Using Collections in Swivle

Collections are containers or virtual folders used for collecting and organizing content. Typically, this content is related in some way: they are files of a photo shoot, files related to a story in a publication, files of a product, files you want to share with someone, and so on.

This article explains how to use Collections in Swivle.

A Collection stores references, not files

An important concept of Collections to be aware of is that a Collection contains references to files in Swivle and not the actual files themselves. Compare it to creating a shortcut to a file on your desktop: you can access the file by double-clicking the shortcut, but it is not the actual file itself.

In this respect adding a file to a Collection is different from adding a file to a folder.

This means that:

• Before you can add a file to a Collection, it needs to have already been uploaded to Swivle.

• You can add the same file to different Collections. For each Collection a reference is made to the original file. The file itself therefore only exists once in Swivle.

• When removing the file from a Collection or deleting the Collection itself, only the reference to the file is removed and not the file itself.

• When deleting the original file from Swivle, all references in all Collections are also removed.

Recognizing Collections

You can recognize a Collection by:

• Its icon in the Folder browser
• The thumbnail showing a grid of up to 4 image previews

Pinned Collections

The easiest way to work with Collections is to pin them in the Pinned Collections panel. This makes it easy to manage Collections by creating them, opening them, adding files to them and deleting them, all from one central place.

To access the Pinned Collections panel, click the icon in the toolbar on the right side of the page.

Creating a Collection

Creating a Collection can be done by using any of the following methods:

• Select some files and drag them onto:
• The Pinned Collections icon in the toolbar (when the Pinned Collections panel is closed).
• The Pinned Collections panel (to a position between existing Collections).
• The button labeled '+' in the Pinned Collections panel (this automatically adds the Collection to the top of the list of Pinned Collections).

• To create an empty Collection:
• Click the button labeled '+' in the Pinned Collections panel (this automatically adds the Collection to the top of the list of Pinned Collections).
• In the Folder browser, do one of the following:
• Right-click a folder and choose 'New Collection'.
• Select a folder and in the toolbar click the 'New Collection' icon.

Adding a Collection to the Pinned Collections panel

Do one of the following:

• Drag an existing Collection from the Search results onto the Pinned Collections panel.
• Create a new Collection (see above).

Tip: To change the order of the Collections, simply drag them into the correct position.

Adding files to a Collection

The easiest way to add files to a Collection is to drop them on a Pinned Collection. Make sure therefore that you pin the Collection first.

Alternatively, drag the files onto a Collection that is visible in the search results.

Performing bulk actions

One other benefit of storing files in a Collection is that you can perform a single action on all files:

• Checking-out files. To open all files for editing, select the Collection in the Search results and choose 'Check Out' in the menu.
• Downloading files. To download all files, select the Collection in the Search results, click 'Download' in the menu and choose a download method.

Where Collections are stored and who can access them

When creating a Collection, it is stored in one of the following locations:

• When creating the Collection in the Pinned Collections panel, the Collection is stored in your private folder. Only you (and the system administrator) can see that Collection. The location of the folder is:

Users/<your user name>/Collections/<yyyy-MM>

Example: Users/rob@swivle.com/Collections/2016-04

• When creating the Collection by right-clicking the folder in the Folder browser, the Collection is stored in that location. All users that have access to that location can see the Collection.

Sharing Collections

Collections are a great tool for sharing files. The benefit of sharing using Collections over sharing individual files is that when updating the Collection (for example by adding or removing files), the Shared Link is also updated. When sharing individual files, the set of shared files cannot be changed.

For detailed information about sharing Collections, see Sharing files with others using Swivle.

Promoting Collections

In Swivle, Portals can be used for promoting specific material such as brochures and products. From it, visitors can download and optionally share files.

Promoting folders or Collections for increased visibility and findability is done by adding them to the front page of a Portal, in combination with a title, header, and a short description.

For more information, see Promoting Collections or folders on the Portal homepage in Swivle.