Managing Collections

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Experience Manager 6.3 Assets User Guide

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Applies to: Experience Manager 6.3 Assets

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A collection is a set of assets within Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets. Use collections to share assets between users.

  • A collection can include assets from different locations.
  • You can share collections with various users that are assigned different levels of privileges, including viewing, editing, and so on.

You can share multiple collections with a user. Each collection contains references to assets. The referential integrity of assets is maintained across collections.

Collections are of the following types, based on the way they collate assets:

  • A collection that contains a static reference list of assets, folders, and other collections
  • A Smart collection that dynamically includes assets based on a search criteria

Smart collections have a grey band across their thumbnail image in the Card view, which distinguishes them from collections that include a static list of asset references. The thumbnail images of static collections have a white band running across them in the Card view.

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In list view, the Type field identifies a Smart collection.

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To navigate to the Collections console:

  1. Click or tap the AEM logo, and select Assets.

  2. Click or tap the GlobalNav icon.

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  3. Choose Navigation from the list.

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  4. From the Navigation list, select Collection.  

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  5. Review the collections in the Collections console.

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Creating a collection

You can create a collection either with static references or based on a search criteria-based filter. You can also create a collection from a lightbox.

Creating a collection with static references

You can create a collection with static references, for example a collection with references to assets, folders, collections, spin sets, and image sets.

  1. Navigate to the Collections console.

  2. From the toolbar, click Create.

  3. In the Create Collection page, enter a title and description for the collection.

  4. Add members to the collection and assign appropriate permissions. You can optionally add a thumbnail image for the collection.

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    Note:

    To enable the members to share collections with other users, provide the dam-users group read permissions at the path home/users. Give permission to the users at /content/dam/collections location to allow the users to view the Collections in pop up lists. Alternatively, make the user a part of dam-users group.

  5. Click Create and then click OK to close the dialog. A collection with the specified title and properties is opened in the Collections console.

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    Note:

    AEM Assets lets you create review tasks for a collection similar to the way you create review tasks for an assets folder.

    To add assets to the collection, navigate to the Assets console. For details, see Adding assets to a collection.

Create collections using Dropzone

You can drag assets from the Assets UI to a collection. You can also create a copy of a collection and drag the assets there.

  1. Select the assets you want to add to a collection.

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  2. Drag the assets to the Drop in Collection zone. Release the mouse button when the Dropzone becomes active and its label changes to Drop to Add.

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    Alternatively, click the Add to Collection icon from the toolbar.

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  3. In the Select Destination page, click the Create Collection icon from the toolbar.

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    If you want to add the assets to an existing collection, select a collection from the Select Destination page and click Add. By default, the most recently updated collection is selected. 

  4. In the Create New Collection dialog, specify a name for the collection.

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  5. Click Continue. The new collection appears in the Select Destination page.

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Creating a smart collection

A smart collection uses a search criteria to dynamically populate assets. To create a smart collection:

  1. Navigate to the Assets console and click the Search icon.

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  2. With the cursor in the Omni Search box, press the Return key. 

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  3. Click or tap the GlobalNav icon to diaplay the Filters and Options (Search) panel.

  4. In the Omni Search box, enter the search keywords and then select a search criteria from the Search panel. For example, to search for assets that include "Lake" in the title and were modified a month ago, enter "Lake" in the Omni Search box and then press Enter. Adjust the slider appropriately in the Last Modified criteria.

    If you add custom search facets to the Search panel, select one or more options you configured for the search facets. For example, select Images for File Types to search for images.

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  5. To create a Smart collection from the search criteria, click Save Smart Collection.

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  6. Enter a name for the collection. For example, enter "Trek Equipment."

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  7. Select Public to add the DAM Users group with the Viewer role to the smart collection.

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    Note:

    If you select Public, the smart collection becomes available to everyone with the Owner role after you create it.

    Note:

    If you deselect the Public option, the DAM user group is no longer associated with the smart collection.

  8. Click Save to create the Smart collection and then close the message box to complete the process.

    The new smart collection is also added to the Saved Searches list.

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    The label of the Create Smart Selection button changes to Edit Smart Selection. To edit the settings of the collection you created, click this button.

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Note:

If you make a Smart collection public after upgrading from AEM 5.6.1 to AEM 6.2, it becomes available to everyone with the Owner role.

Adding assets to a collection

You can add assets to a collection that contains a list of referenced assets or folders.

Note:

Smart collections use a search query to populate assets. Therefore, static references to assets and folders are not applicable to them.

  1. In AEM Assets, navigate to the location of the asset that you want to add to a collection.

  2. Select the asset and click the To Collection icon from the toolbar.

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    Alternatively, you can drag the asset to the Drop in Collection zone. Release the mouse button when the Dropzone becomes active and its label changes to Drop to Add.

  3. In the Select Destination page, select the collection to which you want to add the asset.

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  4. Click Add. A message confirms that the asset is added to the collection.

Editing a Smart collection

Smart collections are built by saving a search so you can alter their content by modifying the search parameters of the saved search.

  1. Navigate to the Assets console and click the Search icon.

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  2. With the cursor in the Omni Search box, press the Return key. 

  3. Click or tap the GlobalNav icon to display the Filters and Options (Search) panel.

  4. From the Saved Searches list, select the Smart collection you want to modify. For example, select "Trek Equipment." The Search panel displays the filters configured for the saved search.

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  5. Modify one or more filters, as required. For example, adjust the slider for the Last Modified filter to search for assets modified a month ago. Click Edit Smart Collection.

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  6. (Optional) Edit the name of the smart collection. For example, modify the name to "Trekking Equipment."

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  7. Click Save. The Edit Smart Collection dialog appears.

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  8. Click Overwrite to replace the smart collection "Trek Equipment" with this one named "Trekking Equipment." Alternatively, select Save As to save the collection "Trek Equipment" as a different collection.

  9. In the confirmation dialog, click Save to complete the process.

Viewing a collection

  1. From the Assets console, click or tap the GlobalNav icon..

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  2. Choose Navigation from the list.

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  3. From the Navigation list, select Collection to display the Collections console.

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  4. Click a collection to view a list of assets within the collection.

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Note:

You can also view smart collections from the Saved Searches list in the Search panel.

Viewing and editing collection metadata

Collection metadata comprises data about the collection, including any tags that are added.

  1. From the Collections console, select a collection and click the View Properties icon from the toolbar.

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  2. View the metadata for the collection in the Basic and Advanced tabs of the Collection Properties page. 

  3. Modify the metadata, as required, and then click Save from the toolbar to save the changes.

Editing collection metadata in bulk

You can edit the metadata of multiple collections simultaneously. This functionality helps you quickly replicate common metadata in multiple collections.

  1. In the Collections console, select two or more collections for which you want to edit metadata.

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  2. From the toolbar, click the View Properties icon.

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  3. In the Properties page, edit the metadata under the Basic and Advanced tabs, as desired, for the selected collections.

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  4. Click Save from the toolbar, and then close the confirmation dialog to complete the process.

  5. To append the new metadata with the existing metadata, select Apend mode. If you do not select this option, the new metadata replaces the existing metadata in the fields. Click Submit.

    Note:

    The Append mode works only for fields that can contain multiple values. For fields that can contain only a single value, the new metadata is not appended to the existing value in the field even if you select Append mode.

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  6. Click Ok to close the dialog. The metadata for the selected collections are changed in bulk.

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Searching

The Search feature within Collections supports both Searching for Collections and Searching for assets within a Collection.

Searching Collections

You can search collections from the Collections console. When you search with keywords in the Omni Search box, AEM Assets searches for collection names, metadata, and the tags added to the collections.

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Searching within Collections

In the Collections console, click a collection to open it.

Within a collection, AEM Asset search is restricted to assets (and their tags and metadata) within the collection that you are viewing.

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Editing Collection Settings

To edit collection settings, such as title and description, or to add members to a collection:

  1. Select a collection, and click the Collection Settings icon in the toolbar.

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  2. Modify the collection settings in the Collection Settings page. For example, modify the collection title, descriptions, members, and permissions as discussed in Adding Collections. 

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  3. Click Save to save the changes.

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Deleting a collection

To delete a collection:

  1. Select the desired collection or group of collections and click the Delete icon on the toolbar.

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  2. In the Delete Collection confirmation dialog, click Delete to complete the delete action. 

     

    Note:

    You can also detete Smart collections by deleting saved searches.

Downloading a collection

Downloading a collection will download the entire hierarchy of assets within the collection, including folders and child collections.

  1. From the Collections console, select one or more collections to download.

  2. From the toolbar, click the Download icon.

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  3. In the Download dialog, click Download. If you want to download the renditions of the assets within the collection, select Renditions. Select the Email option to send an email notification to the owner of the collection.

    When you select a collection to download, the complete folder hierarchy under the collection is downloaded. To include each collection you download (including assets in child collections nested under the parent collection) in an individual folder, select Create separate folder for each asset.

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Creating nested collections

You can add a collection to another collection, thereby creating a nested collection.

  1. Select the desired collection or group of collections, and click or tap the To Collection icon in the toolbar.

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  2. From the Select Destination page, select the collection in which to add the collection.

    Note:

    The most recently updated collection is selected by default in the Select Destinations page.

  3. Click Add. A message confirms that the collection is added to the target collection in the Select Destination page. Close the message to complete the process. You can open the target collection from the Collections console and verify.

Note:

Smart collections cannot be nested. In other words, Smart collections cannot contain any other collection.

Saved searches

In the Assets UI, you can search or filter assets based on certain rules, search criteria, or custom search facets. If you save these as Saved Searches, you can access them later from the Saved Searches list in the Search panel. Creating a Saved Search also creates a Smart Collection.

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Creating Saved Searches

Saved Searches are created when you create a smart collection. Smart collections are automatically added to the Saved Searches list. The Saved Searches query for the collection is saved in the dam:query property in crxde at the relative location /content/dam/collections/.

Note:

You can share smart collections i the same way as you share static collections.

Editing Saved Searches

Editing saved searches is the same as editing smart collections. For details, see Editing a smart collection.

Deleting Saved Searches

  1. Navigate to the Assets console and click the Search icon on the toolbar.

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  2. With the cursor in the Omni Search box, press the Return key.

  3. Click or tap the GlobalNav icon to display the Filters and Options (Search) panel.

  4. From the Saved Searches list, click the Delete icon next to the smart collection you want to delete.

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  5. In the dialog box, click Delete to delete the saved search.

Running a workflow on a collection

You can run a workflow for the assets within a collection. If the collection contains nested collections, the workflow also runs on the assets within the nested collections. However, if the collection and the nested collection contain duplicate assets, the workflow only runs once for such assets.

  1. From the Collections console, select a collection on which you want to run a workflow.

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  2. Click the GlobalNav icon and choose Timeline from the list.

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  3. In the timeline, click or tap the Caret icon at the bottom, and then click Start Workflow.

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  4. In the Start Workflow section, select a workflow model from the list. For example, select the DAM Update Asset model.

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  5. Enter a title for the workflow, and click Start.

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  6. In the dialog, click Proceed. The workflow runs on all the assets in the collection.

See also