That error tells us something important: the Image Optimizer doesn’t process images on your own server, it does the heavy lifting of converting and compressing on a dedicated remote server. So “File is missing. Verify the upload” almost always means one of two things: the file didn’t actually land on your server, or Elementor’s servers can’t reach the file to fetch it. This is the same underlying problem that left your older images broken.
Here are the baby steps, in order. Do them one at a time and stop when uploads start working.
Step 1 — Stop the bleeding first. Go to Media → Image Optimizer (or wherever its settings live) and turn OFF “Optimize New Uploads.” This makes new uploads save normally without the optimizer touching them, so you stop losing images while you fix the root cause. Upload a test image and confirm it now appears with a proper thumbnail.
Step 2 — Check whether the file actually saved. With optimization off, upload an image, then click it in the Media Library and open its full‑size URL in a new tab.
- If it loads fine → the file is saving correctly, and the problem is that Elementor’s remote server couldn’t reach it. Go to Step 3.
- If it 404s even with optimization off → the upload itself is failing to write to disk. Skip to Step 5.
Step 3 — Make sure your site is publicly reachable. Elementor’s servers need to download your image by its URL. Check that your site is NOT:
- in a “Coming Soon” / Maintenance mode (common in SeedProd, Elementor’s own maintenance mode, etc.),
- password‑protected at the server level (HTTP basic auth),
- on a local or staging environment that isn’t accessible from the public internet. Turn any of those off and try optimizing again.
Step 4 — Check your security plugin or firewall. Tools like Wordfence, a CDN (Cloudflare), or host‑level firewalls can block Elementor’s optimization servers from fetching your files. Temporarily disable the security plugin, upload and optimize a test image, and see if it works. If it does, add an exception for Elementor rather than leaving security off.
Step 5 — Check folder permissions and disk space (if Step 2 showed a 404). Contact your hosting provider (or use their file manager) and ask them to verify two things: that your wp-content/uploads folder has correct write permissions (typically 755 for folders, 644 for files), and that your account isn’t out of disk space. A full disk or wrong permissions stops files from saving at all.
Step 6 — Rule out plugin conflicts. Running more than one image optimization plugin or service causes conflicts and errors; Elementor recommends deactivating all other image optimizers when using this one. Also watch for “offload” plugins (which move files to Amazon S3 / cloud storage) — those leave the local file empty, which would read as “file missing.” Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and deactivate any other optimizer or media‑offload plugin.
Step 7 — Reconnect the optimizer. The plugin is tied to your Elementor account/subscription, and a dropped connection can cause errors. On the Media → Image Optimizer page, look for your connection/subscription status; if it shows disconnected or you have an option to reconnect, click Connect and sign back into your Elementor account. While there, check you still have optimization credits left.
Step 8 — Re‑enable optimization carefully. Once a test upload optimizes successfully, turn Backup Original Images ON (so this can never delete your files again), then turn “Optimize New Uploads” back on.
If you get through Steps 1–7 and uploads still fail with “File is missing,” that points to something host‑specific, and the cleanest move is to contact Elementor support with a screenshot of that exact error — they can see logs from their processing servers that you and I can’t.
The most common single cause, by far, is Step 3 or Step 4 — the site not being publicly reachable by Elementor’s servers. Start there if you want the highest‑odds fix first. Can you tell me whether your site is live on the public internet, or on a staging/local setup, and whether you’re running a security plugin like Wordfence? That’ll let me point you straight at the likely fix.
