Asset Types are initially chosen by an uploader during the upload process and by design it is not possible to change the asset type of an asset via the standard edit & update tools.

However if you have mistakenly uploaded an asset to the wrong asset type, or there are a number of existing assets you need to assign to a new asset type, this is achievable by performing a metadata export & re-import. The process is as follows:

Step 1: Export the asset metadata

Perform a search for the assets you wish to change and then export them by clicking the 'Export all results...' link at the bottom of a search results page.

Alternatively you can add the assets to a lightbox. The screenshot below shows four assets in a Lightbox. You can export these by clicking 'Export Assets' from the 'More' dropdown menu. These assets were originally uploaded to the Item asset type but we're going change this to an asset type named Photography which has already been created and configured in Admin > Asset Types.

On the Export Assets screen, click 'Run Export'. There's no need to select any of the Export options.

Step 2: Edit the metadata

The export will run and generate a (tab-delimited) .txt file which you can open in your spreadsheet application. This export shows all of the metadata fields associated with these assets in columns and each asset on a unique row.

The column "entityName" shows the Asset Type that assets have been uploaded as. In the below example the four assets were uploaded as the Item Asset Type.

Edit the cells for each asset, replacing the Item asset type with Photography. Save the file as a tab-delimited .txt file. See our help centre article for instructions if you are unsure.

Step 3: Reimport the metadata

Back in Asset Bank, navigate to Admin > Attributes > Metadata Import area. Click 'Start new metadata import' and on the next page browse for the .txt file you edited and saved in the previous step. Click Submit.

Asset Bank will now check the file for errors and if successful it will prompt you to start the update. If you see any errors during the metadata check which you are unsure about, please contact our support team.

After clicking 'Start Update' and the lines in the metadata import have been successfully read the assets will now be of the updated Asset Type.