I'm trying to build a visual editor where users can click an image they are presented with an image upload form once the upload is done I use ajax to return the image and insert it back into the page. But the above method inserts the image straight into the database but I want users to be able to visualize the image before the image is inserted into the database. So I was wondering if the image using carrierwave could be uploaded to a temp location, sent back to the user and then when the user saves the page the image is moved into the permanent location. Here's what I have so far. def edit_image @page = Page.find(1) @page.update_attributes(params[:page]) @page.save return :text => @page.file end But this is what I want to achieve def temp_image #uploads received image to a temp location #returns image to the user end And once the user clicks save def save #moves the file in the temp folder to the permanent location end Cheers