Collections

Collections provide a flexible way to organize your digital assets into logical groups. Whether you are managing a small set of files or a complex hierarchy of project folders, the Collections feature allows you to categorize, search, and perform bulk operations on your assets efficiently.

With Collections, you can create nested structures, filter by collection types, share work with teammates or external guests, and let Freedam route newly uploaded assets into the right place automatically.

Freedam supports several kinds of collections. "Shared" collections are organization-wide and can be published, browsed and shared with teammates or external guests. "My Collections" are a protected personal workspace: anything you file here is automatically private, owned only by you, and cannot be made public or moved underneath another user's personal collection - even by an administrator. New rows created by bulk actions under "My Collections" stay locked to the original creator.

New collections pages in preview. A new way to browse collections is available next to this classic page: picture tiles, one page per level, and My collections. Click Try the new collections in the banner at the top of the Collections page to switch, and Back to the classic page to return. This page describes the classic page. The new pages are described in Browsing the Catalogue, The Collection Page, Managing the Catalogue and My Collections.

Page Overview

• Purpose: To provide a central hub for viewing and organizing asset groups.
• When to use it: Use this page when you need to browse your folder structure, move assets between groups, or create, edit, reorder and delete collections.
• What you can do here:
  • Search for specific collections using smart suggestions.
  • Filter collections by their assigned Type.
  • Create, edit and delete collections from the tree.
  • Reorder the collections of a level by drag-and-drop.
  • Open a selected collection to work with its assets, metadata, attachments, shares, subscribers and custom page.

Page Layout

• Top bar: Contains the search field, the Type filter, and the Reorder button. This area also displays breadcrumbs to help you navigate through nested collection levels.
• Tree sidebar: A grouped tree of every collection you can see, organized by type. Nodes expand and collapse on click. The selected collection is highlighted, and collections that colleagues shared with you are grouped under Shared Collections. Point at a row to see its buttons: Create child collection, Edit collection and Delete collection, each shown when you may use it.
• Main area: Displays the contents of the selected collection - its cover, description, asset grid or list, and the toolbar of collection-level actions. When nothing is selected, you get an empty-state landing panel.
• Selection bar: Appears at the bottom of the page when you tick assets inside a collection. See Bulk Actions On Assets Inside A Collection.

Collection Types

Collection Types are pre-configured by an administrator and decide how each collection behaves: which custom metadata fields it shows, how deep it can nest, what the sub-levels are called, and whether assets can live at every level. Once types exist, everyone picks from the same menu when creating a new collection, so your workspace stays consistent across teams.

Common marketing-oriented examples:

• Campaign - top level is the campaign name, second level splits by channel (social, web, print), third level by deliverable. Includes metadata like launch date, market and brand.
• Shoot - date, location, talent and photographer fields. Usually one or two levels deep (shoot > day).
• Project / Client Work - client > project > phase hierarchy with budget, project lead and delivery date fields.
• Release / Asset Drop - flat, one level, used to stage a public drop with a release date and an embargo flag.
• My Collections - a special personal type (see below) available to every user.

The "Type" dropdown in the top bar filters the view to a single type. Clearing the filter returns the full, grouped tree.

My Collections

"My Collections" is a built-in type that everyone gets automatically. Think of it as your personal scratchpad:

• It is always present - you cannot delete it.
• Everything you create under it is private to you. Other users, including admins, never see it in their tree.
• It cannot be made public or moved under someone else's tree. There is no visibility control under My Collections. You can still share one of your personal collections yourself, with colleagues or through a link.
• Every collection you create here stays owned by you, even when administrators run bulk operations that would otherwise reassign ownership.
• You can freely nest sub-collections under My Collections and drag assets between them.

Use My Collections for work in progress, a shortlist you're pulling together for review, or a personal bookmark folder of assets you reference often.

Hierarchy

Collections are hierarchical. Each type declares how many levels it supports and what each level is called (for example: Campaign > Channel > Deliverable). Within those levels:

• A collection can contain any number of sub-collections.
• Each sub-collection can contain its own sub-collections, up to the depth the type allows.
• Every level can independently allow or disallow direct assets and further children, so a type can require assets to live only at the leaf level, for example.
• Metadata fields can be scoped to specific levels - a "launch date" might appear on a Campaign but not on an individual Deliverable.

The tree sidebar shows the full structure, grouped by type at the top. Expand arrows reveal sub-collections; children load lazily the first time you open a parent. A node's badge shows the number of direct children. When a collection lives inside a hierarchy, the main view shows breadcrumbs along the top so you always know where you are and can jump back up.

Main Features

Search and Suggestions

• What it's for: Quickly finding a collection by name without browsing the entire tree.
• Typical use: Type the first few letters of a project name to see a list of matching collections.
• Result: The main area updates to show only collections matching your search terms.

Collection Reordering

• What it's for: Changing the display order of the collections of one level.
• Typical use: Click Reorder, then drag a high-priority collection to the top of its level.
• Result: Save and Cancel replace the Reorder button. Click Save to keep the new order.

Detailed Feature Documentation

Smart Search

• Purpose: To locate collections instantly using real-time suggestions.
• Where to find it: In the Top bar, look for the "Search..." input field with the magnifying glass icon.
• What you'll see: As you type, a "Suggestions" dropdown appears below the input. Selecting a suggestion will immediately filter the page.

How to use it:

1. Click into the Search... field.
2. Type the name of the collection you are looking for.
3. Use the Arrow Keys to highlight a suggestion and press Enter, or click a suggestion with your mouse.
4. Click the X icon inside the search bar to clear your search and return to the full list.

Bulk Actions On Assets Inside A Collection

When you open a collection and tick one or more of its assets, the selection bar appears at the bottom of the page, centred. It is the same bar as in the Gallery: see Selection bar. It shows the number of selected assets, which you can click to list them, then these buttons:

• Download - bundle the selected assets into a ZIP for download.
• Share - create a share link for the selected assets. See Share Links.
• Add to Collection - add the selected assets to another collection, or to a new one with New collection….
• Edit Metadata - apply bulk metadata changes or open the spreadsheet view. See Bulk Metadata Edit.

The More menu holds the other actions, in groups:

• Export - export the selected assets as a ZIP, PDF or CSV. See Export.
• Generate from Template - generate branded images from a template, when the selection contains at least one image. See Template Generation.
• New collection from selection - build a new collection that already contains the selected assets. In the dialog, the wand button (Generate name using AI) suggests a name from the selected assets' AI captions; you can edit it before clicking Create Collection. If none of the selected assets has a caption yet, or the AI returns nothing usable, you are told so and can type a name yourself. Suggesting a name requires the right to create collections.
• Remove from Collection - take the assets out of the current collection without deleting the underlying files.
• Link Assets / Unlink Assets - connect two or more assets as related items, or remove links. See Linked and Related Assets.
• Add Attachments - attach supporting files (briefs, contracts) to the selected assets.
• Manage Rights - attach or detach a rights policy on the selected assets. See Asset Detail.
• Change Status - the workflow transitions available for the selection.
• Delete, at the bottom.

Actions that aren't relevant to your current selection or permission set are hidden. The X of the bar clears the selection.

The asset cards are the Gallery cards. When Workflow status is switched on in your display preferences, an asset that follows a workflow shows its status as a pill on its card.

Manual Reordering

• Purpose: To customize the sequence in which collections appear.
• Where to find it: Click Reorder in the top bar. Reordering is offered in the groups of collections where you may edit every collection, because saving sends the order of the whole group. This needs Edit own collections, and Manage other people's collections for collections you did not create. Without such a group, the Reorder button is not shown.
• What you'll see: Drag handles appear on the collections you may reorder, and Save and Cancel replace the Reorder button. A collection you moved is highlighted until you save.

How to use it:

1. Click Reorder.
2. Drag a collection by its handle to a new position among the collections of the same level.
3. Review your changes.
4. Click Save to apply the changes or Cancel to revert to the original order.

A drag only changes the order inside one level: a collection cannot be dropped into another parent. To move a collection under another parent, click Edit collection on its row and change Parent Collection. You can reorder several levels before saving: all pending changes are saved together when you click Save.

Reorder Assets and Group Them in Sections

Inside a collection, you can put assets in a custom order and, when the collection's type defines them, group them into named sections such as "Hero shots", "Packshots" and "Lifestyle".

1. Open the collection and click Reorder. The grid view is used, and a banner says "Reorder Mode: Drag assets to reorder them. Changes are saved automatically."
2. Drag an asset to its new position. To move it to another section, drop it among that section's assets, or on the section's drop area ("Drop assets here" when the section is empty).
3. Click Done.

Every drop is saved immediately, and the collection switches to its custom order. Outside reorder mode, each section shows as a heading with its number of assets; assets not in any section appear under Ungrouped. Share links of the collection show the same sections.

• You need the Edit own collections permission, and you must have created the collection or hold Manage other people's collections. The Reorder and Add Assets buttons are hidden on collections shared with you and for Public Portal guests. On a collection that someone else created and that you may not manage, they are shown inactive, with a tooltip.
• Sections are defined per collection type by an administrator, under Asset sections in Collection Types. Deleting a section moves its assets to Ungrouped; no asset is deleted.
• In reorder mode, Ungrouped is always shown, even when it is empty, so you can drag an asset back out of every section. Outside reorder mode an empty Ungrouped is hidden.
• If a move cannot be saved, an error message appears and the previous arrangement is reloaded.
• Assets that share the same sort value are listed newest first, as in the Gallery.
• A collection shows 100 assets per page. Arranging the assets of one page puts them first in their sections; the assets on other pages keep their existing order after them.

Cover Image, Description, and Custom Metadata

Every collection carries a handful of presentation fields that make it easier to recognise and browse:

• Name and Description - a short label and an optional descriptive paragraph. The description shows as a tooltip on the breadcrumb and as rich text in any public page you create from the collection.
• Cover image - a thumbnail that represents the collection in tiles, share previews and public pages. You can pick any asset already inside the collection as the cover.
• Creator avatar - a small avatar in the header shows who created the collection, with a tooltip giving their full name.
• Custom metadata fields - the fields defined by the collection's Type (see above). They appear in the Metadata panel on the right and are scoped to the level of the collection you are viewing, so a campaign-level field won't appear on a deliverable.

Open the Metadata button in the header to review or edit these custom fields. Required fields are marked with an asterisk and block saving until filled in. Vocabulary-backed fields (country, brand, market) render as tags pulled from your managed vocabularies.

Attachments

Use the Attachments button in the header to attach supporting files to a collection itself - typical examples are a campaign brief, a creative deck, or a shot list. Attachments sit next to the collection rather than inside its asset grid, so they won't be returned by an asset search or included when someone downloads the collection's assets. Only the person who created the collection can upload attachments, and each attachment can be public or private. See Attachments.

Comments

Use the Comments button in the header to discuss the collection with your team. Mention a colleague with @ to email them; the collection's creator is notified of every new comment. See Comments.

Custom Pages

Collections can have a published landing page attached to them, used to present the collection as a narrative (a campaign hub, a brand guide section, a press kit). From the header you'll see one of:

• Create Page - opens the page builder with the collection pre-wired as the source.
• Open Page - reopens the existing page for editing.
• View Page - available once the page is published; opens the public-facing URL.

Creating a custom page requires the Custom Pages feature to be enabled on your workspace; if it isn't, clicking the button surfaces an upgrade prompt.

Sharing

Collections support two distinct sharing flows. Both start from the Share button in the header of a shared collection: pick People in your workspace for an internal share, or one of the three link options for an external share link.

An internal share needs the Share own collections permission. An external share link needs Share own collections and Share publicly: without Share publicly, the dialog offers only People in your workspace. Both apply to collections you created, unless you also hold Manage other people's collections.

Internal Sharing

Internal sharing gives named workspace members and user groups access to a collection they wouldn't otherwise see. This is the right choice when you're collaborating with colleagues or people already set up in Freedam.

When you create an internal share you can:

• Pick any number of individual users, any number of user groups, or a mix of both. Group membership is evaluated at access time, so adding someone to a group later still gives them access.
• Add an optional personal note that goes into the invitation email.
• Set an optional expiry date and time. Without one, access is open-ended.

Once created, an internal share can be:

• Paused - recipients keep seeing it in their "Shared with me" list but temporarily lose access. Great for a short holiday freeze without dropping everyone and re-inviting them.
• Activated - re-enables a paused share.
• Extended - push the expiry date out without creating a new share.
• Edited - add or remove users and groups, or change the note.
• Revoked - permanently ends the share. The row is kept for the audit log but no one can open it.

Freedam emails recipients when they are added, when a share is extended or edited, when it is paused or resumed, and when access is revoked or expires. An Audit Log attached to each share records every change and every access event - who opened the collection, when, and from where - so you always have a history of who has seen the material.

External Share Links

An external share link lets people outside your workspace open the collection, and all its sub-collections, in a browser without an account. In the share dialog, choose who can open the link (Anyone with the link, Only people you add or Anyone with the password), whether recipients can download and at which file size, a watermark, and when the link expires. More options holds a start date and a readable link address.

An external link publishes the assets outside the workspace, so it needs Share publicly in addition to Share own collections, and you must be allowed to download the original of every asset in the collection. The full set of options is described in Share Links, and what recipients see in Receiving a Share.

Viewing And Managing Shares

Click View Shares in the header to open the Collection Shares panel. The person who created the collection can open it, and so can anyone who may share it.

• The Internal tab lists shares with Freedam users and groups, with Edit, Pause, Activate and Revoke actions.
• The External tab lists share links with their access type, status, views and downloads. Use Change Expiry or Extend Expiry to move the expiry date, Revoke to stop a link, and Activate to turn a revoked link back on.

Subscriptions

Anyone with access to a collection can subscribe to it to stay in the loop. Use the Subscribe toggle in the collection header; the icon fills in once you are subscribed, and a small number next to it shows the total subscriber count on that collection (visible only to the creator and people who can manage it).

What subscribers receive:

• An in-app notification, and an email, when new assets are added to the collection - whether by a person uploading manually or by an automation rule routing assets in.
• The email lists up to five of the newly added assets by title or filename, and links back to the collection.
• When an automation rule is the source of the new assets, the email says so explicitly, so subscribers can tell curated additions apart from automated ones.

Managing your subscriptions:

• The Subscribe toggle on any collection turns the subscription on or off for that one collection.
• Every subscription email carries two one-click links: Unsubscribe from this collection and Unsubscribe from all collection notifications. Both are signed, so they work even if you aren't logged in when you click them - handy for unsubscribing straight from your inbox on a phone.
• After using an unsubscribe link you land on a confirmation page listing the collections you are still subscribed to, with a one-click option to resubscribe if you changed your mind.

For collection creators: the subscriber count shown on your own collections lets you gauge interest. There's no subscriber list exposed to regular users - we only show numbers - to protect people's privacy.

Automatic Assignment by Path

Freedam can file newly uploaded assets into the right collection automatically, without manual sorting.

An administrator sets up rules that turn asset metadata (dates, file names, categories, custom fields) into a folder path. As each asset is ingested, Freedam walks the path, creates any missing sub-collections along the way, and files the asset at the leaf.

A marketer-friendly example: an administrator configures a rule for a Campaigns type that routes assets to Campaigns / {year from creation date} / {campaign name from metadata}. When the creative team uploads a photo tagged with campaign name "Spring Launch" in April 2026, Freedam:

1. Finds or creates the top-level "Campaigns" collection.
2. Finds or creates "2026" under it.
3. Finds or creates "Spring Launch" under that.
4. Drops the photo into "Spring Launch".

A single asset can match more than one rule and be filed into several collections at once. If one rule fails (missing metadata, a path it isn't allowed to create), the other rules still run and the failure is logged for administrators to review. Subscribers to the destination collection receive a notification that marks the addition as "automatically added by a rule", so they can tell curated drops apart from hand-picked ones.

Paths are built from asset properties using a simple placeholder syntax - for example, typing Shoots / {year:created_at} / {brand} produces Shoots / 2026 / Acme - but you never need to write those yourself unless you're the administrator setting up the rules.

Permissions At A Glance

Who can do what depends on the permissions an administrator has granted. Broadly:

Permission	What it allows
View collections	Open the Collections section. You see public collections, the ones you created and the ones shared with you.
Create collections	Create collections. Creating one inside an existing collection requires having created that collection.
Edit own collections	Rename, move and reorganise the collections you created, and add or remove their assets.
Delete own collections	Delete the collections you created. Collections with assets, child collections or active shares must be emptied first.
Share own collections	Share the collections you created with users and groups of the workspace. A link for people outside the workspace also needs Share publicly.
Manage other people's collections	Extend the edit, delete and share permissions you hold to collections created by other people. It allows nothing on its own. It never covers another person's personal collections, nor a collection you see only because it was shared with you.

Without Manage other people's collections, the edit and delete buttons of the tree are inactive on collections you did not create, with a tooltip explaining why. The full list of permissions is in the permission reference.

Administrators also manage the Collection Types themselves (their metadata schema, hierarchy levels and colour) - that screen lives under the Admin area and is outside a regular user's view.

Complete Workflows

Workflow: Filtering by Collection Type

• Goal: View only specific types of collections (e.g., only "Project" folders).
• Prerequisites: Collection types must be defined by an administrator.

Steps:

1. Locate the Type dropdown (labeled "Type" by default) in the top bar.
2. Click the dropdown to see available categories.
3. Select a specific type (e.g., "Marketing" or "Archive").
4. To reset, click the X icon next to the filter (Clear filters and search).

• Expected result: The list updates to show only collections assigned to that specific type.

Workflow: Reorganizing Folder Hierarchy

• Goal: Move a sub-collection into a different parent collection.
• Prerequisites: Edit own collections on the collection being moved and Create collections on the destination. Both must be collections you created, unless you hold Manage other people's collections.

Steps:

1. Point at the collection in the tree and click Edit collection.
2. Under Parent Collection, choose the new parent.
3. Click Update Collection.

• Expected result: The collection is now nested under the new parent in the tree.

Workflow: Inviting A Colleague To A Campaign

• Goal: Let a teammate work inside a campaign collection without giving them a public link.
• Prerequisites: The Share own collections permission. You created the collection, or you hold Manage other people's collections.

Steps:

1. Select the collection in the tree.
2. Click Share in the header.
3. Keep People in your workspace selected. Type a name under People or groups and pick from the suggestions. Repeat for each person or group.
4. Optionally add a Message and choose when the access ends under Access ends.
5. Click Share.

• Expected result: A confirmation toast appears, the invited people receive an email, and the share shows up in View Shares with an active status.

Workflow: Publishing A Public Review Link

• Goal: Send an external reviewer a time-limited link to browse the collection.
• Prerequisites: The Share own collections and Share publicly permissions, on a collection you created.

Steps:

1. Open the collection and click Share.
2. Choose Only people you add and type your reviewer's email address, or Anyone with the link for an open link.
3. Under What they can do, choose View only or View and download. Under Link expires, pick In 7 days, In 30 days or a date.
4. Click Create link, then Copy link.

• Expected result: The reviewer receives an invitation email and can open the collection in a browser. The link appears on the External tab of View Shares, with its views and downloads.

Integration Points

Collections are a hub that ties into several other parts of Freedam:

• Gallery search - any collection appears as a filter facet in the main asset gallery. Selecting a collection facet narrows the gallery to just the assets inside it (and, optionally, its children).
• Automation Rules - the rule builder can use "add to collection" and "route via path" as actions, so collections become targets for any workflow you define.
• Imports and bulk uploads - when you start a large upload you can pick a destination collection up-front; Freedam shows a banner inside that collection while the import is running and refreshes the grid as new assets land.
• Brand Guide and Studio - Brand Guide pages, Studio templates and public share pages can all pull their content directly from a collection, so curating one folder updates every surface at once.
• Custom Pages - any shared collection can be promoted into a published landing page, inheriting the collection's cover, description and asset grid.

Tips and Best Practices

• Use Suggestions: Instead of typing the full name and pressing enter, use the arrow keys to pick from the search suggestions for faster navigation.
• Leave Reorder mode: Click Save or Cancel once you are done reordering. Until then the new order is not saved.
• Check Permissions: If an edit or delete button of the tree is inactive, hover over it. A tooltip explains that you can only change collections you own.
• Prefer My Collections for work in progress: Things that aren't ready for the team yet belong in your personal space. Promote them to a shared collection only when you want others to see them.
• Pause, don't revoke: If a review window slips by a week, pause an internal share, or extend the expiry of an external link, instead of revoking it. Recipients don't have to be re-invited, and the audit log stays intact.
• Lean on types: Creating a consistent set of Collection Types for your team is the single biggest quality-of-life improvement - metadata stays consistent, filters become useful, and automations can target types reliably.

Common Pitfalls

"I deleted a collection - did my assets vanish?"

No. Deleting a collection only removes the grouping, it does not delete the underlying assets. The assets remain in the gallery and in any other collection they belong to. You have to explicitly delete assets from the gallery to remove them from Freedam.

"I can't share my personal collection"

A personal collection is private until you share it, and only you can share it: select it and click Share. This needs the Share own collections permission, and Share publicly for a link sent outside the workspace. Nobody else can share your personal collections, administrators included. A personal collection cannot be made public.

"The Delete button is greyed out"

Collections have to be emptied before they can be deleted. Move or remove any assets, delete or re-parent any sub-collections, and revoke any active shares, then try again.

"I reordered collections but nothing saved"

Reordering stays pending until you click Save. Leaving the page or clicking Cancel reverts every pending change. The collections you moved are highlighted in the tree until you save.

Keyboard And Pointer Shortcuts

• Click a tree node - selects it and loads its contents in the main area.
• Click the expand arrow - opens a branch without changing the selection.
• Drag a collection by its handle - reorders it among the collections of the same level (Reorder mode).
• Drop files on the grid - uploads them into the currently selected collection. A dropped folder uploads the files in it, subfolders included, without the folder structure.
• Arrow keys in the search box - navigate suggestions; Enter opens the highlighted one; Escape closes the dropdown.
• Shift-click assets in the grid - range-selects a run of assets for bulk actions.

Troubleshooting

Issue: Cannot see the "Reorder" button

• Symptoms: The Reorder button is missing.
• Cause: Your role does not include Edit own collections, or every level holds a collection created by someone else and your role does not include Manage other people's collections.
• Fix: Ask your administrator to add the missing permission to your role.

Issue: "Save" button is disabled

• Symptoms: You are in Reorder mode, but you cannot click Save.
• Cause: No collection has been moved yet, or a bulk operation is still processing in the background.
• Fix: Drag a collection to a new position, or wait for the bulk operation to end, then save.

Issue: Search returns no results

• Symptoms: You type a known collection name, but the list is empty.
• Cause: You may have an active "Type" filter that is excluding the collection you are searching for.
• Fix: Click the X icon in the top bar to clear all filters and search queries.

Issue: Subscribers say they aren't getting emails

• Symptoms: A subscriber reports no notifications after new assets were added.
• Cause: The user may have clicked "Unsubscribe from all" in a previous email, or their email provider has filtered the notification as promotional.
• Fix: Ask them to resubscribe from the collection header, and to check their spam folder. The in-app bell icon still shows the notification even when email delivery is blocked.

Issue: "Share" button is missing

• Symptoms: No Share option in the header.
• Cause: Your role does not include Share own collections, the collection was created by someone else and your role does not include Manage other people's collections, or the collection was shared with you.
• Fix: Ask your administrator for the missing permission, or ask the person who created the collection to share it.