Assets Overview

The Assets module is a file manager for your Insites instance. It lets you upload, organize, and manage files such as images, documents, audio, and other media that power your web application.

Why Use It

Hosting files directly on your instance gives your web application stability and independence from external sources. When you upload assets to your instance, they are served via a CDN for fast delivery worldwide. You have full control over your files, can organize them into folders, tag them for easy searching, and use them anywhere in your pages, templates, and database layouts with a simple Liquid tag or direct URL.

Use Cases

• Store and serve product images for an ecommerce store
• Manage a client-facing document library with downloadable PDFs and guides
• Host brand assets (logos, icons, fonts) used across your web application
• Maintain a media library of images for articles, blog posts, and content pages
• Archive files you do not need on the live site but want to keep for reference

Key Features

• File Upload - Upload up to 100 files at once, with a maximum size of 600MB per file. Uploads run at the same time, each with a progress percentage and a cancel option
• Folder Management - Organize your files into a folder hierarchy
• Search - Find files by name or by tags
• File Preview - Preview images directly in the admin panel (supports PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, SVG, TIFF, BMP, and WEBP)
• Tagging - Add tags to files for better organization and filtering
• Archiving - Archive files you do not need without permanently deleting them
• Event Stream - Track all file and folder activity with a detailed audit log
• Reports - See how much storage your files use, how it changes each month, and which files, folders and tags use the most
• Upload Restrictions - Block or allow file types by extension and set a maximum upload size under Assets > Configuration
• Liquid Code Integration - Copy ready-to-use Liquid code snippets for rendering files in your pages and templates
• Direct URL Access - Use file URLs directly in Markdown or external applications

Getting Started

Navigate to Assets in the sidebar to access the module. You will find four sections:

1. All Assets - The main file manager where you browse, upload, and manage your files and folders
2. Event Stream - A timeline showing all file and folder activity on your instance
3. Reports - A dashboard of your files: total assets, total storage, active versus archived storage, storage and new assets per month, assets by file type, and top-10 lists of the largest files, folders and tags, and uploads by administrator
4. Configuration - Upload restrictions: choose which file types the file manager and the Assets API accept, and set a maximum file size

Start by navigating to All Assets to explore your current files and folders, or upload your first file.

Learn More

• Navigation - How to browse files and folders, use the toolbar, search, switch view modes, and view file details
• Uploading and Downloading Assets - How to upload files, handle duplicates, detect archived files, and download assets
• Managing Assets - How to use assets in your code, manage tags, create and delete folders, archive and restore files, and use the Event Stream and Reports