Short answer

When you create an inspection or job against an asset, it takes the asset's photo as its default image. So if a task comes up with no picture, it's almost always because the underlying asset has no photo yet — the fix is to add a photo to the asset. The catch: the image is copied across at the moment the task is created. Adding a photo to the asset afterwards does not update tasks that already exist — those stay blank until you delete and recreate them. The order that avoids rework is: add asset photos first, then create the inspections and jobs.

Detail

The default image comes from the asset

Every inspection and job is created against an asset, and at creation it inherits that asset's photo as its default image. This is why a freshly created inspection can appear with no picture — not because anything is broken, but because the asset it points at doesn't have a photo. Add a photo to the asset and any inspection or job created from that point on will carry it.

The image is captured at creation — it does not back-fill

This is the part that catches people out. The asset photo is copied onto the task when the task is created. If you create an inspection with no image, then go and add a photo to the asset later, the existing inspection (or recurring series) will not pick it up — it stays blank.

To get the picture onto an already-created task you have to:

  1. Delete the inspection (or the whole recurring series).
  2. Add the photo to the asset.
  3. Recreate the inspection / series.

Because of this, the clean order of operations is photos on assets first, inspections and jobs second. If you build inspections against a register of photo-less assets and add the photos afterwards, you'll be redoing the inspections.

Replacing the image on an individual task

You can override the default image on any task at any time using Add photo. This works in the web app but is mostly done on the mobile app out on site. When you add a photo to a task it replaces the inherited default image for that task only.

When you'd actually bother:

  • Inspections — usually leave the default asset image as-is. You don't generally need to prove an inspection happened, so the asset photo is fine.
  • Jobs — this is the common case for replacing the image. Someone is doing a piece of work, and you often want photo proof it was completed (e.g. a cleaning contractor adds one photo to show the toilet was cleaned). That photo lives on the job only — it does not overwrite the asset's own photo in its related records, so the asset's headline image is untouched.
  • Defects — if an inspection fails, raise a defect from it. The defect is where you'd swap the default image for a photo of the actual fault.

Can I add more than one photo to a task?

Not currently — it's one photo per task (the replaceable image described above). When people ask for multiple photos on a single job or defect, it's usually because they've found more than one issue on the same asset. The recommended pattern is to raise a separate task for each issue — a defect or job per problem — so each carries its own photo and can be tracked, assigned and closed off in its own right. If you'd still like multiple images on one task, log/upvote it at ideas.civic.ly (tracked internally as FR-010).

Custom images carry forward when you create a task from a task

If you create a task from another task — for example a job from a defect — and that defect had a custom photo (one you added, not the inherited default), the new job inherits that custom photo. So a defect photographed with the real fault passes that fault photo down to the job raised to fix it.

Watch-outs

  • Blank task almost always means a blank asset. Before assuming something's wrong, check whether the linked asset has a photo.
  • Adding the asset photo later won't fix existing tasks. It only affects tasks created after the photo is added. Existing ones need deleting and recreating.
  • Sequence matters for onboarding. A council bulk-importing an asset register with few photos should photograph the assets (easiest in the field on mobile) before building out inspections and routines, or face rework.
  • Don't over-replace inspection images. Replacing the default image is worth it on jobs and defects; on routine inspections it's usually unnecessary effort.
  • One photo per task, by design. Multiple images on a single task isn't supported — the answer to "I need several photos" is one task per issue, not several photos per task.