Asset categories are a way to organize and find assets within Acquia DAM. Think of asset categories like big buckets of assets divided into smaller buckets depending on how you want to browse. Use them for browsing when you're not sure what you need.

Asset categories allow anyone with permission to search for assets unique to their business environment. If you're a DAM admin, you can create and assign assets into categories; arrange, manage, and delete asset categories; organize child asset categories; and determine how the asset category search structure displays.

You'll see parent and child asset categories in the DAM. Parent categories are the top-level category, while child categories are like sub-categories. Parent categories display before child categories. If there are no assets in a parent or child category, the category will not display. 

Parent and child categories display in the Categories menu on the dashboard and in the left navigation in search results. *Note, asset(s) must be assigned to a parent or child category via the Asset Details page for that category to be visible in the category tree. 
 

 

Best practices for asset categories¶

There's no limit to the number of asset categories that can be displayed; however, as a best practice, a few parent categories and one or two child categories are recommended. Fewer categories are easier to use and help with site speed. Anything beyond two should be reviewed as possible metadata fields.

Here are some more best practices to consider when making decisions about the asset categories in your site:

• You just need enough parent categories to provide a starting point for your users to search. Use controlled vocabulary fields in combination with asset categories to allow users to start with a category search and then refine the results with custom metadata filters.
• Assign assets to parent categories that correlate to assets’ unique traits, then use metadata for the attributes that can be applied to multiple assets regardless of their category.
• If the majority of your users are coming from an internal network shared drive or other system using a folder structure, consider using the same or similar structure to ease the transition and build adoption.
• Avoid overlapping asset categories and metadata fields. We recommend using controlled vocabulary fields to avoid redundancy.
• Organize asset categories alphabetically or in order of importance.

 

Create asset categories¶

To create asset categories:

1. Go to the Admin app.
2. Click Asset categories under Search Settings in the left navigation.
3. Click Create parent category.
4. Enter a category name and, if applicable, description. When naming a category, avoid using certain characters that can cause errors. 
   Select to list the category before other categories, at the end of the category list, or to display it alphabetically.
5. Click Create.

 

 

After you've created parent categories, click the plus ( + ) sign by the category name to add a child category or the arrow by the parent to view existing child categories. Child categories are created the same way as parent categories.

The maximum number of categories of any level that can be created is 500. For example, you could have 20 parent categories and 480 child categories. 

 

Parent and child categories can also be created from locations on the site where categories can be edited during upload, from the Selection panel, and on the Asset Details page. As a best practice, communicate your approach to adding categories to fellow DAM admins to keep categories maintainable and scalable as needs change.

 

Edit asset categories¶

If you need to make updates to asset category names, description, or where they display, you can edit the category.

1. Go to the Admin app.
2. Click Asset categories under Search Settings in the left navigation.
3. Click the category name to edit the name, description, or display location.
4. Click Update.

 

 

Delete asset categories¶

Click an asset category name, then Delete category to remove the category. Deleting a category does not delete the assets in that category.

 

Organize categories¶

 

 

To display asset categories alphabetically, check Display alphabetically on the Edit Asset Category page or choose to display the category before another category, then click Update when you're done!

 

 

Asset categories and metadata¶

While both asset categories and metadata can be used as search tools, a strong metadata structure is a best practice recommendation to enhance the searching experience.

Often, child categories can be re-purposed into searchable metadata fields. Start by reviewing child categories and determine if any can be turned into values for one or more new metadata fields. The DAM Customer Support team is available to help assist in this process.

Another approach to consider is adding new controlled vocabulary fields while keeping the category structure intact. An interview with your users can be helpful in guiding your decisions.

 

Assets without categories¶

See a list of asset groups that include assets without categories in the Asset-Related Tasks section of the Admin dashboard. Click the asset group name or View to assign those assets to categories individually from the Asset Details page or in a batch using the Selection panel.