Last updated: Jul-30-2024
There are several ways in which you can determine the behavior of your DAM. Some of the settings described determine behavior across your entire account, and some of the settings are specific to each product environment:
-
From the Media Library, you can determine options per product environment:
- Set your Media Library preferences for the behavior and/or appearance of the Media Library.
- Extend the core functionality of your DAM by adding apps from the App Marketplace.
-
From the Cloudinary Console Settings pages, you can:
- Determine options for the entire account, including My Profile for editing personal information, as well as the Media Library display language, dark mode settings, email preferences, and two-factor authentication for your personal login (all user roles can access this page); Account settings for upgrading your plan and updating your account details, Product Environment settings for adding product environments or editing the ones already in your account; User settings for creating and managing users in your account; and Account Security for enabling or requiring SAML login and two-factor authentication for the users in the account.
- Determine options per product environment, including Upload settings that influence how media is uploaded, stored, and delivered in your product environment; Optimization settings that determine the quality of the images and videos delivered programmatically; Webhook Notification settings that allow developers to receive programmatic responses at specified URLs that notify when certain DAM operations and API method calls are completed; Security settings that affect how assets are shared, accessed and delivered in your product environment; and API Key settings that enable developers on your team to manage API key and secret pairs, which allow programmatic access to your product environment.
Media Library Preferences
The Media Library Preferences enable you to control the behavior and/or appearance of the Media Library for a product environment, such as determining the way custom metadata is displayed and maintained or what is included in the results when you run an Advanced Search. The Media Library Preferences are divided into separate pages by topic: Display, Upload, Search, Public Sharing and Early Access.
- Media Library Preferences are available only for users with a Master admin role. Changes to these options apply for all users in the product environment.
- Most of the options in the Upload page of the Media Library Preferences impact only the Media Library experience. However, the Keep existing metadata when uploading newer versions of an asset option impacts both Media Library uploads and the Cloudinary Upload API. Therefore, if your organization also uses the Cloudinary Upload API, make sure that all relevant developers are in sync on the settings of this option, as changes to it could impact applications in production.
To access the Media Library Preferences, select the relevant page in the Preferences section of the Product Navigation menu. For example, here's the Display page:
After you modify and save modifications on any page in the Media Library Preferences, logged in users may need to refresh their browsers to apply the changes.
The defaults in the Media Library Preferences provide a good starting place for your Digital Asset Management activities. However, each organization should review all the available options in the Media Library Preferences pages to determine the options that best answer its needs.
Display
Navigate to the Display page of the Media Library Preferences to set the following display options:
Default landing page
Select the default Media Library page (Home, Assets or Folders) that users of your account will see upon opening the Media Library.
Localization
In the Media Library Preferences, you can customize the user interface for your product environment by setting the default display language. The selected language becomes the default language for the Media Library, Manage Structured Metadata page (admins only), as well as for publicly shared collections and media portals.
Individual users in the DAM as well as viewers of publicly shared collections and media portals can switch languages in the relevant interface.
For users within the DAM, the language they select is a global setting that applies to all product environments they have access to.
Primary attribute
Setting a field as the primary attribute ensures its constant visibility to users. This displays the attribute's value:
- Overlaid on asset previews on homepage search results.
- Overlaid on asset previews in Card and Mosaic views and as the first column in List view within Assets, Folders, Collections, and Moderation.
- On the asset management drill-down page.
Furthermore, you can color-code the attribute's possible values (list values) to make it easier to identify specific states.
For example, if there's a structured metadata field or a built-in asset attribute like access control with crucial status that needs to be readily visible in the Media Library, you can designate it as the Primary attribute.
Customize data in List and Card views
As an administrator, you can select key asset details to be visible for your users in List and Card views (up to 4). This empowers users to easily access crucial information. Users maintain the flexibility to select alternative details from the Media Library, if needed.
Here's an example of cards with selected key asset details displayed:
Hochladen
Navigate to the Upload page of the Media Library Preferences to determine whether:
Upload preset selection is required on upload, and whether the upload preset determines the destination folder when the upload is dragged to a different folder.
Structured metadata is always requested on upload or only when there are mandatory fields without default values.
Existing tags and contextual metadata content is kept when assets are overwritten.
Suche
Navigate to the Search page of the Media Library Preferences to set the following search options:
Global search customization
Assets are included in global search results when the searched value is detected within one of the specific areas listed in this section of the Media Library Preferences. For example, conducting a global search for 'shop' retrieves assets with matches in their tags, display names, containing folder, etc. You can optionally choose to include Structured metadata and Embedded metadata in the search.
Advanced Search filter options
You can select and order up to 10 filters that will be permanently displayed in the Advanced Search. The filters that you don't select are still accessible and can be added by the user while performing a search.
Branding
Navigate to the Branding page of the Media Library Preferences to customize your Console and shared collections. You can select a primary color and logo, ensuring they resonate with your brand. Your selections apply to all account users and the collections they share.
Opt for a color that contrasts well with both light (white) and dark (black) modes (shared collection web pages have a dark mode option) and remains meaningful to your audience. For instance, avoid colors like red, typically reserved for denoting errors.
You can adjust the color and logo selection at any point.
Enterprise plans:
- Console branding is a premium offering for our Assets product, and its availability depends on your account setup. If console branding is not yet enabled for your account and you'd like to enable it, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
Free plans:
- This feature is unavailable. For more options and information, contact support.
Homepage
Navigate to the Homepage page of the Media Library Preferences to personalize the homepage within the Media Library's Home tab. You can select an image for the top display and a logo and choose up to five featured searches to be showcased on the homepage. These featured searches are predefined and automatically available in your product environment.
Public sharing
Navigate to the Public Sharing page of the Media Library Preferences to set the following options for your publicly shared collections:
Publicly shared collection webpage customization
From the Media Library preferences, you can customize the dedicated webpages shared with stakeholders outside your organization via publicly shared collections and media portals.
Enterprise plans:
- The Media portals feature is currently not at enterprise-grade level and is not available for activation. If you're looking for a media portal solution, we're here to help. Contact our Enterprise Support and Sales team or your Customer Support Manager for more information.
- The collections feature is a premium offering, and its availability depends on your account setup. If collections is not yet enabled for your account and you'd like to enable it, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
Free plans:
- The Media Portals feature is currently not available for activation.
- The number of collections you can have is limited. For more options and information, contact support.
Download options for external sharing
You can select whether or not the option to download original images and videos will be displayed in publicly shared collection webpages, giving you control over who can access your original files.
-
If you select Remove option to download original images and videos:
- The option to download original images and videos won't be offered.
- This admin setting can't be overwritten when publishing an individual collection or creating a media portal.
-
If you deselect Remove option to download original images and videos:
- The option to download originals will be offered.
- The option to download original images and videos can still be removed when publishing a specific collection or creating a media portal.
-
Whether you select or deselect Remove option to download original images and videos:
- Original images and videos can be previewed.
- The option to download original raw assets is offered.
Display attributes in publicly shared collections
You can select which asset attributes, including structured metadata fields, will be available in dedicated webpages for publicly shared collections. These attributes serve several purposes:
- Enhancing asset filtering within the shared collection. Filtered results can then be downloaded for improved efficiency when using the publicly shared collections.
- Providing summary information about each asset.
Ensure that the selected attributes that don't expose sensitive information outside of your organization.
Early access
Navigate to the Early Access page of the Media Library Preferences to enable features for your team early, before they become available automatically.
You can opt-in to:
-
Advanced Editor (Transformation Builder) with an improved, simple and easy to use interface.
ImportantThe Advanced Editor (Transformation Builder) is currently:- In Beta, which means there may be minor changes in functionality or appearance before its general access release. We value your feedback, so please feel free to share any thoughts with us.
- Is a premium feature for our Assets product, which means that its availability depends on your account setup. If the Advanced Editor (Transformation Builder) opt-in option is not available to your administrator in the early access section of the Media Library preferences, contact your Customer Success Manager.
- Studio that enables you to apply AI driven transformations to multiple images and save them as templates that can be applied when downloading any image.
Cloudinary Console Settings
In addition to defining Media Library preferences, you can configure additional settings that influence your account as a whole, as well as how your media is uploaded, stored, and delivered within the currently selected product environment. Some Settings affect both DAM users and developers, so you should coordinate with your developers where relevant.
Click the Settings icon in the Console Options sidebar to view your Console Settings.
The default Console Settings provide a good starting place for your Digital Asset Management activities. However, each organization should review all the available options on all the Settings pages and determine the settings that best answer your organization's needs.
The following sections highlight a few of the common settings that you may want to consider when setting up your account and product environment. Each section falls under one of the following categories:
Account settings include updating your personal account details, upgrading your plan, adding/editing the product environments in your account, defining/editing users in the account and setting up your account security.
Product environment settings include dynamic and fixed folder modes, upload settings, product environment security settings, and managing API keys.
Two-factor authentication and SSO
In the Account Security page of the Console Settings, check or modify two-factor authentication (2FA) and SAML/SSO login settings for your account.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is recommended for any Production environment, or per your organization's security policy. You can upgrade to two-factor authentication on any account, including free accounts and those registered via GitHub, Google, or email.
SSO is available for enterprise accounts and is recommended if you have more than 100 users or per your organization's security policy.
Product environment management
A product environment encompasses a distinct asset repository with specific settings and attributes. To learn more about product environments, see What's a product environment?.
To manage your product environments, navigate to the Product Environment page of the Console Settings. Here, you can browse through all your product environments, search for specific ones, enable or disable them and modify attributes such as cloud name (the unique identifier), display name (shown in the Product Selector instead of the cloud name, if defined) and description. You can check if your product environments are using dynamic folder mode, and you can add new product environments, within the limit of your plan.
When creating a new product environment, you can configure its cloud name, display name, and description. By default, all new product environments are set to use the dynamic folders mode, which allows for flexibility in organizing files. However, if necessary, you can select fixed folder mode. Once your product environment is created, you can't change folder modes.
Additionally, you can choose an existing product environment to serve as the Base product environment. This selection will copy over its custom configurations to the new environment. If you choose a base product environment, its folder mode will be copied over, removing the option to select a folder mode independently.
Additional product environment subscriptions
You can find the maximum number of product environments that you're eligible for at the top of the Product Environment page of the Console Settings. If you need to increase this limit, click Change Limit and select the corresponding add-on for the desired number of additional product environments. Subsequently, you can adjust the number of additional product environment subscriptions on your account at any time.
If you're already subscribed to an Add product environments add-on, you can change the number of product environments beyond your base plan limit. However, please note that selecting a different Add product environments add-on will replace your previous selection, rather than adding to it. The number of product environments you add will always be applied to the base plan limit, which is the initial cap before any Add product environments plans are included. You can view your base plan limit in the side panel of the Accounts page within the Console Settings.
For additional help, or to add more than 5 additional product environments, contact support.
Dynamic and fixed folder modes
You can use either dynamic or fixed folder mode in your product environment. These modes determine how assets are named, and whether changing the asset name and folder location in the Media Library impacts delivery URLs, which could break links to assets in production.
Consider these options, especially if your assets are delivered on a website or app:
-
Dynamic folder mode: Enables Cloudinary users to move assets between asset folders, and rename and move those folders without affecting the asset's public ID identifier and delivery URL path.
Assets have a user-friendly display name as an additional identifier. Both display names and asset folder names can be freely modified without affecting the public ID and delivery URL. Fixed folders mode: The folder and asset name shown in the Media Library together are a direct reflection of the asset's public ID full path, and thus control the delivery URL path and file name. In fixed folder mode, moving the asset to a different folder or editing the asset 'name' also modifies the asset's URL, and if not done carefully, risks breaking production content. Folder renaming isn't supported in this mode.
Starting June 4th, 2024, all new Cloudinary accounts are created using dynamic folder mode.
This page describes the behavior for dynamic folder mode. Any differences in behavior for fixed folder mode will be highlighted with a note directing you to the Folder modes page for further details.
You can find out if dynamic folders is enabled for your product environment by navigating to the Product Environments settings page. From the (3-dots) option menu next to the relevant product environment select Edit. Your product environment is using dynamic folder mode if the Dynamic folder mode toggle button is on. If it's off, you're using fixed folder mode.
- Historically, Cloudinary accounts used fixed folder mode. If you're currently using the legacy fixed folder mode and would like to enable dynamic folders for your product environment, contact support.
- For more information on the ways that dynamic and fixed folder modes differ in your product environment's Console, see the Folder modes page in the Assets admin guide.
- For more information about how their differences are reflected in the API, see Folder modes in the Programmable Media guide.
Upload settings
The Upload page includes options that impact the default behavior applied to media when you upload assets to your product environment. Those you may want to pay special attention to include:
Automatic backup: Determines whether every uploaded file is securely backed up, including support for multiple revisions. When enabled, the backups increase your account's storage usage (unless you set a private S3 or Google Cloud bucket for your backups).
Media Library upload presets: Upload Presets are a predefined set of upload preferences. To control the way all assets are uploaded via the Media Library, you can assign specific signed upload presets to act as the defaults for image, video, and raw uploads within the Media Library. For more information, see Managing upload presets in the DAM.
Sicherheitseinstellungen
The Security page includes options that restrict how assets are shared, accessed and delivered. The settings impact only the selected product environment.
Since the options in the Security page affect the API and asset delivery, coordinate with one of your developers to configure these settings.
The following configurations also impact how assets are handled in DAM:
PDF and ZIP file sharing and delivery
However, the Allow delivery of PDF and ZIP files setting, in addition to determining whether PDF and ZIP files can be programmatically delivered, also affects asset and collection sharing in the Media Library. This setting must be turned on in order to publish collections and to publish single assets that are PDF and ZIP files (including .zip
, .rar
, .tgz
, .gz
, .bz2
, .bzip
, .7z
, and .pdf
).
Data privacy
Cloudinary takes the responsibility of protecting your data seriously, and complies with widely accepted security standards and regulations, enterprise class security features, our privacy policies, and our commitment to transparency. See our Trust page for more information.
When necessary, a Cloudinary employee with specific authorization may need to enter a product environment for the purposes of providing technical support. Cloudinary customers on a Programmable Media Enterprise plan can request an additional layer of privacy that’s enabled per product environment. This additional layer of privacy hides all data in the enabled product environments from all Cloudinary employees, even those with the permission levels necessary to provide that kind of support.
When the additional layer of privacy is enabled, Cloudinary employees can't:
- Access the product environment's full API secret, which prevents accessing data programmatically.
- Access delivery URLs via the Media Library.
- View asset thumbnails or previews in any page of the Media Library.
- Perform an asset search of any kind.
- Use the Bulk Delete option in the Security page of the Console Settings.
- See actual public IDs and folder and collection names.
At some point, you may need Cloudinary to access your actual data while providing technical support. In that case, Admins and Master admins can allow temporary access to the product environment. From the Security page of the Console Settings, check Allow temporary access and set the time limit for access.
Admins and Master admins can change access settings at any time, including canceling access and changing its time limit.
All administrators will receive an email notifying them of any change in access status, including when access has been allowed, canceled, time limit changed and expired.
API keys
The API Keys page of the Console Settings lets you handle API key and secret pairs for your product environment. Here, you can create new API keys and secrets, activate or disable them, copy API keys and secrets, or delete them.
If you've dedicated an API key for signing webhook notifications, it can't be deactivated or removed. If you need to deactivate or remove this key, you must first replace it with another API key to serve as the dedicated key for webhook notifications. You can do this by navigating to the Webhook Notifications page of the Console Settings. For more information, see Webhook notifications.
DAM Apps
You can customize and enhance the Media Library core product by selecting apps to add to your product environment. Enable the apps that are relevant to your DAM users from the set of apps that have been made available.
To access the Media Library apps, select App Marketplace from the Product Navigation menu.
Read the description on the cover of each app and click Learn more... for more information about what each app has to offer, including a quick demo. Then, enable the ones that are useful to you and your team. Once you've enabled your apps, you can access them from relevant menus in the Media Library.
For more information about how to use each app, see DAM Apps in the User Guide.
- The DAM Apps page is available for users with admin roles. Changes to these options apply for all users of the product environment.
- Visit this page periodically to check for additional apps that Cloudinary may make available.
- If an app has been custom-built for your product environment, that app will appear under the heading Built-in apps. Built-in apps can't be directly disabled from this page. If you want to disable a built-in app, contact support.
- You can use the Export Asset Metadata app to facilitate the preparation of a CSV file for updating structured metadata in bulk. Export a CSV that contains your assets' current structured metadata and their values, make the changes directly on that file, then upload your changes using the Bulk Update Metadata feature.
- To enable your users to run the MediaFlows DAM App, you need to first configure MediaFlows for your product environment.