Manage collections

Last update: February 19, 2025

CREATED FOR:

  • User
  • Leader

A collection is a set of assets, folders, or other collections within Adobe Experience Manager Assets Essentials. Use collections to share assets between users.

Unlike folders, a collection can include assets from different locations.

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

Collections

You can perform the following tasks to manage and use collections:

Create a collection

To create a collection:

  1. Click Collections in the left rail and then click Create Collection.

  2. Specify a title and an optional description for the collection.

  3. Select if you need to a create a Private collection or a Public collection. A Public collection is available for viewing and editing to all users. However, a Private collection is available to the creator and users with administrator privileges.

  4. Click Create to create the collection.

    Create collection

Add assets to a collection

To add assets to a collection:

  1. Click Assets in the left rail and select the assets that you need to add to a collection.

  2. Click Add to Collection.

  3. On the Collections dialog box, select the collections to add the selected assets.

  4. Click Add to add the asset to the selected collections.

Remove assets from a collection

To remove assets from a collection:

  1. Click Collections in the left rail to view the list of collections.

  2. Click the collection and select items that you need to remove from the collection.

  3. Click Remove.

Manage a Smart Collection

Save your search results as a Smart Collection to dynamically update the collection contents. If there are assets added to the Assets Essentials repository that fit the search criteria defined while creating the Smart Collection, the contents of the Smart Collection get updated automatically when you open a Smart Collection.

Create a Smart Collection

To create a Smart Collection:

  1. Click Filter and define the search criteria.

  2. Click Save as and then select Smart Collection.

    Create smart collection

  3. On the Create Smart Collection dialog box, specify a title and a description for the Smart Collection.

  4. Select Public Collection if you need all users to access the collection. Select Private Collection if you need a limited group of users to access the collection.

  5. Click Create to create the Smart Collection.

Edit a Smart Collection

To edit a Smart Collection:

  1. Click Collections in the left rail and then double-click the name of the collection that you need to edit.

  2. Click Edit Smart Collection.

  3. On the Edit Smart Collection Filters dialog box, update the search criteria for the Smart Collection.

  4. Click Save.

View and edit collection metadata

Collection metadata comprises data about the collection, such as title and description.

To view and edit collection metadata:

  1. Click Collections in the left rail, select a collection, and click Details.

  2. View the collection metadata using the Basic tab.

  3. Modify the metadata fields, as necessary. You can modify the Title and Description fields.

    Collection metadata

Assets Essentials enables you to generate a link and share collections and assets within collections with external stakeholders, who do not have access to the Assets Essentials application. You can define an expiration date for the link and then share it with others using your preferred communication method like email or messaging services. Recipients of the link can preview assets and download them.

Share link for assets

For more information on how to share collection links with external stakeholders, see Share links for assets.

Download a collection

To download a collection:

  1. Click Collections in the left rail.

  2. Select the collection that you need to download and click Download.

  3. On the Downloading Asset dialog box, click OK.

The collection downloads as a .ZIP file on your local machine.

Delete a collection

To delete a collection:

  1. Click Collections in the left rail.

  2. Select the collection that you need to delete.

  3. Click Delete.

Manage permissions for a private collection

You can allow administrators to manage access levels for private collections available in the repository. You can assign permissions such as Can View and Can Edit to the user groups or users. You can also delegate permission management privileges to user groups. The users who create private collections are the owners of those collections. They can use the Manage Permissions action to grant access to the other users. Moreover, Administrators can view and manage permissions of the private collections in the Experience Manager repository.
For information on how to assign the available permissions to user groups, see Add permissions to user groups.

For more information on the end-to-end workflow, see manage permissions.

Next Steps

  • Provide product feedback using the Feedback option available on the Assets Essentials user interface

  • Provide documentation feedback using Edit this page edit the page or Log an issue create a GitHub issue available on the right sidebar

  • Contact Customer Care

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