How to use asset transformation and share assets

Set up asset transformations and share assets with people outside Struct PIM.

An asset transformation defines a fixed size and format an asset can be downloaded in, such as a square crop for social media or a 16:9 crop for a banner. Rather that something you apply while working inside the PIM, transformations come into play once an asset is shared. Whoever opens the share can pick one of your transformations and download the asset in that exact format, without needing to resize or convert it themselves.

This tutorial goes through how to set up an asset transformation, and how to share an asset so it can be used.

Setting up an asset transformation

Go to Settings > General settings > Asset transformations and create a new transformation. Give it an alias that describes what it's for, and set the width, height, format, and crop method it should produce.

Every transformation you set up becomes available as a download option on any asset you share afterwards, so it's worth thinking of them as a shared set of formats for whoever you share assets with, rather than something you configure per asset.

Sharing an asset

If someone outside the PIM needs access to an asset, you don't need to give them a login. Instead, you can share the asset directly with them.

Select one or more assets, click the three-dot menu, and choose "Share".

Give the share a name, and optianally add a message for whoever opens it. You can also set an expiration date and time for when the share should stop working.

Under "Share type", choose whether the share should be Public, meaning anyone with the link can open it, or Private, which requires an email confirmation code to access. If you want to invite specific people directly, add their email adresses under "Invite users" and they'll recieve an email with a link to the asset. Otherwise you can copy the "Share URL" and send it yourself.

The assets included in the share are listed under "Attached assets", where you can also remove one if needed before sharing.

Once confirmed, the share appears unde "Shared" in the side panel, where you can go to entity, edit it, or delete it again.

Using a shared asset

Whoever opens the shared URL lands on a viewer page showing the assets you've selected. from here they can open an asset to view it full size, or download it directly.

If you've written a message, it will appear as a popup window on this page too.

If the asset has one or more transformations available, downloading it propts them to choose which size to download in before the file is delivered.