional users with the Enable additional users button, and when your app is ready to go live, you need to click on the Apply for Production status to enable all your users to upload via the Dropbox app.
5. For more information on creating Dropbox apps, see their documentation and take note of their branding guidelines.

To enable the Dropbox source, add the following parameters to the method you use for creating the upload widget:

• sources (Array of strings) - Optional. If you add this parameter to limit the available options, make sure to include the dropbox option.
• dropboxAppKey (String) - The App key to your Dropbox App.

For example:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1",
  sources: [ 'local', 'url', 'dropbox'],
  dropboxAppKey: '1dsf42dl1i2' },  (error, result) => { });

Facebook source

The facebook option allows your users to login to their own Facebook account, browse through their photos (photos they have uploaded, photos they are tagged in, or albums they have created) and then select the images to upload to your Cloudinary account.

To enable the Facebook source, add the following parameters to the method you use for creating the upload widget:

• sources (Array of strings) - Optional. If you add this parameter to limit the available options, make sure to include the facebook option.
• facebookAppId (String) - Optional. The App ID of your own Facebook application for accessing your users' Facebook accounts. If not proviced, uses the Cloudinary Media Upload app.

For example:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1",
  sources: [ 'local', 'url', 'facebook'],
  facebookAppId: '2dds35jdw21' }, (error, result) => { });

Instagram source

The instagram option allows your users to login to their own Instagram account, browse through their photos, and then select the images to upload to your Cloudinary account.

To enable the Instagram source, add the following parameters to the method you use for creating the upload widget:

• sources (Array of strings) - Optional. If you add this parameter to limit the available options, make sure to include the instagram option.
• instagramClientId (String) - Optional. The App ID of your own Instagram application for accessing your users Instagram accounts. If not provided, uses the Cloudinary Media Upload app.

For example:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1",
  sources: [ 'local', 'url', 'instagram'],
  instagramClientId" 'd7aadf962m' }, (error, result) => { });

API events

The upload widget methods include a callback function for implementing event handling. The callback has the following signature: function(error, result), where error is either null if successful or an error message if there was a failure, while result is a JSON object detailing the triggered event.

Quick example for handling a successful upload:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1"}, (error, result) => {
    if (result && result.event === "success") {
        // do something
    }
});

The following list details every event fired as well as the corresponding information passed to the result object:

• success - upload was successful

  result = {
      event: "success",
      info: {}  //information returned from upload api
  };

• close - user closed the upload widget

  result = {
      event: "close"
  };

• upload-added - a file was selected for upload

  result = {
      event: "upload-added",
      info: {
        file: { lastModified, lastModifiedDate, name, size, type },
        publicId: "public-id" }
  };

• queues-start - files are about to begin uploading

  result = {
      event: "queues-start"
  };

• queues-end - all files have finished uploading

  result = {
      event: "queues-end"
  };

• batch-cancelled - uploading was cancelled

  result = {
      event: "batch-cancelled",
      info: { reason: "MAX_EXCEEDED" | "INVALID_PUBLIC_ID" }
  };

• source-changed - user selected a different source

  result = {
      event: "source-changed",
      info: { source: "local" | "url" | "facebook"   //etc.   
  }};

• tags - the contents of the tags input field (Advanced options) changed

  result = {
      event: "tags",
      info: {
        tags: ["dog", "family", "home"] }   //tags currently in the field
  };

• publicid - the contents of the public id input field (Advanced options) changed

  result = {
      event: "publicid",
      info: { id: "my-public-id" }
  };

• retry - user retried after failed uploads

  result = {
      event: "retry",
      info: {
        ids: [],
        all: true | false   //whether retry-all was clicked
  }};

• abort - user aborted upload

  result = {
      event: "abort",
      info: {
        ids: [],
        all: true | false   //whether abort-all was clicked
  }};

• display-changed - display has changed

  result = {
      event: "display-changed",
      info: "shown" | "hidden" | "minimized" | "expanded"  
  };

• show-completed - user clicked the show completed button (requires 'showCompletedButton = true' widget option)

  result = {
      event: "show-completed",
      info: {
        items: [{id, name, size, type, status, done, progress, file: {}, uploadInfo: {} 
             // uploadInfo is the information returned from the upload response
      }, {...}] 
  }};

For example, to log a message to the console when a user clicks the 'show completed' button:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1",
  showCompletedButton: true,  
  }, (error, result) => {
    const eventData = result.data;
    if (eventData.event === "show-completed") {
      eventData.info.items.forEach((item) => {
        console.log(`show completed for item with id: 
        ${item.uploadInfo.public_id}`); //uploadInfo is the data returned in the upload response
      });
    }
});

Pre-batch

If you need to run any pre-processing on the files in the upload queue before they are uploaded to your Cloudinary account, you can set the preBatch parameter with a function to run beforehand. If the code in your function determines that the upload should be canceled, you can include the cancel boolean parameter set to true when calling the callback function.

For example, to cancel the upload if the file name is 'TopSecret':

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1",
  preBatch: (cb, data) => {
    if (data.files[0].name === "TopSecret") {
      cb({cancel: true}); 
    }
    else { 
      cb() 
    }
  }, (error, result) => { });

Tagging suggestions

You can add tagging suggestions that appear while your users are typing in the Add a Tag (Advanced options) text field, by providing a function that is called whenever the text changes in the field. Your function should call the callback function with the list of tagging suggestions to display. Add the getTags parameter with the function to call, and make sure to also set the showAdvancedOptions parameter to true.

The following example demonstrates a mini auto-complete function that returns only suggestions matching the current text entered in the field:

const tags = ["extract", "amazing", "apple", "dog", "grass", "planes", "rocket", "rock", "movies", 
  "music", "sad", "light", "open", "mosaic", "entertainment", "test", "testament", "beach", 
  "vacation", "weather", "letter", "orchard"];
const getMyTags = (cb, prefix) => cb(prefix ? tags.filter((t) => !t.indexOf(prefix)) : tags);

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", 
  uploadPreset: "preset1",
  showAdvancedOptions: true,        
  getTags: getMyTags, //provide callback to retrieve tagging suggestions
  }, (error, result) => { });

Upload preset selection

You can offer your users an additional Advanced option with a selection of Upload Presets to choose from, by providing a function that is called to provide the list of presets to offer. Your function should call the callback function with the list of tagging suggestions to display. Add the getUploadPresets parameter with the function to call, and make sure to also set the showAdvancedOptions parameter to true.

The following example demonstrates a upload preset selection function that returns 3 presets:

const presets = ["signed", "video", "eager"];
const getMyUploadPresets = (cb) => cb(presets);

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", 
  uploadPreset: "preset1",   // default preset
  showAdvancedOptions: true,
  getUploadPresets: getMyUploadPresets
  },  (error, result) => { });

Look and feel customization

The look & feel of the upload widget can be fully customized. You can modify the colors, fonts, and other elements by providing your own customization.

Custom styling is specified using the styles parameter, which accepts a JSON structure defining the default elements to override. Styles are further divided as follows:

• palette for defining the colors of the various elements as an RGB or RGBA hex triplet or quadruplet, or a 3- or 4-digit RGB/RGBA hex.
• fonts for defining the font to use for all the text elements. Currently the widget only supports fonts from Google (available via fonts.googleapis.com).

The following example sets all elements to their default values (for reference purposes) - in practice you only need to include the elements you want to override:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1",
  styles:{
    palette: {
      window: "#FFF",
      windowBorder: "#90A0B3",
      tabIcon: "#0E2F5A",
      menuIcons: "#5A616A",
      textDark: "#000000",
      textLight: "#FFFFFF",
      link:  "#0078FF",
      action:  "#FF620C",
      inactiveTabIcon: "#0E2F5A",
      error: "#F44235",
      inProgress: "#0078FF",
      complete: "#20B832",
      sourceBg: "#E4EBF1"
    },
    fonts: {
        "'Cute Font', cursive": "https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cute+Font",
    }
  }, (error, result) => { });

Localization

The text used in the upload widget can be fully customized for different languages. The translations for each language are specified using the text parameter, which accepts a JSON structure defining the value to use for each text element in each language. The language parameter sets which of the language options to use from those defined in the text parameter (en by default). To override any of the default values, you only need to include the elements you want to override.

All the default values can be found at: https://widget.cloudinary.com/v2.0/global/text.json.

For example, to only customize the queue title, queue title_uploading_with_counter, and the crop title:

cloudinary.openUploadWidget({
  cloudName: "demo", uploadPreset: "preset1",
  language: "en",  
  text: {
    "en": {
        "queue": {
            "title": "Files to upload",
            "title_uploading_with_counter": "Uploading {{num}} files"
        },
        "crop": {
            "title": "Crop your image"

        }
    }
  }
}, (error, result) => { });

Upload widget options

The following table lists all available upload widget options.