Chrome Extension

Freedam for Chrome puts your workspace in Chrome's side panel, next to the page you are working on. Sign in to Freedam once, then find an image or a video and copy it, download it or drop it into the page, without switching tabs or saving files to your computer first.

The extension is installed from the Chrome Web Store, so there is nothing to set up on the Freedam side. Each person connects their own Freedam account, and what they see in the panel is exactly what they could see in the Gallery.

Page Overview

• Purpose: To use approved Freedam assets in any web page without downloading and re-uploading files.
• When to use it: Whenever a page needs brand imagery or footage that already lives in Freedam: an email, a document, a slide deck, a CMS article, a product form.
• What you can do here:
  • Connect Chrome to one Freedam workspace.
  • Browse the workspace by collection, or search all assets and collections at once.
  • Narrow results to images or videos.
  • Copy an image and paste it into the page.
  • Download an image or a video.
  • Open an asset in Freedam.
  • Drop assets into pages as files, once you turn that option on.

Panel Layout

• Header: The name of the connected workspace, and the settings button on the right.
• Search box: Searches assets and collections across the whole workspace, with suggestions as you type.
• Type pills: Images and Videos narrow both browsing and search results to one kind of asset.
• Assets tab: A grid of the assets in the current view, newest first when browsing and by relevance when searching.
• Collections tab: The collection tree, with a breadcrumb to step back up.
• Asset tiles: Hovering a tile shows its buttons: Copy image (images only), Download and Open in Freedam.

Main Features

Connecting a workspace

• What it's for: Linking the extension to your Freedam account, so the panel can act on your behalf.
• Typical use: The first time you open the panel, or after you disconnected.
• Result: The panel header shows your workspace name and the panel loads its contents.

Browsing and searching

• What it's for: Finding an asset the way it is organised in Freedam, or by name, keyword, description or any other indexed metadata.
• Typical use: Typing a product name and choosing one of the suggestions, or opening the collection a campaign lives in.
• Result: Matching assets from anywhere in the workspace, ranked by relevance. The search box corrects likely typos with a "Did you mean" suggestion.

Copying, downloading and opening

• What it's for: Getting an asset into the page you are working on, or onto your computer.
• Typical use: Hovering a tile, clicking Copy image and pasting into an email or a document.
• Result: The image is on the clipboard, or the file is in your downloads folder. Images arrive as a 1024 pixel rendition, in JPEG, or in PNG when they have transparency. Videos arrive as MP4.

Dropping assets into pages

• What it's for: Adding an asset to a page as a file, by dragging it from the panel.
• Typical use: Dragging an image into an email draft, or onto the upload field of a form.
• Result: The page receives the file as if you had dragged it from your computer. This option is off until you turn it on in the extension's settings.

Detailed Feature Documentation

Install and Connect

• Purpose: To give the extension access to your Freedam workspace.
• Where to find it: Install Freedam for Chrome from the Chrome Web Store. Then click the Freedam button in Chrome's toolbar, or press Alt+Shift+F, to open the side panel.
• What you'll see: A Connect button, with the address of the Freedam server below it.

How to use it:

1. Open the side panel and click Connect. A Freedam sign-in window opens.
2. Sign in with your Freedam email and password, or with the single sign-on button your workspace uses. New to Freedam? Create a workspace, under the form, opens Freedam's sign-up.
3. If your email belongs to more than one workspace, pick the workspace the extension should access.
4. Review the request and click Allow.
5. The sign-in window closes on its own, and the panel shows your workspace's assets.

Good to know:

• To keep the Freedam button visible, click the puzzle icon in Chrome's toolbar and pin Freedam for Chrome.
• You stay connected when you close the panel or restart Chrome.
• The extension is connected to one workspace at a time. To work from another workspace, disconnect in the settings, then connect again and pick the other workspace.
• Connecting does not change anything in Freedam: no new user is created, and your permissions stay exactly as they are.
• If you close the sign-in window without finishing, the panel shows "Sign-in was cancelled." and the Connect button is still there.

Browse and Search

• Purpose: To find the right asset without leaving the page you are on.
• Where to find it: The search box and the Assets and Collections tabs at the top of the panel.
• What you'll see: The workspace root when you open the panel: its top-level collections under Collections, and its most recent assets under Assets.

How to use it:

1. Open the Collections tab and click a collection to enter it. The breadcrumb above the list takes you back up.
2. Switch to the Assets tab to see the assets of the collection you are in.
3. Click Images or Videos to keep only one kind of asset. Click the pill again to show both.
4. To search, type in the search box. Suggestions appear as you type; choose one with the mouse or the arrow keys, or press Enter to run the full search.
5. A search always covers the whole workspace, whichever collection you were browsing. Clear search returns you to browsing.

Good to know:

• Only images and videos are offered. Documents, audio and other file types stay in Freedam.
• A video appears once Freedam has finished processing it into a format browsers can play.
• The panel respects your Freedam permissions. Assets you cannot open in the Gallery are not listed. An asset you may see but not preview shows without a thumbnail, and an asset you may not download, or would have to request access to, cannot be copied, downloaded or dropped.

Copy, Download and Open

• Purpose: To use an asset in the current page, save it, or see it in Freedam.
• Where to find it: The buttons that appear when you hover a tile in the Assets tab.
• What you'll see: A notice at the bottom of the panel when the image has been copied.

How to use it:

1. Hover an image and click Copy image. The panel shows "Image copied. Paste it anywhere."
2. Click where the image should go in the page, and paste with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac).
3. To save a file to your computer instead, click Download.
4. To see the asset's full details, click Open in Freedam. The asset page opens in a new tab.

Good to know:

• Copying is for images. Videos can be downloaded, or dropped into a page as described below.
• Copy and paste works in any page that accepts pasted images, and needs no extra permission from Chrome.
• The first time an asset is used, Freedam prepares its file. When that takes more than a moment, the panel shows "Preparing" followed by the asset name.
• Pasted and downloaded files are copies. Updating the asset in Freedam later does not change pages that already use it.

Drop Assets into Pages

• Purpose: To add an asset to a page as a file, by dragging it from the panel into an email, an editor or an upload field.
• Where to find it: The settings button at the top right of the panel, then Drag and drop into pages.
• What you'll see: A Turn on button. Chrome then asks you to allow the extension on the sites you visit.

How to use it:

1. Open the settings and click Turn on under Drag and drop into pages.
2. Accept Chrome's request. The panel confirms "Drag and drop into pages is on."
3. Go back to the panel and drag a tile into the page: onto an email draft, an editor, or an upload field.
4. The page receives the file. In an upload field it shows as the selected file; in an editor it is inserted like a file dragged from your computer.

Good to know:

• Chrome does not let a side panel hand a file to a page on its own, which is why this option needs Chrome's permission for the sites you visit. The extension acts only when you drop an asset that you dragged from the Freedam panel. It reads nothing else on the page.
• With the option off, dragging a tile into a page does nothing. Use Copy image and paste instead.
• A page decides which files it accepts. When a page does not take a dropped file, the panel says so; copy the image or download it instead.
• Very large videos cannot be dropped as a file. The panel then asks you to use Download.
• To stop, click Turn off in the same place. Chrome keeps the site access it granted until you remove it under chrome://extensions, in the extension's details.

Settings and Disconnect

• Purpose: To see which account is connected, sign out, or point the extension at another Freedam server.
• Where to find it: The settings button at the top right of the panel.
• What you'll see: The connected workspace and your name, a Disconnect button, the Freedam address field, the Drag and drop into pages option and the extension's version.

How to use it:

1. Click Disconnect to sign out. The extension revokes its access and the panel returns to the Connect screen.
2. If your company runs its own Freedam server, enter its address under Freedam address and click Save. Chrome asks you to allow access to that address, then the panel asks you to connect again.
3. Use the default server returns to the standard Freedam address.

Good to know:

• A connection can also be revoked from the Freedam side, under Connected services in the Security tab of Profile & Settings: click Disconnect next to the app. See User Settings. The panel then returns to the Connect screen the next time it talks to Freedam.
• If your Freedam account is removed from the workspace, or its access is revoked by an administrator, the panel returns to the Connect screen with "Your Freedam session ended."
• The panel follows Chrome's language: English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) or Simplified Chinese.

Troubleshooting

• "Couldn't connect to Freedam": Something interrupted the sign-in. Click Connect again. If your company runs its own server, check the Freedam address in the settings.
• Dragging a tile into a page does nothing: Drag and drop into pages is off. Turn it on in the settings. If it is on and a page still ignores the drop, reload that page and try again.
• "This page did not accept ... as a file": The page does not take dropped files at that spot. Drop onto its upload area, or use Copy image and paste.
• "You are not allowed to download ...": Your Freedam permissions let you see the asset but not download it. Ask an administrator, or request access from the asset's page in Freedam.
• An asset from the Gallery is missing from the panel: Check that it is an image or a video. Videos appear once processing has finished, and the panel lists exactly what your permissions allow.

Related Pages

• Canva for the same library inside the Canva editor.
• Gallery & Search for the search syntax and filters the panel shares with the Gallery.
• Download Dialog for how download permissions, watermarks and terms of use are decided.
• User Settings for connected services and single sign-on.