DAM

The Digital Asset Management library — files, folders, responsive variations, alternative sources, external links, usage tracking, and trash.

Overview

The DAM (Digital Asset Management) is CXF’s library for files: images, video, documents, and external links, organized in a folder tree. Each asset can have responsive variations (sized renditions) and alternative sources, tracks where it’s used, and can be made public for the web. Content references assets through its media attributes. For the bigger picture, see the Content overview.

Where to find it

The DAM lives under Content → DAM. It also opens as a picker when you choose a file for a media attribute elsewhere in the app.

Asset types

The library holds four kinds of record, each with a different role:

Type	Role
Asset	A primary file (image, video, document) — or an external link.
Folder	An organizational container; assets nest under folders.
Variation	A sized/derived rendition of a parent asset (e.g. thumbnail, web-optimized).
Source	An alternative original of an asset (e.g. a cropped or edited source).

Variations and sources also appear on the parent asset, with their metadata kept in sync.

Properties

Property	Type	Required	Description
title	string	Yes	Display name.
slug	string	Yes	Identifier, unique within the DAM.
type	enum	Yes	asset, folder, variation, or source.
parent_id	reference	No	The containing folder (or parent asset).
folder_path	string	Auto	The asset’s path in the folder tree (e.g. home/images/products).
is_link	boolean	No	Whether the asset is an external link rather than a stored file.
link	string	Conditional	The external URL, for link assets.
mime_type	string	Auto	The file’s MIME type.
size	number	Auto	The file size.
variations	array	Auto	Sized/derived renditions.
sources	array	Auto	Alternative originals.
metadata	object	No	Arbitrary metadata.
usage	array	Auto	Where the asset is referenced across CXF.
is_public	boolean	No	Whether the asset is publicly reachable (default false).
is_trash	boolean	Auto	Whether the asset is in the trash.

Variations and sources

• Variations are sized or responsive renditions generated from an asset (thumbnail, web-optimized, and so on). Named variation presets define the sizes a template’s assets get.
• Sources are alternative originals of the same asset — for example a cropped or re-edited version kept alongside the original.

Behaviour & rules

• Folder tree — assets live in folders; folder_path is maintained automatically as you create and move them. Move via the DAM, not by editing paths directly.
• Public vs private — assets are private by default; see Visibility below.
• Trash & restore — deleting an asset sends it to the trash; restoring it returns it to its original folder.
• External links — a link asset references an external URL, with metadata fetched from it.
• Usage tracking — the DAM records where each asset is referenced, so you can see an asset’s usage before changing or removing it.

Visibility

Every asset is public or private (private by default):

• Public — reachable by anyone at its URL, and cacheable on the CDN.
• Private — not public. A private asset is only served to an admin user, or to a contact who has that asset assigned to them — through their own documents, organization, conversations, or orders. Anyone else gets an unauthorized/forbidden response.

Visibility propagates down the folder tree. Changing a folder’s public/private setting applies the same setting to all of its descendants — subfolders, assets, variations, and sources.

Seeds

Assets aren’t supported in Seeds.

Governance & permissions

A super admin or Master has full control of the DAM — upload, organize, publish (make public), and delete. Journey Manager users see only the assets the Journey Manager configuration grants them access to.

API access

Assets have full CRUD plus operations to paste (move/copy) items between folders, trash and restore, fetch external-link metadata, list supported file types, and read an asset’s usage. See the API reference.

Related

Content Instances

Content references assets through its media attributes.

Attributes

Media attributes point at DAM assets.

Hierarchies

The folder-tree mechanics.