DocumentationAEMUser Guide

[AEM Assets]{class="badge positive" title="Applies to AEM Assets)."}

Upload brand approved assets to Content Hub upload-brand-approved-assets-content-hub

Last update: September 25, 2026
  • Applies to:
  • Experience Manager as a Cloud Service

CREATED FOR:

  • User

Content Hub users with rights to add assets can add assets to the Content Hub either from local file system or import assets from OneDrive or Dropbox data sources. All assets display at the top-level in Content Hub irrespective of the folder structure available on your local file system or OneDrive and Dropbox data sources. This flattened view removes navigation barriers and, as a result, enhances search capabilities across your entire asset library, because assets remain discoverable regardless of how they were originally organized in the source location.

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/3432980/?learn=on
https://video.tv.adobe.com/vc/3432980/eng.json

The assets marked as Approved in Assets as a Cloud Service are automatically available in Content Hub. For more information, see Approve assets for Content Hub.

To further enhance asset search, Content Hub allows you to:

  • Define key details relevant to your asset upload, such as campaign name, keywords, channels, and so on. Adding this metadata at upload time ensures assets can be retrieved later through targeted, attribute-based searches.

  • Automatically generate more properties for each asset upon successful upload, such as file size, format, resolution, and other technical properties. These auto-generated attributes support precise filtering and comparison without any manual entry.

  • Use the artificial intelligence (AI) provided by Adobe AI to automatically apply relevant tags to all your uploaded assets. The AI analyzes each asset and assigns descriptive tags without requiring manual tagging effort. These tags, named Smart Tags, are AI-generated descriptors that increase the content velocity of your projects by helping you find relevant assets quickly. Because Smart Tags surface assets that match a search intent even when exact keywords were not manually entered, they accelerate asset discovery and reduce time spent searching.

Upload brand approved assets

Ensure that you only upload your brand approved assets to the Content Hub.

Prerequisites prerequisites-add-assets

Access to add assets in Content Hub is controlled by user permissions. Only Content Hub users with rights to add assets are authorized to upload assets to Content Hub. Because uploading is a permission-gated action, a user must first be granted the appropriate add-asset rights before they can contribute assets to the library.

This permission-based requirement ensures that only authorized contributors can introduce new assets, which helps maintain content governance and control over the Content Hub asset library. If a user does not have these rights, the option to upload assets is not available to them. To grant a user the ability to add assets, follow the process for onboarding Content Hub users with add-asset rights described in the linked documentation above.

Add assets to Content Hub from local file system add-assets-local-file-system

To upload approved assets to Content Hub from your local file system, complete the following steps. This workflow lets you select files, group them under a campaign, tag them for discoverability, and publish them to Content Hub in a single guided process:

  1. Click Add Assets to view the Add your approved assets dialog box that enables you to create an upload.

  2. In the Drag files or folders here section available in the right pane, you can either drag the assets from the local file system or click Browse to manually select files or folders available on the local file system. This list of files that are part of your upload are available as a list.

    You can also preview selected images using the thumbnails and click the X icon to remove any particular image from the list. The X icon displays only when you hover your mouse over the image name or size. You can also click Remove all to delete all items from your upload list.

    Upload assets to Content Hub

    To finish the upload process and enable the Upload button, you must group your assets under a Campaign name. This grouping is mandatory because it organizes related assets together, ensuring that every uploaded item belongs to an identifiable collection before publishing proceeds.

  3. Define the name for your upload using the Campaign name field. You can use an existing name or create a new one. The Content Hub suggests matching options as you type the name, helping you reuse an existing campaign for consistency or establish a new one. As a best practice, Adobe recommends completing the remaining fields as well, because doing so creates an enhanced search experience for your uploaded assets.

  4. Similarly, define values for the Keywords, Channels, Timeframe, and Region fields. Tagging and grouping assets by keywords, channels, and location makes approved company content easier to discover. As a result, everyone who uses these assets can locate them quickly and keep the library organized.

  5. Click Upload to upload assets to the Content Hub. Review details confirmation box appears. Click Continue.

  6. Assets begin uploading immediately. Click New Upload to restart the upload procedure. Click Done to complete uploading.

Administrators can also configure the mandatory and optional fields that display while uploading assets, such as Campaign name, Keywords, Channels, and so on. For more information, see Configure the Content Hub user interface.

Manage assets uploaded using Content Hub manage-assets-uploaded-using-content-hub

Content Hub users with rights to add assets can add assets to the Content Hub in two ways: directly from the local file system, or by importing assets from OneDrive or Dropbox data sources. All uploaded assets display at the top level in Content Hub, regardless of the folder structure that exists on your local file system, OneDrive, or Dropbox data sources. Content Hub flattens this hierarchy to enhance search capabilities, because a single top-level listing lets you locate any asset quickly without navigating the original folder path.

Asset display behavior based on the Auto-approval toggle

Whether an uploaded asset appears immediately in Content Hub is determined by the Auto-approval toggle. The two possible states produce distinct outcomes:

  • Auto-approval enabled: The assets you upload using Content Hub become automatically available in Content Hub with no additional action required.

  • Auto-approval disabled: The assets you upload using Content Hub do not appear automatically in Content Hub. Instead, these assets are placed in the hydrated-assets folder of your Assets as a Cloud Service environment and remain hidden until they are approved.

To make assets visible when the Auto-approval toggle is disabled, complete the following steps:

Content Hub approval process

  1. Navigate to the hydrated-assets folder in your Assets as a Cloud Service environment.
  2. Bulk edit the status of the pending assets and set it to Approved.

As a result, the approved assets display in Content Hub. This approval workflow gives teams control over which uploaded assets become discoverable, ensuring that only reviewed, brand-approved content surfaces to end users.

Frequently asked questions faqs-content-hub-upload-assets

What types of assets can I upload to AEM Assets Content Hub and from where? asset-types-upload-to-content-hub

Users of Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub who have been granted rights to add assets can upload brand approved assets directly from a user’s local file system. This governs both what can be uploaded and where uploads originate: the assets must be brand approved, and the source location is the local file system of the user performing the upload.

Who can upload: Only Content Hub users with explicit rights to add assets are permitted to upload. This permission-based control ensures that only sanctioned, brand approved content enters the Content Hub library, preserving brand consistency across distributed assets.

Where uploads come from: Assets are added directly from a user’s local file system, allowing contributors to publish approved files without an intermediary repository.

How uploaded assets are organized: All uploaded assets are displayed at the top-level in Content Hub, regardless of their original folder structure. Because the original nested folder hierarchy is flattened on upload, every asset surfaces at the top level, which enhances search capabilities and makes uploaded content easier to locate. As a result, users do not need to navigate through original directory paths to find an asset — flattening the structure improves discoverability and streamlines search across the entire Content Hub library.

How does AEM Assets Content Hub enhance asset search and organization? search-content-hub

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub enhances asset search and organization through structured metadata and AI-powered tagging. Content Hub lets users define key details for each upload, so that every asset is searchable by the attributes teams actually use to locate it.

When uploading, users can specify descriptive metadata including:

  • Campaign name — links the asset to a specific initiative
  • Keywords — supports term-based search and discovery
  • Channels — identifies where the asset is intended for use
  • Timeframe — organizes assets by their relevant period
  • Region — narrows results by geographic scope

In addition to this user-defined metadata, Content Hub automatically generates technical properties for each asset, such as file size, format, and resolution. Because these attributes are captured without manual entry, assets remain consistently searchable across large libraries.

Content Hub also uses Adobe artificial intelligence (AI) to apply Smart Tags to uploaded assets. As a result, relevant content surfaces faster: the combination of user-defined details, auto-generated properties, and AI-driven Smart Tags means users can find the right asset quickly without manually classifying every file. This is especially valuable in large-scale digital asset management, where structured metadata and intelligent tagging directly reduce the time spent locating approved, on-brand content.

How to upload assets from my local file system to AEM Assets Content Hub? upload-assets-content-hub

To upload assets from your local file system to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub, use the built-in upload dialog and organize your files under a campaign before confirming. Follow these steps:

  1. Click Add Assets to open the upload dialog.
  2. Drag and drop files or folders directly into the dialog, or manually browse your local file system to select them.
  3. Group your assets under a campaign name. Grouping assets under a campaign is required because it organizes uploaded content into a logical structure, making assets easier to locate, manage, and retrieve later.
  4. Fill in the additional metadata fields for better organization. Recommended fields include keywords, channels, timeframe, and region, all of which improve discoverability and searchability of the uploaded assets.
  5. Click Upload, review the details you have entered, and confirm to start uploading.

Once you confirm, the upload begins and the assets become available in AEM Assets Content Hub, organized under the campaign name you assigned.

How does the asset approval process work in AEM Assets Content Hub? asset-approval-content-hub

The asset approval process in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub is controlled entirely by the Auto-approval toggle, which determines whether uploaded assets become visible immediately or require manual review before publication. This toggle governs a single, clear branch in the workflow: enabled means instant availability, while disabled means assets must be manually approved.

When Auto-approval is enabled

When the Auto-approval toggle is enabled, assets uploaded through Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub are automatically available. No additional review step is required, and the assets appear in Content Hub as soon as the upload completes. This streamlined path is well suited to teams that trust their contributors and prioritize rapid content turnaround.

When Auto-approval is disabled

Unlike the enabled state, when the Auto-approval toggle is disabled, uploaded assets are not published automatically. Instead, they are placed in the hydrated-assets folder in Assets as a Cloud Service and held there pending manual approval. As a result, the assets remain hidden from Content Hub until their status is explicitly changed. This ensures that only reviewed and approved assets become visible to end users, adding a governance checkpoint to the workflow.

To publish assets held in the hydrated-assets folder, an administrator must complete the following steps:

  1. Locate the uploaded assets in the hydrated-assets folder within Assets as a Cloud Service.
  2. Select the assets that require publication and perform a bulk edit on their status.
  3. Set the status of the selected assets to Approved.

Once the status is changed to Approved, the assets display in Content Hub and become available to users. Because this manual step is required, disabling Auto-approval effectively gives administrators direct control over which uploaded assets reach the Content Hub, making it the preferred configuration for organizations that need an approval or moderation stage before distribution.

Can I configure the fields that are mandatory or optional while uploading assets to AEM Assets Content Hub? available-fields-while-uploading-assets-to-content-hub

Yes. Administrators can configure which upload fields are mandatory or optional in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub. Using the Configuration User Interface, administrators define the metadata fields that contributors must complete—or may skip—when uploading assets to Content Hub.

How the configuration works

Administrators use the Configuration User Interface to set the field requirements applied during the asset upload workflow. Rather than accepting a fixed default schema, administrators control the metadata prompts that appear to users at upload time. This determines the information captured for every asset entering the Content Hub library.

Through this interface, administrators can:

  • Designate specific fields as mandatory, requiring completion before an asset upload can be finalized.
  • Designate other fields as optional, giving contributors flexibility while still allowing enrichment of asset metadata.
  • Tailor the upload experience so that the fields presented align with the organization’s metadata standards.

Why field configuration matters

Governing which fields are required versus optional ensures assets are uploaded with consistent, complete metadata. This supports reliable search, filtering, and discoverability across the Content Hub library, because well-structured metadata is what makes assets findable and reusable at scale. By making critical fields mandatory, administrators enforce data quality at the point of upload, while optional fields reduce friction for contributors who do not need to supply every attribute. The result is a balance between metadata completeness and an efficient, streamlined upload process for the teams using AEM Assets Content Hub.

What should I do if my uploaded assets do not display automatically in AEM Assets Content Hub? assets-do-not-display-in-content-hub

If uploaded assets do not display automatically in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets Content Hub, the Auto-approval toggle is disabled. Content Hub surfaces only assets with an Approved status, so assets that are still pending approval remain hidden until their status is updated.

Root cause

The affected assets are located in the hydrated-assets folder of your Assets as a Cloud Service (AaCS) environment. Because the Auto-approval toggle is turned off, newly uploaded assets are not automatically promoted to Approved, and Content Hub does not render assets that lack the Approved status.

Resolution steps

  1. Navigate to the hydrated-assets folder in your Assets as a Cloud Service environment.
  2. Select the assets that are not appearing in Content Hub.
  3. Bulk edit the selected assets and set their status to Approved.
  4. Confirm the change so the newly approved assets appear in AEM Assets Content Hub.

Enabling the Auto-approval toggle prevents this issue from recurring, because future uploads are then promoted to Approved automatically and become immediately visible in Content Hub without manual status updates.

See also

recommendation-more-help
experience-manager-cloud-service-help-main-toc