Portals allow you to seamlessly share files and information with individuals such as colleagues, partners, clients, or the media directly out of your OpenAsset system.

After creating a Portal, you will have a link to share with your external recipient that includes a preview of images, contextual information, and download links (optional - you can opt to not allow recipients to download).

Using Portals ensures you won’t need to use a third party file sharing service such as WeTransfer or Dropbox, saving you time. You also won’t need to spend time manually sharing contextual information about the files or projects in your Portal.

In order to create, send, and manage Portals, you need the permission “Share Externally: Create Portals” enabled. Instructions can be found here.

See below for that “Getting Started” guide. To dive into more detail on any topic, click the following links:

**Note: You’ll need to be a System Administrator to turn this on for other groups.

** Note: After Step 2 below, the only Required field is “Portal Name” (Step 9). All other steps are optional, but have been included here for your reference.

The first step is to decide which images you want to share via a Portal by including them in a selection. You will then be able to see the “Share” icon in the Action Bar on the right-hand side of your screen. You can share all supported file types in a Portal. You can share files from any category. There is no limit to the size of files (MB) you can send via one Portal, but there is currently a 250 file number limit.

You will then go through a wizard where you decide what information to share in the Portal.

First, decide if you would like to create a new Portal or override an existing Portal. To create a new Portal, select “Create New Portal” and click “Next.”

Decide if you want to make a Portal with settings completely from scratch or if you want to use the last settings you created a Portal with. Creating a Portal with completely new settings is good for when you are sending a Portal to a new recipient or different recipient type. If you frequently send Portals to the same type of recipient, you may wish to reuse those settings to save you time. These settings will be prefilled for you in the wizard, but you can still edit them during creation.

The settings that will be prefilled are:

Choose which metadata you want to share alongside the images in your Portal. This information is helpful to provide context to your end recipient. You can share as much information or as little as you want.

You can choose any searchable file or project field to share in your Portal. Simply turn on the toggle by each field, and it will be displayed with the file or project.

Note that Project Name is always displayed in the Portal.

Also note that if you choose “Copyright Holder” to share in the Portal, the attached Copyright Policy will also be shared.

You can also share file and project keywords. You can turn on any keyword category via the toggle. In the case of file keywords, the category of the file is displayed for your reference.

You may also want to display key pieces of information underneath the thumbnail image of the files in your Portal. Click the thumbnail icon to choose which metadata to display.

You can choose up to 4 pieces of metadata to display under the thumbnails. Use the drag handle to the left of each item to change the order they are shown. The type of metadata is shown to you for your reference.

Decide how long your Portal should be available to your end recipient. The default expiry date will always be set to 90 days from today but you can change it to any day between tomorrow and 90 days. This is the maximum length of time into the future a Portal can be active; however, you can refresh a Portal’s expiry as many times as you like. If you want to refresh the expiry at some point, you likely will find it helpful to be reminded before the Portal expires. To do so, turn the reminder toggle on and choose when you’d like to be reminded.

The expiration date is set to the date you’ve chosen at 23:59:59 UTC. This means that if you’ve selected May 1 as the expiration date, it will expire at 11:59:59 PM UTC on May 1.

Then decide if you would like your end recipient to be able to download the files in the Portal. If you allow downloads, you must decide which file size will be available to them. For images, video, and audio files, you can choose between any file size you have access to. Documents will always be available for download in their original format/size, as well as in PDF format.

If you don’t allow downloads, your recipient will simply see the preview thumbnail and image. Note that documents will still be available to download in PDF format even if you decide not to allow downloads. However, the original will not be available.

If you select a download size that does not yet exist in your OpenAsset system, then the recipient will be able to download a display size. For the best experience for your end recipient, ensure you are only choosing sizes that are already created and available within your OpenAsset system.

Choose a name for your Portal that will be helpful to both you and your recipient. Your Portal is required to have a name. Note that you cannot have two active Portals with the same name.

You can share a note about the Portal and the files within it. This ensures that important information is always attached to the relevant Portal. For example, you could tell your recipient the purpose of the images or the action they need to take.

You can prefix the name of every file in your Portal as well. This is especially helpful when you allow your end recipient to download the files. For instance, you could input your company name as a prefix to each file. Then, when the recipient has downloaded the files, they will always know they are from your company. The prefix will be followed by the underscore, then the file name: YourPrefix_FileName.jpg. You can also change the name of each individual file.

The file name will be either the original file name or the OpenAsset file name. You can choose this via Settings → System → System Preferences → File Downloader Settings.

You may want other people in your organization to help you manage your Portals. Collaborators will have access to your Portals in their Portal management screen.

They can take all actions you can on your Portal, including deactivating Portals. Allowing others to help you manage your Portals can be helpful if you are out of the office or want to delegate work. Although you may add collaborators, note that you are the Portal owner, meaning your name will be displayed in the Portal as who it is from. Only Portal Admins can change the owner of a Portal.

A collaborator can be either an individual OpenAsset user or a group. These users or groups must have the permissions required to access Portals. Search for collaborators using the search bar, then click their name to select.

Once you’ve chosen your collaborators, press the blue plus button to add them as collaborators.

They will then be added as collaborators on your Portal.

All files are displayed by project in the order of your selection. Non-project files are grouped together and by default at the bottom of the page. For easy navigation, you can collapse or expand all project sections.

Now it’s time to customize the files within your Portal. On the “Edit File Info” tab, you can add a note to each individual file. These notes are exclusive to the Portal and not saved to the file itself within OpenAsset. For example, you may want to add notes saying “Crop out the person on the left” or “This is my favorite image.”

To add a note to a file, hover over the file you want to add a note to. Click the “More” button and then “Edit note.”

Your note will be automatically saved, but you can click “Done” to move on.

To delete a note, click the “More” button and then “Delete note.”

You can further customize the files within your Portal by editing the name of each file. On the “Edit File Info” tab, you can change each file name. These file names are exclusive to the Portal and not saved to the file itself within OpenAsset. For example, you may want to provide more context to the end user, such as CampaignX.jpg, or simply clean up the ‘messy’ default names.

To change the name of a file, hover over the file you want to add a note to. Click the “More” button and then “Edit name.”

You can change any of the characters in the name before the file type (ex: .jpg).

You cannot change the prefixed file name in this step if you have chosen to prefix all file names [link to further in article]. You can of course use the “Back” button to edit the prefix in the Configuration step.

The new name will be automatically saved, but you can click “Done” to move on.

If you want to see an image larger, you can click on the small thumbnail and a larger image will be shown to you. You can also play audio and video from this view.

To reorder the files and projects in your Portal, click “Reorder Files”. Using the drag handle, you can drag and drop individual files within a project. You cannot put files from one project into another project.

You can also remove a file from a Portal by clicking the x.

If you collapse all projects, you can change the order of the projects as well.

You can also remove a file from a Portal by clicking the x.

Take the time to review your Portal by using the “Back” and “Next” buttons and ensure you’re happy with it. Once you are, click “Publish” and your Portal will be created!

To send your Portal to your intended recipient, simply copy the link provided. You can use your favorite email or messaging service to send it to them. To preview your Portal prior to sending, click “Open Portal in new tab.”

You can manage your Portals via the share icon in the header.

On your Portal management screen, you’ll be able to view all your Portals and the Portals that you are a collaborator on. You can view basic info about them and edit them.

Your Portal management screen will show the following information:

Decide how many Portals you want to see at once by selecting the Portals per page.

Paginate through pages by using the arrows.

You can view your Portals sorted in a variety of ways, both alphanumerically and reverse.

You can also do the following actions:

By default, you will see all live Portals and the live Portals that you are a collaborator on.

You can find a Portal in a variety of ways:

Search for a Portal by name by typing the name in this text box. Your results will display automatically.

Search for a Portal by owner by typing a name into this text box. You will then need to click the name of the user you wish to search by. Note that you can search for multiple users at once as an “OR” search, meaning your results will show Portals that are owned by User A OR User B.

If you don’t want to see Portals that you are a collaborator on, and only want to see Portals that you own, select “Show Only My Portals”.

To include expired Portals in your view, choose “Include Expired Portals”.

To send your Portal to your intended recipient, simply copy the link provided. You can use your favorite email or messaging service to send it to them. To preview your Portal prior to sending, click “Open Portal in new tab.”

You can share a Portal from the management page by clicking the “Copy Link” button on any of your Portals. Then paste the link wherever you wish.

You can set the expiry date of your Portal to however long you wish when you’re creating a Portal, with a max of 90 days in the future. You may wish for a Portal to be accessible to your end recipient for longer than 90 days. In this case, you can refresh the expiry at any point of the Portal’s duration, but note that a Portal can only be active for 90 days from today.

You can extend the expiry of a Portal as many times as you like.

You can extend the expiry of a Portal by clicking the “Extend Expiry” button. You can only extend the expiry into the future; you cannot shorten how long a Portal is active. If you want to revoke access to a Portal, you will need to deactivate it.

You can extend the expiry by the options shown in the dropdown or a custom expiry date. The option to extend by max expiry will set the expiry dates 90 days from today. For example, if your portal expiry date is 80 days from today, setting the max expiry will extend the expiry by 10 days. If your portal will expire in 2 days, max expiry will extend your expiry by 88 days.

You cannot extend the expiry of an expired Portal, only a live Portal.

To set a custom expiry date, use the date picker to choose the new expiry date.

If you plan to extend the expiry of a Portal, it will be helpful to be reminded prior to that date. You can set up notifications to remind you X days before the Portal expires when you create your Portal. You will then get a notification X days before expiry in-app and by email. This will remind you to go and extend the expiry of your Portal.

If you extend the expiry of the Portal, you will then get another notification X days before the new expiry date.

You will receive notifications via email and in-app notification.

You may edit an existing Portal without changing the link to that Portal. This means you can change information without needing to send the end recipient an updated link, reducing confusion and effort.

To edit an existing Portal, click the “Edit” icon from the Portal management page.

You may want other people in your organization to help you manage your Portals. Collaborators will have access to your Portals in their Portal management screen. They can take all actions you can on your Portal, including deactivating Portals. Allowing others to help you manage your Portals can be helpful if you are out of the office or want to delegate work. Although you may add collaborators, note that you are the Portal owner, meaning your name will be displayed in the Portal as who it is from. Only Portal Admins can change the owner of a Portal.

To edit the collaborators on a Portal you own or are a collaborator on, click the pencil next to the collaborators.

A collaborator can be either an individual OpenAsset user or a group. These users or groups must have the permissions required to access Portals. Search for collaborators using the search bar, then click their name to select.

Once you’ve chosen your collaborators, press the blue plus button to add them as collaborators.

They will then be added as collaborators on your Portal. You can remove collaborators by clicking the ‘x’. Note that if you remove yourself, or the group that you are in that allows you to collaborate on that portal, you will no longer be able to collaborate on that portal.

You can edit the Portal name or note by clicking “Edit portal info.” Make your changes and then click “Update.” Your changes will be reflected in the Portal immediately.

You can reorder files and projects, and edit file notes by clicking “Edit File Info”.

All projects and files are shown in the order they appear in the Portal itself. Non-project files are grouped together. For easy navigation, you can collapse or expand all project sections.

On the “Edit File Info” tab, you can edit existing notes, delete notes, or add a note to each individual file. These notes are exclusive to the Portal and not saved to the file itself within OpenAsset. For example, you may want to add notes saying “Crop out the person on the left” or “This is my favorite image.”

To add or edit a note to a file, hover over the file you want to add a note to. Click the “More” button and then “Edit note.”

Your note will be automatically saved, but you can click “Done” to move on.

To delete a note, click the “More” button and then “Delete note.”

To reorder the files and projects in your Portal, click “Reorder Files”. Using the drag handle, you can drag and drop individual files within a project. You cannot put files from one project into another project.

If you collapse all projects, you can change the order of the projects as well.

Once you are happy with your changes, click “Update” and your changes will be immediately reflected in your Portal.

If you want to make further changes beyond editing portal info or file info, you will need to make a new Portal and override the Portal link. Further changes may include adding or removing files, or changing the metadata you are sharing with the Portal. By overriding the Portal link, your end recipient’s link does not change, reducing confusion.

If you want to use your existing Portal as a ‘base’ for your new Portal, you can open all the files in a Portal in a selection. This will put all files from your Portal into the selected tab of your OpenAsset.

You can then make any necessary changes to the selection of files itself, including adding or removing files.

Once you are happy with your updated selection, begin creating your Portal using the button on the action bar. Then, instead of creating a new Portal, find the Portal you wish to override. You can scroll through this manually or use the search bar. Only active, non-expired Portals will be shown. You can only override Portals that you own or that you are a collaborator on.

The rest of the wizard steps to create a Portal are the same. Note that no settings from your original Portal will be maintained; you will need to re-create all settings, Portal and file notes, etc. You will be able to use the Last Used Settings if you wish.

Before publishing the Portal, you’ll be asked to confirm a final time that you want to override the existing Portal. The existing Portal will be deleted and replaced with the new Portal. This cannot be undone.

The link generated in the final confirmation screen will be the same link as the overridden Portal.

Deactivated and expired Portals are Portals that have been created, but are no longer available for anyone to view. Both deactivated and expired Portals are shown as Expired in the Portal management page.

For any expired Portal, you can no longer view the Portal itself or edit any information. However, some info is still available for you to view:

You may deactivate your own Portals and Portal that you are a collaborator on.

To deactivate a Portal, select one or more Portals, then click “Deactivate.”

You will then get a confirmation dialog. Note that deactivating a Portal cannot be undone.

Once you’re sure, click “Deactivate Portals” to permanently mark them as expired in your system.

Portals are designed to be easy-to-use, without any instructions needed. However, it may be helpful to you as the creator of the Portal to understand some elements of the Portal itself.

Your Portal will display your company logo, your initials and name (the name and initials of the Portal owner), the expiry date, and whatever files and information you have chosen to send. If you have chosen to allow your recipient to download files, then they will have the ability to do so.

Files in a Portal are always arranged by Project. To learn more about a project, click the project name to open the sidebar. You can also open the sidebar by clicking “Show More” in the bottom right in each file.

File notes can be accessed by hovering over the "Note" icon in the upper right on files.

Click on each image to view it larger. The side panel can be expanded or collapsed, and will display the file info, project info, and notes relevant to that file. To view the different tabs, click on the tab.

Paginate between files by clicking the right and left arrows.

You can view images in full screen mode by clicking the expand icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

For document files, you can view them in their entirety by clicking the “View PDF” button.

The document will automatically be converted into a PDF. Note that even when not allowing downloads, when viewed as a PDF, a document will be able to be downloaded as a PDF. However, the original is not available for download.

Video and audio files can be viewed in their entirety using the embedded video/audio player.

There are a variety of ways to download files from a Portal. Multiple files will be downloaded into one zipped folder. Single files will be downloaded individually.

Option 1: To download all files, click “Download All” in the bottom right of the screen.

Option 2: To download a selection of files, choose which files to download by clicking the select button in the upper right corner of each file thumbnail. You’ll then have the option to download your selected files using the “Download Selection” button in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Option 3: To download a single file, click the download icon in the lower left corner of the thumbnail.

You can also download an individual file via the larger view of each file. This can be done via the “Download” button at the bottom of the screen.

Note that document files are always available to be downloaded via PDF, even if the original file is not able to be downloaded.

Portal Admins are able to see and manage all the Portals that anyone has created within their organization. In addition to managing their own Portals, Portal Admins can do the following:

Note that Portal Admins are NOT system admins and should not be confused with system admins who have control over many aspects of OpenAsset.

In order to be a Portal Admin, you need the permission “Portals Administrator” enabled. Note that if you have the permission “Portals Administrator” active, then you will also have the permission “Share Externally: Create Portals” automatically active as well.

Portal Admins can manage their own Portals and those they’re collaborators on exactly as a general user. However, there are a few changes for Portals that other users own, on which the admin is neither the owner nor a collaborator.

By default, Portal Admins see the Portals they own and those they collaborate on, just like a general user. If they want to see all the Portals within their entire organization, select “Show All My Organization’s Portals”. They can then view info about these Portals as well as get the links to each Portal.

Note that for Portals an admin is not the owner or collaborator on, the following are read-only and cannot be edited.

Portal Admins can change the owner of any Portal to any other user within the organization.

A Portal owner is not the same as a Portal collaborator in that the name of the owner is displayed as the host on the Portal itself. A Portal Admin may want to change the owner of an existing Portal if, for instance, someone has left the company or team responsibilities have changed.

To change the owner of a Portal, click the “edit” icon next to the Portal owner’s name.

Begin typing a name in the dialog box, then choose the new owner from the dropdown.

Then click “Save Changes.”

Portal Admins are able to deactivate any Portal that has been created in their OpenAsset system. They do not need to be the owner or a collaborator on the Portal. This can be helpful if someone has left the organization or if an error was made on multiple Portals.

To deactivate a Portal select one or more Portals, then click “Deactivate.”

You will then get a confirmation dialog. Note that deactivating a Portal cannot be undone.

Once you’re sure, click “Deactivate Portals” to permanently mark them as expired in your system.

By default, the logo displayed in the upper left hand corner of your Portal is the logo used in your OpenAsset system.

If you’d like to change the logo displayed on your Portals, you can do that via the system preferences page. Note that you must be a system administrator to access the system preferences page (not a Portal Admin).

Go to Settings --> System Settings --> System --> System Preferences. Then scroll down to find the "Portal Company Logo" setting, and click “Choose File.”

Choose a file you wish to display as your logo from the dialog. You can display any image file of any size and it will fit within the frame automatically, maintaining its aspect ratio.

You can search by keyword, filename, caption, or description, and filter by category. Once you’ve selected a file, click “Save.” Don’t forget to also click “Save Changes” at the top or bottom of the system preferences page to apply changes!

Note that logo changes are not retroactive, meaning they will only apply to Portals created after you have updated the logo.