Gallery

The Gallery is the central hub of Freedam, providing a powerful interface to browse, search, and manage your entire digital asset library. It is designed for all users to find content quickly and for administrators to perform high-volume management tasks like bulk metadata updates and rights assignments.

You can use the Gallery to organize assets into collections, share files with external partners, and utilize AI-powered search tools to find specific images based on visual similarity or facial recognition.

Page Overview

Purpose: To provide a searchable, manageable view of all digital assets in the system.
When to use it: Use the Gallery when you need to find specific files, download assets in various formats, share content with others, or perform bulk updates to asset information.
What you can do here:
- Search using natural language or advanced rule-based filters.
- Perform visual searches by uploading an image to find similar content.
- Select multiple assets to download, share, or move to collections.
- Edit metadata for hundreds of assets simultaneously using the Bulk Metadata Edit or Spreadsheet views.
- Bookmark important assets for quick access later.
- Monitor the real-time processing status of newly uploaded files.

Page Layout

The diagram above maps each part of the page. In detail:

Search row: The Smart Search field, with quick filters for your most-used vocabularies and two icons at its right end — person search (user icon) and visual search (camera icon). To the right of the field sit Review mode, the Grid/List toggle, the card-size toggle, and Display.
Controls row: Advanced search (opens the rule builder), Saved searches, and — on the right — the result count, the selected count, and pagination.
Filter panel: An expandable area that opens under the controls row when you click Advanced search, where you build complex, multi-rule filters.
Main area: Displays your assets as cards (Grid view) or rows (List view). This area supports drag-to-select for highlighting multiple files.
Bulk Actions bar: A floating dark bar that appears at the bottom of the screen as soon as one or more assets are selected. It has two rows — your selection on top, the actions underneath.

Main Features

Smart Search & Autocomplete

What it's for: Finding assets using keywords, specific fields, or suggested terms.
Typical use: Typing "sunset" to find images, or using specific prefixes like "size > 1000" to find large files.
Result: The gallery updates in real-time to show only assets matching your query.

Visual & Person Search

What it's for: Finding assets based on what they look like or who is in them.
Typical use: Uploading a reference photo to find similar images or selecting a detected face to find all photos of that person.
Result: A specialized results view showing visual matches or assets containing the selected person.

Bulk Metadata Edit

What it's for: Updating information across many assets at once.
Typical use: Adding a specific copyright notice or campaign tag to 50 selected images.
Result: A multi-step workflow that analyzes common fields and applies changes in the background.

Spreadsheet View

What it's for: High-speed data entry in a familiar grid format.
Typical use: Rapidly filling in required fields for a new batch of uploads using "Fill Down" and keyboard shortcuts.
Result: Opens a full-screen spreadsheet where every cell is editable and changes auto-save.

Detailed Feature Documentation

Smart Search Bar

Purpose: To provide a fast, intuitive way to filter the gallery using text.
Where to find it: At the top of the Gallery page.
What you'll see: As you type, a dropdown appears with "Did you mean" suggestions and autocomplete results for categories, tags, and filenames.

How to use it:

Click into the Search assets... field.
Type your keywords. If you see a relevant suggestion in the dropdown, click it or use the Arrow Keys and Enter to select it.
To clear your search, click the X icon on the right side of the bar.

Bulk Actions Bar

Purpose: To manage multiple assets simultaneously.
Where to find it: Appears at the bottom of the screen when assets are selected.
What you'll see: Two rows. The top row shows the selected count and a thumbnail strip of what you picked; the bottom row holds the actions — Edit Metadata, Download, Share, Export, Template, Add to Collection, Create Collection, Attachments, Rights, Unlink, a More (…) menu, and an X to clear the selection.

The bar adapts to the width of your window and to your permissions: actions that don't fit — and actions you aren't allowed to use — move into the More menu instead of disappearing.

How to use it:

Select assets by clicking the checkbox on their cards or by dragging your mouse over a group of assets.
Click Edit Metadata to choose between Bulk Operations and Spreadsheet View, or Add to Collection to organize them.
Open the More (…) menu and pick a transition under Change Status to move assets through a workflow (for example "Draft → Pending Review"). Delete lives at the bottom of the same menu.
Click a thumbnail in the top row to drop that one asset from the selection, or the X at the far right to clear the selection entirely. Clicking the check-square icon next to the count opens the deselect dialog.

Visual Similarity Search

Purpose: To find assets that look like an image you already have.
Where to find it: Click the Camera icon in the search bar.
What you'll see: A dialog where you can drop an image file.

How to use it:

Click the Camera icon.
Drag an image from your computer into the box, or click to browse.
Click Find Similar Images.
Review the results, which are ranked by a percentage score (e.g., "95% match").

Display Preferences

Purpose: To control how results are sorted and paged, which metadata fields appear on each asset card, and whether hovering a thumbnail opens a larger visual preview.
Where to find it: The Display button at the right-hand end of the search row. Everything lives in the dialog it opens — there are no separate toggles in the header.
What you'll see:
- Display options at the top: Sort by, Results per page, and two switches — Hover preview and Card metadata.
- Hover preview: when on, pointing at an asset thumbnail opens a larger image or video preview popover. The popover is purely visual — no metadata text is shown inside it.
- Card metadata: when on, each asset card expands to show a small grid of metadata rows (label and value) directly beneath the thumbnail.
- A list of available fields below that, each with two switches — Card Metadata (visibility under the card thumbnail) and List Column (visibility as a column in list view). A drag handle lets you reorder the fields.

How to use it:

Click Display and turn Card metadata on. Cards expand to show the configured fields beneath each preview.
In the field list, tick Card Metadata for the fields you want visible — Title, Creator, and Keywords are good starting choices.
Drag fields up or down to set the order they appear on every card.
(Optional) Turn Hover preview off if you prefer not to see pop-up previews while browsing.
Click Save. Reset to Defaults puts everything back.

Notes:
- Changes apply to your own view only — they do not affect other users.
- Small asset cards (chat picker, analytics tiles, asset-detail thumbnails) never show card metadata even when the setting is on — the layout is too compact.
- List-view columns are independent of the Card metadata switch — they are controlled only by the List Column switch in the field list.

Spreadsheet Indexing

Purpose: To edit metadata for multiple assets using a grid interface.
Where to find it: Select assets, click the Edit Metadata dropdown in the Bulk Actions Bar, and select Spreadsheet View.
What you'll see: A full-screen grid where assets are rows and metadata fields are columns.

How to use it:

Select the assets you wish to edit.
Choose Spreadsheet View from the bulk actions.
Click any cell to edit its value.
Use Ctrl+D (or Cmd+D) to "Fill Down" a value from the selected cell to all cells below it in that column.
Click Back to Gallery when finished; changes are saved automatically as you work.

Complete Workflows

Goal: Create a secure link for an external partner to download specific assets.
Prerequisites: You must have "Download" and "Share" permissions for the selected assets.

Steps:

Select the assets you want to share in the Gallery.
Click Share in the Bulk Actions Bar.
In the dialog, choose Public for an open link or Email Restricted to limit access to specific people.
If using Email Restricted, type the email addresses in the Allowed Email Addresses field and press Enter.
Select a Download Quality (e.g., "High" or "Original").
Click Create share.
Click Copy to copy the link to your clipboard.

Expected result: A unique URL is generated that you can send to your partner.
If it doesn't work: Check if any assets are "Blocked by Rights Policy"—the dialog will show a warning if some assets cannot be shared.

Workflow: Requesting Access to Restricted Assets

Goal: Obtain permission to download assets that are currently locked.
Prerequisites: The assets must have a "Request" workflow configured by an administrator.

Steps:

Click the Lock icon or Download button on a restricted asset card.
In the dialog that opens, click Request Download Access.
In the Reason for Request field, type at least 10 characters explaining why you need the file.
Click Submit Request.

Expected result: You will see a "Request submitted" toast notification. You will receive an email once an admin approves or denies the request.

Good to Know — Behind the Scenes

The Gallery hides a few things that can surprise new users. Once you know them, day-to-day work is smoother.

"Select all matching" isn't a one-by-one tick list

When you click Select all matching (for example, all 8,234 results of a search), Freedam doesn't quietly load 8,234 IDs behind the scenes. It remembers your current filters and re-runs them on the server when you execute the action.

Two practical consequences:

The action respects your filters exactly. If you add or remove a filter before confirming, the affected set changes with it.
You have a 5-minute window to confirm large operations. If you walk away after previewing a 10,000-asset delete, you may need to confirm again when you return — the preview "token" expires to keep the system safe.

Some actions are instant, some run in the background

Most bulk actions — delete, change status, add to collection, edit metadata — finish in the time it takes the Gallery to flicker. Downloads of many assets and large exports take longer: they're prepared in the Task Center and you're notified when the file is ready.

If a button press seems to "do nothing", check the Task Center widget in the top right — the job probably started there.

Delete now, recover later (for a while)

A deleted asset vanishes from the Gallery the instant you click Delete — but it isn't gone. It sits in the Trash for the retention window (typically 30 days), where an administrator can restore it in a click.

After the retention window, the asset is removed for good and cannot be recovered. Two safety nets prevent accidents:

Small deletes confirm with one click. Delete fewer than 50 assets and you see a simple confirmation dialog.
Large deletes ask you to type "DELETE". For bigger selections, the dialog adds a text box that must contain the exact word DELETE — a deliberate friction step so you can't wipe out a collection by mistake.

When you create a share, you're really creating a saved question ("these 100 assets, for this audience") — not a frozen copy of the files. If rights on some of the assets change afterwards, the share updates to reflect the new reality.

This is almost always what you want: revoked or restricted assets stop being shareable the moment the policy changes. A tip for campaigns: if the content of a share must be locked to a point-in-time version, download the files as a ZIP and share that instead.

The spinner on a new upload

A new upload appears in the Gallery immediately with a spinner overlay. Under the hood, three things are happening — you don't need to watch them, but it's helpful to know why the spinner is there:

You can keep browsing, filtering and selecting other assets while new uploads finish processing. Freedam keeps a gentle poll running so the spinner disappears on its own once the asset is ready.

Why the result count sometimes seems off

When Access Rules are used to restrict which assets certain users can see, the Gallery applies those rules after it has counted matching assets. A user who is denied access to a handful of assets may see a page with fewer cards than the counter suggests. This isn't a bug — it's permissions doing their job. If the total matters to you (for reporting, for example), log in as a user with broader access or speak to an administrator.

Bulk status changes skip silently when they can't apply

If you select a mixed pile of assets — some "Draft", some "In Review", some already "Approved" — and change them all to Approved, only the ones whose current status allows that transition will move. The rest are left untouched, quietly. A tip: filter by current status before bulk-changing status to see exactly what will move.

Tips and Best Practices

Drag Selection: In Grid view, you can click and drag on the empty space between cards to quickly select a group of assets. Hold Shift while clicking a second card to select the whole range between them.
Select all matching: Once a search or filter is active, a Select all link appears next to the result count — it acts on everything that matches, not just the current page.
Refine with Filters: If a search returns too many results, click Advanced search to add specific criteria like "Asset Type," "Creation Date," or "Color."
Review mode: If you are a content reviewer, click Review mode in the search row to instantly filter the gallery to only show assets waiting for your approval.

Troubleshooting

Issue: "No Results" or "No Accessible Assets"

Symptoms: The gallery is empty even though you know assets exist.
Cause: You may have active filters that are too restrictive, or your user account lacks permission to view the current assets.
Fix: Click Clear filters next to the result count on the controls row. If the gallery is still empty, contact your administrator to check your access groups.

Symptoms: An error message appears when trying to open the advanced filter panel.
Cause: A temporary network interruption or a server-side configuration error.
Fix: Click the Retry button within the error message.

Issue: "Unsaved Changes" warning when leaving Bulk Indexing

Symptoms: A dialog appears asking if you want to leave the page.
Cause: The system is still syncing your spreadsheet edits to the server.
Fix: Look for the Saving... badge in the top right. Wait for it to disappear before navigating away to ensure all data is saved.

Gallery

Page Overview

Page Layout