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Manage collections in Content Hub manage-collections

A collection is a curated set of assets that can be shared among users. A collection can include assets drawn from different locations while maintaining their referential integrity, meaning each asset stays linked to its original source and metadata even when grouped together.

Content Hub enables you to create public collections. These collections are accessible to all entitled users, creating a shared space where multiple users can efficiently access and utilize content. Collections promote the collaborative use of resources, functioning as a centralized workspace that increases efficiency and convenience across teams. Within the collection browse page, you can:

Collections help users easily access and manage the diverse assets available within Content Hub.

Prerequisites prerequisites

Before performing the procedures in this article, ensure the appropriate access requirements are met.

Content Hub users are authorized to perform all actions described in this article. Only accounts that have been onboarded as Content Hub users have the permissions required to complete the tasks and procedures covered here. This role-based prerequisite ensures that the necessary access rights are granted before you begin, because the workflows in this article depend on the capabilities assigned to onboarded Content Hub users.

If you have not yet been set up with this access, complete the onboarding step first so that you can perform each of the actions that follow.

Create collections create-collections

A collection is a grouping of related assets that you organize and manage together, making it easier to apply consistent controls across those assets. Collections are a core tool for asset governance, because grouping assets streamlines how policies, access, and oversight are applied at scale rather than to individual items one at a time.

While managing governance, two options are available:

Choosing either option during governance management ensures assets remain organized and consistently governed. Grouping assets into collections supports clearer oversight, simplifies the application of governance policies, and reduces the effort required to manage large sets of assets.

Create a new collection create-new-collection

Follow the steps below to create a collection and set access controls that determine who can view and edit its contents. Choosing the right access level at creation time establishes clear collaboration boundaries and protects sensitive assets from unintended edits.

Add assets to an existing collection add-assets-to-existing-collection

Adding assets to an existing collection takes a few clear steps. Follow the numbered procedure below to move one or more selected assets into a collection you have already created:

Once you confirm, the selected assets are added to the chosen collection(s), and they become accessible from within each collection alongside its existing assets.

View collections view-collections

Use the Collections tab to locate, open, and browse the assets grouped within a collection in Content Hub. Collections organize related assets together, so filtering and drilling into them lets you find the exact content you need without scrolling through the entire asset library.

Find a collection find-a-collection

View assets within a collection view-assets-within-a-collection

Content Hub then displays the detailed view for the selected asset, where you can review its properties. See asset details.

Filter collections view filter-collections-view

Content Hub lets you filter the collections view to quickly locate a specific collection by narrowing options based on ownership and access preferences. Filtering is especially useful when you manage a large number of collections, because it reduces the visible list to only those that match your selected ownership or permission criteria. Before you begin, ensure the configuration of Collections in Content Hub is complete.

Filter by ownership and access level

To filter the collections view by ownership and access level, follow these steps:

Filter by collection creator

To filter the collections view based on who created each collection, go to the Collections tab and navigate to one of the following options:

Download assets available within a collection download-assets-within-collection

Content Hub provides two methods to download assets stored within a collection: downloading the entire collection at once or downloading individual assets selectively. Choose the method that matches whether you need the complete set or only specific files.

Download the entire collection

To download all assets available within a collection, navigate to the Collections tab.
Click the icon on the collection card.

This downloads every asset in the collection in a single action, making it the fastest method when you need the complete set of files at once.

Download individual assets from a collection

Open the collection to download specific assets individually. Unlike the bulk download method, this approach lets you select only the files you need:

The selected assets are downloaded, giving you control over exactly which files are retrieved.

Learn how to download an asset from the Content Hub.

Share assets available within a collection share-assets-available-within-collection

You can share the assets available within a collection directly from the collection view. Before sharing, enable public link sharing in Content Hub (see Configure Content Hub UI options).

To share an asset from within a collection, follow these steps:

Learn more about sharing assets in the Content Hub.

Governance and Access Control for Shared Assets

Content Hub Collections provides comprehensive governance tools for effective asset management, including customizable sharing permissions and collaboration features that let teams control exactly who can view or modify shared assets. These permissions range from read-only access to full administrative control, supporting fine-grained governance over how assets are distributed across users and teams.

When sharing an asset—either individually or as part of a collection—the scope of access is determined by, and inherited from, the collection’s current access level assigned to the user. As a result, a recipient can only access an asset within the boundaries the collection’s access level already permits, ensuring that sharing never grants broader access than the collection itself allows.

You cannot share a private collection. Private collections are excluded from sharing to preserve the confidentiality of their assets, so any content you intend to distribute must reside in a collection with public link sharing enabled.

Edit details of a collection edit-details-of-collection

You can update a collection’s Title, Description, and—depending on your configuration—its access settings from the Collection Details screen. These edits let you rename a collection, refine its description for clarity, and control who can view or work with it.

To edit the details of a collection, follow these steps:

Moreover, you can update the access to the collection through the Edit Collection dialog. The access options available in this dialog depend on the configuration—that is, on how your account or administrator has set up permissions for the collection. This ensures that access-related edits are governed by the applicable configuration settings.

Remove assets from a collection remove-assets-from-a-collection

Administrators, collection owners, and non-admin users with edit rights can remove single or multiple assets from a collection.

Who can remove assets

The following users have permission to remove one or more assets from a collection:

Steps to remove assets from a collection

To remove assets from a collection, complete these steps:

The selected assets are removed from the collection successfully. Removing assets from a collection does not delete the underlying assets from the repository; it only removes them from that specific collection, so the original files remain available elsewhere.

Delete a collection delete-collection

Only administrators and the collection creator can delete a collection. This permission is deliberately restricted to these roles to prevent accidental or unauthorized data loss, since deleting a collection is a significant action that removes it from the workspace.

To delete a collection, follow these steps:

Deleting a collection is permanent, so administrators and creators should confirm the correct collection is selected before proceeding. If a confirmation prompt appears, complete it to finalize the deletion and remove the collection from the Collections tab.

Pin or Unpin collection pin-unpin-collection

Content Hub Administrators can pin collections in Content Hub to keep frequently used collections within immediate reach. Pinned collections are displayed in a dedicated Pinned section at the top of the Collections home page, which separates high-priority collections from the rest of the library and reduces the time spent searching for them. This is especially useful when an administrator returns to the same collections repeatedly, because pinning surfaces those collections first rather than requiring a manual search each time. Administrators can pin or unpin a collection at any time by executing the steps below.

To pin a collection for quick access:

To unpin a collection:

Click More actions and select Unpin. This removes the collection from the Pinned section and returns it to its standard position in the Collections library.

Mark Collections as Favorite favorite-collection

Marking Collections as Favorite in Content Hub lets you organize and retrieve them quickly, reducing the time spent navigating between multiple Collections. Once a Collection is marked as a Favorite, it appears directly in the Favorites tab on the Content Hub home page, so frequently used Collections stay within immediate reach. You can also search assets within Favorite Collections, which streamlines asset discovery by narrowing results to the Collections you rely on most. To mark Collections as Favorites, follow these steps:

Frequently asked questions faqs-manage-collections-content-hub

What do you refer to as collections in AEM Assets Content Hub?

A collection in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub is a curated set of digital assets grouped together so they can be shared among users. Collections establish a shared workspace that lets teams efficiently locate, organize, and reuse content across a project or brand. In the broader context of digital asset management, collections function much like flexible folders or playlists — a way to assemble related content without moving or copying the underlying files.

Key Characteristics of Collections

Why Collections Matter

Collections streamline collaboration by giving users a single, organized space to access and utilize content. Because they consolidate assets from multiple locations while maintaining their referential integrity, collections support practical workflows such as assembling assets for a specific campaign, sharing a curated set with reviewers or stakeholders, and grouping frequently used materials for quick reuse. The result is faster content discovery and more consistent asset usage across teams working within AEM Assets Content Hub.

How can I create a new collection in AEM Assets Content Hub?

Creating a new collection in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub is a straightforward process carried out within the Collections tab. A collection groups related digital assets together, making them easier to organize, locate, and share across teams.

Steps to create a collection

Once the collection is created, add assets to the collection to begin populating it. This allows you to keep related assets grouped in a single, manageable location for streamlined access and reuse.

What types of access control are available when creating a collection in AEM Assets Content Hub?

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub provides three access control types when creating a collection, each defining who can view and who can edit the collection’s contents. Selecting the correct access level ensures that assets are shared appropriately while protecting content from unauthorized changes.

The three access control types are:

In summary, the access control types range from the most restrictive (Private) to the most open (Public — View and edit), with Public — View only offering a middle option that permits broad viewing while reserving editing rights for the creator and administrators.

Who can perform actions on collections in AEM Assets Content Hub?

Both standard users and administrators can perform actions on collections in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub, with administrators holding an expanded set of privileges beyond those available to standard users.

Actions Available to Standard Users

Standard Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub users can perform the following actions on collections:

These capabilities allow users to organize, access, and distribute grouped assets efficiently within the platform.

Additional Administrator Privileges

Unlike standard users, Administrators hold additional privileges over collections. In addition to all standard user actions, administrators can:

This elevated access enables administrators to manage collection permissions and oversee content governance across the AEM Assets Content Hub environment.

How do I add assets to an existing collection in AEM Assets Content Hub?

To add assets to an existing collection in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub, select the assets, click Add to collection, choose the target collection, and confirm. Collections group related assets so teams can locate, reuse, and distribute approved content efficiently, which makes adding assets to the correct collection a core organizational task in Content Hub.

Steps to add assets to an existing collection:

The search bar locates any existing collection by name, so you can add assets to the intended collection without scrolling through the full list. Because collections act as curated groupings of approved assets, adding assets to the right collection ensures the content remains discoverable and available for reuse across your organization.

Can collections be filtered and searched in AEM Assets Content Hub?

Yes. Collections in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub support both filtering and searching, allowing users to quickly locate the right collection by name, access permissions, or creator. This makes it easier to manage large libraries of digital assets where many collections may exist across teams.

Content Hub organizes collection filtering around three primary criteria:

The available filter options include:

By combining these filters with search, teams can efficiently find, review, and manage collections in AEM Assets Content Hub based on ownership, visibility, and collaboration needs.

How do I download assets from a collection in AEM Assets Content Hub?

You can download assets from a collection in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub in two ways: download the entire collection at once, or download individually selected assets from within a collection. Collections group related assets together for easier discovery and distribution, so both methods let you retrieve approved, brand-ready content directly from the hub.

Method 1: Download an entire collection

Use this method when you need every asset in the collection, since it retrieves the complete set in a single action.

Method 2: Download selected assets from a collection

Choose this method when you need only specific files rather than the full collection, giving you precise control over which assets you retrieve.

How can assets be shared from a collection in AEM Assets Content Hub?

Assets are shared from a collection in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub by enabling public link sharing. Public link sharing generates a distributable URL that grants recipients access to the selected asset without requiring them to be internal AEM users.

Steps to share an asset:

Because the share link is publicly accessible, anyone who receives it can open the shared asset, making this method well suited for distributing approved content to external stakeholders or partners.

Important limitation: Private collections cannot be shared. Private collections are restricted by design, so their access controls prevent public link generation. To share assets that currently sit in a private collection, the assets must first reside in a shareable, non-private context before public link sharing can be enabled.

Who can remove assets from a collection in AEM Assets Content Hub?

Three types of users can remove assets from a collection in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub: the collection owner, an administrator, or a non-admin user granted edit rights. Any of these authorized users can remove a single asset or multiple assets at once from a collection.

Who Can Remove Assets

This permission structure ensures that only users with an established ownership, administrative, or edit-level relationship to the collection can modify its contents, protecting collections from unintended changes by users with view-only access.

How to Remove Assets from a Collection

The confirmation step exists to prevent accidental removal, requiring the user to deliberately validate the action before the selected assets are taken out of the collection. Removing assets from a collection affects only the collection’s membership and does not delete the underlying assets from AEM Assets Content Hub.

Who is allowed to delete a collection from AEM Assets Content Hub and how is it done?

Only administrators and the creator of a collection can delete it in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub. This role-based restriction ensures that collections cannot be removed by users who neither own the collection nor hold administrative privileges, protecting shared assets from accidental or unauthorized deletion.

Who Can Delete a Collection

Any user outside these two roles cannot delete a given collection. Because deletion is limited to owners and administrators, accountability for removing shared collections stays with the people responsible for managing them.

How to Delete a Collection

To delete a collection in AEM Assets Content Hub, follow these steps:

Once these steps are completed, the collection is removed from AEM Assets Content Hub. Because removal is performed directly on the collection, administrators and creators should confirm the correct collection is selected before deleting, as the action clears the collection from the Content Hub.

What all options can an administrator configure for collections in AEM Assets Content Hub?

Administrators configure collection access and editing permissions in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub by enabling or disabling two toggles that govern how collections can be viewed and edited. These settings determine which collection types non-admin users are permitted to create.

Two administrator-controlled toggles govern collection visibility and editing rights:

If both the View Only Collections and Public Collections toggles are disabled, then by default, non-admin users can create only private collections. Because private collections are visible and editable only to their creator and the administrator, this default enforces the most restrictive access model, keeping collections confined to their owner unless an administrator explicitly opens up broader sharing.

In summary, these administrator settings enable three distinct collection types:

Why I cannot see newly added or removed collection or assets in Content Hub?

Newly created collections, or assets added to or removed from a collection, may not appear immediately in Content Hub because collections are subject to backend propagation and index-refresh latency. This is expected system behavior, not a failure of the add or remove action itself.

Cause

When you create a collection, or add and remove assets from one, the change is written to the backend before it is reflected in the search index that powers the interface. Index-refresh latency is the short delay between when an operation is committed and when the refreshed index makes that change visible in the user interface (UI). As a result, the UI may not immediately reflect the change even though the operation completed successfully. Distributed content systems commonly rely on this kind of asynchronous propagation, so a brief lag between the action and its visible result is normal.

Resolution

The add or remove action typically succeeds even when the outcome is not visible right away. If a change does not appear right away, apply these steps:

Waiting briefly and re-checking is the reliable approach, as the change will surface once backend propagation and the index refresh complete.

See also