Manage assets using Adobe Asset Link

Use the Adobe Asset Link in-app panel to access assets stored in AEM Assets without leaving your Creative Cloud app. Browse, search, check out, and check in assets from within Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.

Use Adobe Asset Link to improve collaboration between creatives and marketers as part of the content creation process. Connect with Adobe Experience Manager Assets through the Adobe Asset Link panel in the Creative Cloud desktop apps InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, and access content stored in Experience Manager Assets without leaving your Creative Cloud app. You can browse, search, check out, and check in assets from the panel.

About the Adobe Asset Link panel

Adobe Asset Link is installed as an extension in your Creative Cloud apps. In InDesign and Illustrator, open it from Window > Extensions > Adobe Asset Link. In Photoshop, go to Window > Extensions (legacy) > Adobe Asset Link.

You can also configure your workspace to include the Adobe Asset Link panel. See Manage windows and panels.

(A) Displays the location of the file. You can click the drop-down arrow to return to the parent folder.

(B) Allows you to sort the assets or search results alphabetically, by size, and by last modified.

(C) Allows you to search for assets, type a keyword in the search field and press Enter.

(D) Lets you target your search on a particular location, for example, a folder, collection, or the entire Experience Manager repository.

(E) Displays actions that you can perform on the panel, such as configuring the check-out location of assets and managing Experience Manager environments.

(F) Allows you to filter search results across Experience Manager, Creative Cloud, and within specific folders and collections by file type and asset modification date.

(G) Allows you to switch between the list, grid, gallery, and stack views.

(H) Allows you to pin folders you frequently visit, and access them quickly from the Asset Link home screen.

(I) Displays all the assets that have been checked out from Experience Manager Assets.

(J) Displays on an asset's thumbnail if the asset is checked out. It indicates that the asset is locked, and only the person who checked it out can modify it.

(K) Displays the actions that you can perform on the asset. Depending on the status of the asset, the actions include Check-out/Check In, Cancel Check-out, Open, Download, Place, Find Similar, and File Details. Each asset has a context menu.

(L) Reloads the assets or search results in the panel. It can be useful when uploading a new asset or when multiple users work concurrently in the same folder. If the panel displays an error message and you resolve it, click the button to close it and display the relevant context. You need not relaunch the panel.

Use Adobe Asset Link

Use Adobe Asset Link to work with and modify assets stored in your organization's digital asset management system, Adobe Experience Manager Assets. With the in-app panel, you do not need a browser to download or upload assets, and you do not need to sign in to Experience Manager Assets separately. When you sign in to your Creative Cloud app, you are automatically authenticated in Experience Manager in the background through Adobe's identity management system (IMS).

Use the panel to browse or search for assets. To edit an asset, check it out from within your Creative Cloud app, and check it back in after editing, without leaving the app. You can also browse read-only assets in Experience Manager Assets, such as logos, standard designs, or templates, and download and include them in your work, though you cannot modify them. Adobe Asset Link also prevents conflicts by indicating when assets are already checked out, so other users do not overwrite them.

Organizations can store digital assets across multiple Experience Manager deployments, including Experience Manager Assets as a Cloud Service, Experience Manager Assets Essentials, and non-cloud deployments. Each distinct deployment is an Experience Manager environment within Adobe Asset Link. When you launch Adobe Asset Link, you connect automatically to the environment you are entitled to access. If you are entitled to multiple environments, Adobe Asset Link lists them all in the Manage environments view, and you can switch between them, modify the active environment's properties, and add or remove environments.

Open the Manage environments view

To display the Manage environments view, select Manage environments from the Adobe Asset Link panel menu. The view lists the environments added to Adobe Asset Link and whether you are authorized to access each one. A check mark appears next to the environment you are currently accessing.

Switch environment

To switch to a different environment, open the context menu of the target environment, select Switch Environment, then select Switch to confirm. A check mark appears next to the new active environment.

Modify an environment

You can modify the name and URL of any environment added to Adobe Asset Link. Open the context menu of the target environment, select Modify, edit the name and URL, then select Save. The change appears in the Manage environments view.

Add an environment

You can add an environment that your administrator configured for you in the Adobe Asset Link settings file. Select + in the Manage environments view. In the Add Environment dialog, specify a name and the URL of the Experience Manager environment, then select Save. The new environment appears in the view.

Remove an environment

You can remove an environment you no longer need. Open its context menu, select Remove, then select Remove to confirm. The environment is removed from the view.

Search and browse assets

Once the panel is open, it displays all files and folders you have permission to read. You can search and browse digital assets stored in Experience Manager Assets.

• To search for assets, folders, or collections, type a keyword in the search field and press Enter. By default, the search scope is All, a global search that returns all relevant assets, folders, and collections in Experience Manager Assets, not just those in your current location.
• For faster, more targeted results, navigate to the lowest folder or collection that contains what you are looking for, then change the option in the drop-down list to the left of the search field to In Folder or In Collection. The options change dynamically depending on your location.
• To close the search results, select the Close icon in the search field to return to your previous location, or delete the text manually and press Enter.
• To move back up the content hierarchy, use the breadcrumb next to Inside. In the panel, focus the drop-down with the keyboard shortcut Shift + B, navigate with the arrow keys, and press Enter to select a location.
• The selected search option resets to All after you close the search results or navigate to a new folder or collection.
• When you search within a folder, all matching assets and child folders in the current folder are returned. When you search within a collection, only matching assets, folders, and collections that are direct members of the collection are returned.
• If you search for collections from the top level, only individual collections are returned; assets and folders within collections are excluded. In all other cases, all relevant assets, folders, and collections are returned.

Experience Manager search analyzes asset metadata, asset name, and the path of assets, folders, and collections. For best results, follow these guidelines:

• Special characters (periods, underscores, and dashes) split the search into individual terms, each indexed separately. For example, an asset named blue-running-shoe-12.jpg is indexed as blue, running, shoe, 12, and jpg. Phrases entered with special characters split into separate items, each used in the search.
• Use double quotes to search for a specific phrase rather than individual items. For example, "blue running shoe" requires the full phrase, and "shoe 12" returns results with shoe followed by 12, separated by a space or a special character. Because search analyzes metadata fields, a generic numeric search such as 12 can return many results, so enclose the phrase in quotes or keep the number contiguous with a word, for example shoe12.
• Use an asterisk before or after a word as a wildcard. Single words return exact matches only. For example, run* returns running, *run returns outrun, and *run* returns all combinations.
• Use a dash before a word to exclude it. For example, running -shoe returns results that contain running but not shoe.
• Use a plus sign to remove asset tags from the search and limit matches to file names, titles, and metadata. For example, +shoe returns only assets with shoe in their metadata, and excludes assets merely tagged with shoe.

Adobe Stock assets

Adobe Stock images that reside in Experience Manager Assets, licensed or not, appear while you search and browse, in the same folder location as your proprietary assets. Unlicensed Adobe Stock images retain the official Adobe Stock watermark; licensed images do not. All Adobe Stock images include a reference to Adobe Stock in the file name and an Adobe Stock icon marked "St."

Find Similar

You can use an asset to search for visually similar results in Experience Manager Assets. Powered by machine learning with Adobe Sensei, the visual search returns results with aesthetic characteristics related to your target image. Open the asset's context menu and select Find Similar. The Search field becomes a Similar field showing the asset's thumbnail and name, and similar assets appear in the results. To close the results, select the Close icon in the Similar field.

When you find similar assets, results are already sorted by relevance, and no other sorting option is available.

Access collections and smart collections

You can access Experience Manager Assets collections from the Asset Link panel. The panel displays Static Collections and Smart Collections according to your permissions. In the Asset Link panel, go to Experience Manager Assets > Collections. Then, select a collection to view its folders and files.

These collections are not applicable to Experience Manager Assets Essentials.

Upload assets

You can add new assets to Experience Manager Assets from within your creative app. Create assets in Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign, and upload them to Experience Manager Assets. With the asset open in your creative app, in the Asset Link panel, go to Experience Manager Assets > Files, and select a folder to upload the asset to. Then, select Upload Asset > Upload.

If an asset with the same name exists in the folder, the Name Conflict dialog appears. Select Create Version to save the asset as a new version of the existing asset, or select Keep Both to keep the existing asset and upload the new one with 1 appended to the name. For example, if the existing asset is summer_brochure.jpeg, the new asset is named summer_brochure1.jpeg. To see the new asset, select Refresh, or navigate away from the folder and return.

Sort and filter assets

To sort assets, select the Sort drop-down list and choose relevance, alphabetical, size, or last modified. By default, Adobe Asset Link sorts alphabetically, and sorts search results by relevance.

To filter assets, select the filters icon, choose an option (file type or last modified), and select Apply. You can also filter the results of a search. When filters are applied, a blue dot appears next to the Filters icon, and they remain active as you browse until you clear them. To clear filters, select the Filters icon, select Clear All, then select Apply.

Use an asset

Adobe Asset Link provides several ways to use an asset in your work:

• To add an asset to the document you are working on, drag it to the artboard. This embeds the asset in the document.
• Open the asset's context menu and select Place.
• Select an InDesign frame, then drag the asset or place it from the context menu. This embeds the asset in the document.
• To download a copy, open the asset's context menu and select Download. The file downloads to your default download folder.

Place Linked

When working in InDesign, you can link directly to assets in Experience Manager Assets with the Place Linked option in the context menu. If the original asset is modified in Experience Manager Assets, refresh the link so your InDesign document includes the latest version. To embed assets directly instead, use the Place Copy option.

Place Linked (with options)

In InDesign version 18.4 and later, you can link to assets with the Place Linked with Options menu, which supports file formats such as PDF, AI, PSD, and PNG. Based on the format imported, the corresponding Import Options panel appears. Learn how to copy and insert different file formats. If the original asset is modified in Experience Manager Assets, refresh the link. To embed assets directly, use Place Copy.

Place Copy

Place Copy embeds a copy of the asset in your InDesign layout after downloading the binaries to your local system. Adobe Asset Link does not maintain a link between the embedded copy and the original. If the original is modified in Experience Manager Assets, delete the embedded asset from the InDesign file and re-embed it from Experience Manager Assets.

Referenced asset status in the Links panel

When you reference an asset, Adobe Asset Link maintains a link to the original in Experience Manager Assets. Check whether the original has changed by reviewing the Status column in the InDesign Links panel (Window > Links). The following statuses apply:

Refresh links

You can manually refresh the links in an InDesign document checked out via the Adobe Asset Link panel. InDesign refreshes the links automatically at regular intervals, and the Refresh Links menu lets you refresh at any time. To refresh, select Refresh Links from the context menu on the Asset Link panel. Once complete, the updated link status appears in the Links panel.

Relink from Adobe Asset Link

You can relink any checked-out file from the Asset Link panel. When you open an InDesign document from the panel, you may be prompted for missing links. Select Relink from Adobe Asset Link using one of these methods:

• Select the Relink from Adobe Asset Link icon in the panel toolbar.
• Right-click the missing asset and select Relink from Adobe Asset Link.

In the Relink dialog, select the required asset and choose the options: With options, applies relink settings based on your selection, and Relink other missing links automatically relinks other missing assets from the same Experience Manager folder that match by filename. Select Relink to complete. After relinking, the missing-asset entries in the Links panel update to reflect the resolved links.

For-placement-only (FPO) renditions in InDesign

If the Experience Manager server is configured to generate FPOs, low-resolution renditions are placed in your InDesign document when you use the Place Linked option. FPO renditions are lightweight substitutes with the same aspect ratio but a smaller size. InDesign supports importing FPO renditions for these image types only: JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, PSD, and BMP. If an FPO rendition is not available for an asset, the original high-resolution asset is referenced instead. For FPO images, the status FPO appears in the InDesign Links panel.

To replace an FPO image with the original, choose Download Original from the pop-up menu. After the original downloads, choose Replace FPO With Original, or double-click the FPO icon. To replace multiple FPO images with their originals, choose Download all Originals, then choose Replace all FPOs With Originals.

Importing high-resolution images (300 dpi) with Place Copy or Place Linked may make the app appear unresponsive, because each file downloads locally, and a slow network to the Experience Manager server can cause long waits. If FPOs are available, you can reference multiple FPO images at once and work in phases, then download the original high-resolution assets once the design is finalized. You can drop FPOs anywhere on the InDesign page, or reference them within a frame to place the FPO inside the frame.

If you create a package for an InDesign 2020 document that has broken links, the Links and Images panel appears instead of the Adobe Asset Link panel (in Relink mode). When you attempt to relink from the dialog, the local directory opens.

Check out an asset

To modify an asset, check it out from Experience Manager Assets and begin editing. Select More Options > Check Out. The asset is checked out from Experience Manager Assets, its thumbnail shows a checked-out status icon, and it is saved into a local folder on your device.

Check in an asset

After editing an asset in your Creative Cloud app, check it back in with versioning and comments. Select More Options > Check In. Add your comments and select Check In. The comments appear in Experience Manager Assets along with the asset version.

Pin and unpin folders

You can pin frequently visited folders and access them from the Adobe Asset Link home screen. Navigate to the folder you want to pin. Then, select the icon next to the folder, then select Pin to quick access. The folder is added to pinned items.

To unpin a folder, go to the My pinned items tab, select the icon next to the folder, and select Unpin from quick access.

Cancel a check-out

To discard the changes made to a checked-out asset, cancel the check-out. This releases and unlocks the asset for other users, and the changes are lost. Select More Options> Cancel Check Out. Then select Continue. The asset is released and removed from the check-out location, and the thumbnail no longer shows a checked-out status icon.

View file details

You can access file details for assets in Experience Manager Assets, such as the thumbnail, basic metadata, and versions, from the panel. Open the context menu and select File Details, or select the asset's thumbnail or name in the panel. To view all versions of an asset, select the Version list.

Enable agency access

With Adobe Asset Link, brands can grant their agencies access to project assets by adding the agencies as a trusted domain in their environment. For step-by-step instructions, see Authorized domains. If the domain trust does not comply with company policy, the company must provision a Creative Cloud for enterprise seat for the agency so its assets belong to the company.