Overview

The Asset Manager allows you to upload static assets to Dispatch's content delivery network (CDN). Utilizing a CDN allows for a centralized location to store assets that are geographically distributed to allow for faster downloads by the target recipients. The CDN has edge locations located all over the world so message recipients fetch the asset from a data center that is closest to them so download speed is as fast as possible.

Assets can be uploaded and associated from Templates or Communications.

Restrictions

Some restrictions are in place to help insure that only appropriate file types are uploaded.

• File type: Only GIF, PNG, JPG, PDF, WAV, AIFF, MP3, ICS, VCS, or TXT files are accepted. If you have a file type that you think should be support, please contact dispatch-support@uiowa.edu.
• File size: 5MB max. This limit is in place as the primary method these assets are delivered are through email and you want your emails to be as small as possible so they load quickly on mobile devices. Should you need to have include assets that are larger than this limit, please contact dispatch-support@uiowa.edu.

Uploading new assets

Assets maybe uploaded either from the Assets tab in the main navigation menu or from the Asset Manager in the Template or Communication screen.

Toggle open the Asset Manager by clicking on the Asset Manager link in th eTemplate or Communication edit screen. The Asset panel available from the main navigation menu does not need toggled to open.

You can begin to upload files by clicking the Upload File button or you can drag an appropriate file onto the Upload File button. If you are adding assets from the Template or Communication edit panels, the newly uploaded assets are associated with that template or communication record. The association with the template or communication is purely for organization purposes. It does not prevent you from using that asset in other locations.

Using the asset manager

Change view mode

The buttons at top-right of the Asset Manager control the view mode. Assets can be viewed in either a list view (default) or a grid view . When viewing in list view, you can control how many assets are visible at a time by changing the Rows per page option. You can also search for text anywhere in all of the assets.

When in grid view, all assets are shown at once.

Filtering

When you have a lot of assets, it can be helpful to filter for only the assets you are interested in working with. Clicking the Filter button in the top-right of the Asset Manager allows for filtering based on: media type, creation date, archive status, associated communication, associated template, or tag.

Asset Details

By clicking on the asset's thumbnail image, you can view details about about the asset. This view also gives you the option to archive or delete the asset as well as modify the tags associated with the asset.

Bulk actions

You can perform deletions, archiving and unarchiving against assets in bulk. While in list view, you can check the checkboxes next to the asset to select the asset. While in grid view, first click the Bulk Select button to enable the bulk select mode. Once in bulk select mode, click the assets you want to select and they will be highlighted. Once you have your assets selected, you can perform the bulk action.

Copying asset links

Knowing the URL of the asset on the CDN is probably one of the most important attributes of the asset. While in the list view, you have a Copy Link button which will copy the URL to the clipboard for you. Alternatively, you can right-click on the asset file name and select Copy Link Location/Address from the contextual menu. If you click into the asset's details, the full URL to the asset is also available in the Asset URL field. Clicking that field will select the entire URL for you.