OpenAsset contains a wide range of flexible permissions to enable you to connect users to relevant content. You may have some groups of users who need to be able to upload files, while other groups just need to be able to access and use the images in OpenAsset. As an administrator, you have the ability to configure OpenAsset for the various users and groups of users in your company.

OpenAsset 'Groups' define what features users in different groups can access. Users are assigned to different groups and based on the group permissions they will have access to all or part of OpenAsset. For example, all project and reference images may be available to marketing or graphics teams but only project images for all other users.

You can manage the Groups in your system by navigating to 'Users' > 'Groups' in your settings menu.

To create a new Group, click on the 'Create New Group' button. Enter the name of the new group in the box and click 'Create Group'.

To permanently delete a Group, click the check box next to the Group name and then click the 'Delete Groups' button in the the menu above.

Note: this action cannot be undone.

You can clone Groups to quickly create Groups with permissions that mirror an already existing Group. To do this, hover over the relevant Group in your list, then select the 'Clone this group' link.

By selecting the 'Edit' link next to the relevant Group, you will be taken to a page where you can edit the settings, permissions and default preferences for that Group. Select an option from the menu on the left of the screen to navigate to that area of the Group settings.

'General permissions' control access to the main features and most actions that users can perform in OpenAsset can be configured in this area. Click here for a comprehensive list of General Permissions that can be configured.

The Category Permissions editor allows you to control who has access to images. This is very useful when using sensitive or confidential material that a particular user or group need access to, but needs to remain hidden from all other users.

This can be controlled according to:

To configure Category Permissions select 'Category Permissions' from the menu. The following table will appear. Tick the appropriate boxes to assign group permissions within different categories.

Think carefully about who you give editing and deletion access to. Only those users who are uploading and cataloguing images should be given these permissions. Click 'Save Changes' when you are finished.

'Image Size' permissions control which users can access and download different image sizes. You may wish to implement this feature in order to restrict, for example, high-resolution TIFF files to your Graphics team only. Click here to learn more about Image Size Permissions.

In this screen you can control which templates a Group has access to. You can tick the box for 'Access to all templates', or choose individual templates the Group can use, then click 'Save Changes'.

Default Preferences allow you to configure the OpenAsset interface for specific groups. This is very useful if you want to determine what information is shown and the order in which it appears. For example you may want to set the preferences to show all the latest images uploaded first or images of the highest rank when a user does a search.

You can also choose what and where the image information will be. For instance you may want the project name and photographer listed on the image record and nothing else, or you may want to display the file size or copyright holder as well.

Click 'Save Changes' to save your changes. You will then be returned to the edit groups page.