Adding a digital asset

Managing digital assets > Creating and managing directory nodes and assets > Adding a digital asset

Adding a digital asset

An asset can be a file that is uploaded to your system, or can reference a file on the Internet by providing its Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The upload file can be a file of any type. For example, if the digital asset is for a book, the upload file may be the PDF file for the book’s electronic form. If the digital asset is for a painting, the upload file may be a GIF image of that painting.

The Add Asset page allows you to create a digital asset in a selected point in the digital asset hierarchy. You can add assets one at a time, or in a batch.

You can create an asset only if your login has an access level that allows you to create an asset.

Uploading large files can overload the memory buffer and result in instability in the system. Upload limits depend on upload speed and file size. The current upload size limit is around 70 MB per file and times out after 5 minutes. If an upload takes more than 5 minutes, you should check server logs for errors.

The Import Assets bulk loader has a time out of 60 minutes. You may be able to upload a large file using this method. (For more information, see Importing multiple assets.)

When you place a large number of assets in a single directory, it takes longer for the program to display the contents of the folder in the folder list. For example, a folder that contains 10,000 assets may take around 15 seconds to display a list of 10 of the assets in the directory. If you have a directory with a large number of assets, you can improve the speed by moving the assets into sub-directories of the directory.

The following procedure describes how to add a single asset to your system. (For instructions on adding assets in a batch, see Importing and exporting assets.)

To add an asset

Choose Manage Assets from the navigation pane.

The Manage Assets page displays. The digital asset hierarchy appears under Directory.

Use the Directory hierarchy to locate the directory node in which you want to create an asset. Refer to Navigating the digital asset hierarchy for information about navigating to a particular directory node.

Choose Add Asset.

The Add Asset page displays.

Complete the fields as needed. Refer to Fields: Add/Edit Asset for descriptions of each field on the page.

Click OK to save the asset information and return to the Manage Assets page.

The new asset displays as a child asset of the directory node you selected in the Directory hierarchy.