diff --git a/backend/app/store/avatar/gridfs.go b/backend/app/store/avatar/gridfs.go
index 38a10617..eb067b1c 100644
--- a/backend/app/store/avatar/gridfs.go
+++ b/backend/app/store/avatar/gridfs.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/globalsign/mgo"
 	"github.com/go-pkgz/mongo"
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ type GridFS struct {
 
 // Put avatar to gridfs object, try to resize
 func (gf *GridFS) Put(userID string, reader io.Reader) (avatar string, err error) {
-	id := store.EncodeID(userID)
+	id := encodeID(userID)
 	err = gf.Connection.WithDB(func(dbase *mgo.Database) error {
 		fh, e := dbase.GridFS("fs").Create(id + imgSfx)
 		if e != nil {
@@ -95,3 +96,25 @@ func (gf *GridFS) Remove(avatar string) error {
 		return dbase.GridFS("fs").Remove(avatar)
 	})
 }
+
+func (gf *GridFS) List() (ids []string, err error) {
+
+	type gfsFile struct {
+		Id         interface{} `bson:"_id"`
+		ChunkSize  int         `bson:"chunkSize"`
+		UploadDate time.Time   `bson:"uploadDate"`
+		Length     int64       `bson:",minsize"`
+		MD5        string
+		Filename   string `bson:",omitempty"`
+	}
+
+	files := []gfsFile{}
+	err = gf.Connection.WithDB(func(dbase *mgo.Database) error {
+		return dbase.GridFS("fs").Find(nil).All(&files)
+	})
+
+	for _, f := range files {
+		ids = append(ids, f.Filename)
+	}
+	return ids, errors.Wrap(err, "can't list avatars")
+}
diff --git a/backend/app/store/avatar/gridfs_test.go b/backend/app/store/avatar/gridfs_test.go
index 0ba335f0..4ca28741 100644
--- a/backend/app/store/avatar/gridfs_test.go
+++ b/backend/app/store/avatar/gridfs_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package avatar
 
 import (
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -32,6 +33,11 @@ func TestGridFS_PutAndGet(t *testing.T) {
 
 	assert.Equal(t, "8ce5568f7f9a1c9da5b897bc8642e397", p.ID(avatar))
 	assert.Equal(t, "70c881d4a26984ddce795f6f71817c9cf4480e79", p.ID("aaaa"), "no data, encode avatar id")
+
+	l, err := p.List()
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, len(l))
+	assert.Equal(t, "b3daa77b4c04a9551b8781d03191fe098f325e67.image", l[0])
 }
 
 func TestGridFS_Remove(t *testing.T) {
@@ -49,6 +55,33 @@ func TestGridFS_Remove(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NotNil(t, p.Remove("b3daa77b4c04a9551b8781d03191fe098f325e67.image"), "already removed")
 }
 
+func TestGridFS_List(t *testing.T) {
+	p, skip := prepGFStore(t)
+	if skip {
+		return
+	}
+	// write some avatars
+	_, err := p.Put("user1", strings.NewReader("some picture bin data 1"))
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+	_, err = p.Put("user2", strings.NewReader("some picture bin data 2"))
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+	_, err = p.Put("user3", strings.NewReader("some picture bin data 3"))
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+
+	l, err := p.List()
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, 3, len(l), "3 avatars listed")
+	sort.Strings(l)
+	assert.Equal(t, []string{"0b7f849446d3383546d15a480966084442cd2193.image", "a1881c06eec96db9901c7bbfe41c42a3f08e9cb4.image", "b3daa77b4c04a9551b8781d03191fe098f325e67.image"}, l)
+
+	r, size, err := p.Get("0b7f849446d3383546d15a480966084442cd2193.image")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, 23, size)
+	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "some picture bin data 3", string(data))
+}
+
 func prepGFStore(t *testing.T) (Store, bool) {
 	conn, err := mongo.MakeTestConnection(t)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/backend/app/store/avatar/localfs.go b/backend/app/store/avatar/localfs.go
index 306c0221..6bcae627 100644
--- a/backend/app/store/avatar/localfs.go
+++ b/backend/app/store/avatar/localfs.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"path"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -30,8 +31,9 @@ func NewLocalFS(storePath string, resizeLimit int) *LocalFS {
 }
 
 // Put avatar for userID to file and return avatar's file name (base), like 12345678.image
+// userID can be avatarID as well, in this case encoding just strip .image prefix
 func (fs *LocalFS) Put(userID string, reader io.Reader) (avatar string, err error) {
-	id := store.EncodeID(userID)
+	id := encodeID(userID)
 	location := fs.location(id) // location adds partition to path
 
 	if _, err = os.Stat(location); os.IsNotExist(err) {
@@ -95,6 +97,20 @@ func (fs *LocalFS) Remove(avatar string) error {
 	return os.Remove(avFile)
 }
 
+func (fs *LocalFS) List() (ids []string, err error) {
+	err = filepath.Walk(fs.storePath,
+		func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if !info.IsDir() && strings.HasSuffix(info.Name(), imgSfx) {
+				ids = append(ids, info.Name())
+			}
+			return nil
+		})
+	return ids, errors.Wrap(err, "can't list avatars")
+}
+
 // get location (directory) for user id by adding partition to final path in order to keep files
 // in different subdirectories and avoid too many files in a single place.
 // the end result is a full path like this - /tmp/avatars.test/92
diff --git a/backend/app/store/avatar/localfs_test.go b/backend/app/store/avatar/localfs_test.go
index 2b9d1de7..922c420f 100644
--- a/backend/app/store/avatar/localfs_test.go
+++ b/backend/app/store/avatar/localfs_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package avatar
 import (
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -35,6 +36,14 @@ func TestAvatarStoreFS_Put(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, int64(25), fi.Size())
 
+	// with encoded id
+	avatar, err = p.Put("f1881c06eec96db9901c7bbfe41c42a3f08e9cb8.image", strings.NewReader("some picture bin data 123"))
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "f1881c06eec96db9901c7bbfe41c42a3f08e9cb8.image", avatar)
+	fi, err = os.Stat("/tmp/avatars.test/56/f1881c06eec96db9901c7bbfe41c42a3f08e9cb8.image")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, int64(25), fi.Size())
+
 	// with resize
 	file, e := os.Open("testdata/circles.png")
 	require.Nil(t, e)
@@ -84,6 +93,7 @@ func TestAvatarStoreFS_Location(t *testing.T) {
 		{"abc", "/tmp/avatars.test/35"},
 		{"xyz", "/tmp/avatars.test/69"},
 		{"blah blah", "/tmp/avatars.test/29"},
+		{"f1881c06eec96db9901c7bbfe41c42a3f08e9cb8", "/tmp/avatars.test/56"},
 	}
 
 	for i, tt := range tbl {
@@ -126,6 +136,34 @@ func TestAvatarStoreFS_Remove(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Log(err)
 }
 
+func TestAvatarStoreFS_List(t *testing.T) {
+	p := NewLocalFS("/tmp/avatars.test", 300)
+	err := os.MkdirAll("/tmp/avatars.test", 0700)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer os.RemoveAll("/tmp/avatars.test")
+
+	// write some avatars
+	_, err = p.Put("user1", strings.NewReader("some picture bin data 1"))
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+	_, err = p.Put("user2", strings.NewReader("some picture bin data 2"))
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+	_, err = p.Put("user3", strings.NewReader("some picture bin data 3"))
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+
+	l, err := p.List()
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, 3, len(l), "3 avatars listed")
+	sort.Strings(l)
+	assert.Equal(t, []string{"0b7f849446d3383546d15a480966084442cd2193.image", "a1881c06eec96db9901c7bbfe41c42a3f08e9cb4.image", "b3daa77b4c04a9551b8781d03191fe098f325e67.image"}, l)
+
+	r, size, err := p.Get("0b7f849446d3383546d15a480966084442cd2193.image")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, 23, size)
+	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "some picture bin data 3", string(data))
+}
+
 func BenchmarkAvatarStoreFS_ID(b *testing.B) {
 	p := NewLocalFS("/tmp/avatars.test", 300)
 	os.MkdirAll("/tmp/avatars.test/30", 0700)
diff --git a/backend/app/store/avatar/store.go b/backend/app/store/avatar/store.go
index 94392405..0a5b5c94 100644
--- a/backend/app/store/avatar/store.go
+++ b/backend/app/store/avatar/store.go
@@ -6,26 +6,32 @@ package avatar
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"image"
-	"image/png"
-	"io"
-	"log"
+	"strings"
 
 	// Initializing packages for supporting GIF and JPEG formats.
 	_ "image/gif"
 	_ "image/jpeg"
+	"image/png"
+	"io"
+	"log"
+	"regexp"
 
+	"github.com/umputun/remark/backend/app/store"
 	"golang.org/x/image/draw"
 )
 
 // imgSfx for avatars
 const imgSfx = ".image"
 
+var reValidAvatarID = regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-fA-F0-9]{40}\.image$`)
+
 // Store defines interface to store and and load avatars
 type Store interface {
 	Put(userID string, reader io.Reader) (avatarID string, err error) // save avatar data from the reader and return base name
 	Get(avatarID string) (reader io.ReadCloser, size int, err error)  // load avatar via reader
 	ID(avatarID string) (id string)                                   // unique id of stored avatar's data
 	Remove(avatarID string) error                                     // remove avatar data
+	List() (ids []string, err error)                                  // list all avatar ids
 
 }
 
@@ -71,3 +77,11 @@ func resize(reader io.Reader, limit int) io.Reader {
 	}
 	return &out
 }
+
+// encodeID converts string to encoded id unless already encoded and valid avatar id (with .image) passed
+func encodeID(val string) string {
+	if reValidAvatarID.MatchString(val) {
+		return strings.TrimSuffix(val, imgSfx) // already encoded, strip .image
+	}
+	return store.EncodeID(val)
+}