Metadata management

This article explains how to view asset metadata  and edit asset metadata to help power your ability to search for and manage assets.

Overview

Curator metadata names can be organised into multiple metadata views to help structure and group metadata according to specific purposes.

For example, in Clip Link and Curator for Adobe, the  Filters Panel displays a metadata view containing configured metadata names. Similarly, when creating a new Collection, a predefined metadata view can be used to display relevant metadata fields that are populated at the point of creation.

In this context, logic or schemas may be applied to determine where and how metadata is applied.

Metadata categories can be used to organise related sets of metadata names, improving searchability when viewing or filtering assets. For instance, you might group assets by Location (e.g., Continent, Country, State), File Data (e.g., File Size, Duration), or Sports Information (e.g., Home Team, Away Team, Referee).

Metadata names

A metadata name is a unique, customisable tag that you can create and modify to help identify and describe assets.

When creating or editing metadata names, the following options are available:

• Name:

  • The label that defines what the metadata name is going to be called.

• Display Name

  • The name that will be displayed when the metadata is viewed.

• Asset types:

  • The asset types this metadata name can be applied to.

• Data type:

  • Specifies the type of data the metadata name will store. Available options include:

    • Text

    • Int

    • Float

    • Datetime

    • Filepath

    • Uri

    • Boolean

    • Guid

    • Blob

    • Json

• Make metadata name multi-value?

  • Enabling this allows the metadata field to store multiple values instead of a single entry. When enabled, users can select or apply more than one value to a single field (for example, assigning multiple countries to a Country field). Enable this option to allow multiple selections, disable it to restrict the field to a single value.

• Resources

  • This allows you to select the external source used to populate selectable values in the layout component options shown below, allowing metadata values to be dynamically retrieved from an external system such as an API.

    As an example, you could use a resource to display a list of countries, or a curated list of sports-related items, sourced from an external API instead of manually defined values.

• Category

  • The category this metadata belongs to (see the Metadata Categories section below).

• Layout:

  • Defines how the metadata field is presented in the user interface. Available options include:

    • Default

    • Autocomplete

    • Buttons

    • Datetime

    • Dropdown

    • Sequence

    • Switch

    • Table Text

Adding and editing metadata names

Important note

Do not add static metadata names such as User or Creator to any metadata view used in Clip Link, Curator Connect, or Curator for Adobe. These fields are added internally to track how assets are created or logged. Manual updates to these metadata names may cause errors.

To add a new metadata name:

1. Navigate to the Metadata tab in Curator System Administrator.

2. From the Create menu, select Metadata name.

3. Provide details for your new metadata name, then select Save.

To edit a metadata name:

1. Navigate to the Metadata tab in Curator System Administrator.

2. A list of existing metadata names will be displayed.

   

3. Select a metadata name to display its details.

   

4. Edit the metadata you wish to change, then select Save.

Metadata views

A Metadata view is made up of one or many metadata names grouped together.

A Metadata view can be applied to a process in Curator.
For example, all metadata listed under the SearchLevelView metadata view will be displayed by default when viewing metadata via the Filters panel.

Adding metadata to a view

Metadata can be added to a view by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the Metadata tab in Curator System Administrator.

2. A list of existing metadata names will be displayed.
   Select a metadata view from the drop-down menu above the list of metadata to display all metadata from within that view.
   

3. Add metadata to the selected view by opening the drop-down at the bottom of the screen and selecting a metadata name to add it.

4. A confirmation message will appear once the metadata has been successfully added, and the new metadata will be added to the list.
   

Metadata Categories

Metadata categories can be manually added to metadata names in order to organise sets of metadata when viewing or filtering assets using the Filters panel.

For example, you might group assets by Location (e.g., areas or addresses), People (e.g., celebrities or sports players), or Duration.

Adding metadata to a new or existing category

By default, all metadata is assigned to the Default category.

New and existing categories can be manually created and assigned in Curator System Administrator.

1. Navigate to the Metadata tab.

2. Select a metadata name, then choose a category from the Category drop-down on the right-hand side of the screen.
   

   Alternatively, select Add a new category from the drop-down to create a new category.

   

3. If you are creating a new category, enter a name and select Save.
   

4. With your metadata successfully added to a new or existing category, select Save from the top right corner of the screen to save your changes.

Viewing metadata categories

Once metadata has been assigned to a category, all associated information will be displayed under the corresponding category heading when viewing or filtering assets.
Toggling the View in categories option on and off when viewing asset metadata allows you to show or hide metadata categories.
Metadata categories are displayed in alphabetical order, with the Default category appearing at the bottom of the list.

All metadata added to the SearchLevelView metadata view (see the Metadata Views section above for more information) will be displayed by default when filtering assets using the Filters panel.

If metadata within this view has been assigned to a category, it will be displayed under a category heading. These headings can be expanded or collapsed to show or hide the metadata contained within each category.