Managing assets

Browsing assets

You can browse the Magnolia DAM in three views:

Tree view: Displays a hierarchical tree, including the folder structure.
List view: Displays the items individually. You can sort them alphanumerically by clicking the column headings.

The DAM can handle a very large amounts of assets. However, if you have 20'000 or more assets you should organize them into folders. Avoid too many assets in the same folder. Instead, create subfolders and organize your assets. Too many assets within the same folder may lead to performance issues. If you need a very big unstructured, flat list, disable the thumbnail and list views.
Thumbnail view: Displays thumbnail images of the assets. There is a zoom control at the top for resizing.

Searching

The search box provides a simple search. The asset name, metadata and content of documents are indexed for search. You can use the search function in any view. Type the search term in the box and Enter or click . The results display in list view and a Path column is included to help you locate the asset in the tree. If you select an item in the results and return to tree view the item remains selected.

Uploading a single asset

To upload an asset:

Select a parent folder or upload the image at the root level.
Click Upload asset.
Select a file to upload or drag and drop it into the Media field.
The file uploads.
For images, the image details and a thumbnail displays. You can edit the image in Magnolia.
For other assets, the file details and an asset type icon displays.

Uploading multiple assets

You can upload a ZIP file in the Assets app in order to import multiple assets.

To import a ZIP file:

Click Upload ZIP archive.
Select a location.
Magnolia 5.5.4+
Select whether you want to extract the ZIP archive directly ("Extract here") or to add a new parent folder ("Extract into new folder"); the latter is the default option.
Browse to the file.
In Encoding, select UTF-8 (Windows) or CP437 (Mac) depending on what system the ZIP file was created on.
Click Save.

The assets are imported like this:

Extract into new folder	Extract here

Uploading an asset from another app

You can upload an asset into the Magnolia DAM also from any other app that can browse the DAM, for example when creating a new contact in the Contacts app. The procedure and actions are identical to those in the Assets app and work in exactly the same way. You can define app-specific metadata fields which can be different from the standard metadata fields available when uploading in the Assets app.

Downloading an asset

To download an asset from the DAM, use the Download asset action in the browser or edit dialog. The action opens the download dialog of your operating system where you can save the file to your computer.

Deleting an asset

Versioning is enabled in the DAM. This allows you to restore previous versions of an asset or folder. The delete action marks the node for deletion and the deletion is completed on publication of the deletion.

To delete an asset or folder:

Select an item.
Click Delete folder/asset.
Confirm your action in the dialog.This marks the node for deletion and creates a restorable version. The item icon (folder or node) is replaced with the trash bin.
Click Publish deletion to complete the deletion. At this point you can cancel the deletion by clicking Restore previous version.

Asset metadata

The metadata fields are located in the Asset dialog. You can set metadata when uploading or add/edit it by clicking Edit asset to open the dialog.

Magnolia native metadata

The system records certain data automatically and the content of these fields typically cannot be edited and are disabled. By default, the following fields cannot be edited (those marked with an * are not currently used) :

Describe asset using *: The supported metadata standard. By default, the Simple Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) is supported. You can customize Magnolia to support different standards.
Identifier: An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context. An alphanumerical string is used to identify and reference the asset. Editors can move assets without breaking links in the DAM.
Type *: The nature or genre of the resource.
Creation Date: Date of upload.
Modification Date: Date of last modification.
Creator *: An entity primarily responsible for making the resource..

Dublin Core metadata

Magnolia supports the Simple Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) standard by default and the following fields are available:

Caption: The asset caption.
Language: Language tag of the asset. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as RFC 4646 .
Title: Asset title.
Subject: The topic of the asset. Typically, the subject will be represented using keywords, key phrases, or classification codes.
Coverage: Scope of the asset. Typically this refers to a place, period or jurisdiction.
Description: Full description of the asset.
Publisher: Original publisher of the asset if being republished from another source.
Contributor: Use to name asset contributors.
Rights: Type of copyright.
Source: A related asset from which this asset is derived.
Relation: Related assets.

Setting alt attributes

The alt attribute of the img tag specifies alternative text for an image when that image cannot be displayed on a page. The standard rule is to use concise text that serves the same function as the image.

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