Once installed the CI HUB connector will allow users to search for and download assets into the application they are in. These applications can include those that are part of Adobe CC (e.g. Photoshop), Google Workspace (e.g. Slides) and Office 365 (e.g. Word).

Please ensure you follow our other article to get the connector set up:

https://support.assetbank.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/6986806668701

CI HUB YouTube Channel

You can see all CI HUB videos on their YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/@cihub2397/featured

CI HUB Academy

Or jump straight to the CI HUB Academy here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTXWKZ4EvBIxl1iBD1kQWiVRKnG1J03RG

CI HUB User Manual

You can access this here: CI HUB User Manual

Interface Overview - the basics

Once you have the connector set up and linked to your Asset Bank, you should see an interface similar to this:

You can also view the CI HUB overview video series here: CI HUB Navigation Video

Navigation

Some of the features will be greyed out based on the users permissions and features currently supported by the connector. Let's have a look.

1 - Delete folder. This will only show (non-greyed out) for Admins. It will also only show if the folder selected for deletion is empty in Asset Bank. Feel free to ignore.

2 - Add folder. This will only show (non-greyed out) for Admins. It allows them to add folders to Asset Bank.

3 - Similarity search. This is not supported in Asset Bank currently. So it is greyed out.

4 - Links Beta. This can be active for certain apps - e.g. InDesign. Users can look here to see if any assets, e.g. used in an InDesign project, have since changed in Asset Bank. Note, users will also get auto-notified if they open an InDesign project that uses a file that has since changed in Asset Bank. Allowing the user to click a link to switch in the latest version for example.

5 - Browse. The mode you are interacting with your Asset Bank. This will display your Lightboxes and the Folder structure you have access to below.

6 - Search. Select this to interact in search mode. This reflects the ordering you'd see when running a search via the Asset Bank homepage (with your particular user permissions).

Browsing

Access folders and your lightboxes

In browse mode, you'll be able to visit your lightboxes or browse through the folder structure you have permission to see. To move inside a lightbox or folder then simply double click the link.

To move back up a level click on this icon or a folder with two dots next to it.

Use the breadcrumb for quick navigation

Alternatively, you will see the folder structure path as a breadcrumb above. You can also use this to quickly navigate.

Searching

To enter this mode, click the search icon on the "Navigation" panel. You'll then see a search box that you can enter search terms into. Then hit enter or click the search icon next to the search box.

The search results you see will be ordered as per the Asset Bank homepage quick search. There are some options here to be aware of:

View recent searches

If you click the down chevron next to the search box you will see a history of your previous searches.

You can click on these to re-run the search, or click on the 'X' to remove the search term from your search history.

Filter by orientation

You can also use the filter drop down to select the relevant orientation.

Viewing your results

Tile view

This is the default results view and shows the assets next to each other with file type info overlayed and the title below.

Tile view layout options

When in tile view, you can hover over the settings cog to see some options. These include hiding the folder structure from browse, hiding the caption that appears under the thumbnails. Changing the caption under the thumbnail, choosing either filename (Name) or Title. Hiding conversion notes (which make it easier to see which file size/conversion you'll be dropping into your underlying application - e.g. the original or a re-sized version). Changing the thumbnail preview sizes. The default is medium, but you can select what works best for you.

List view

This shows the files in a list along with some metadata information.

List view layout options

List view has a separate settings page. As well as Hide Folders and Hide conversion notes, there is also Column Selection. Here you can add, remove and reorder the data you see next to each small thumbnail. 'Foreign key' is the unique Asset Bank ID.

Detail view

You can double click on a thumbnail to enter this view.

Here you see a larger preview and some metadata further down. You can drag and drop your file from  here into the underlying application. You can also copy and paste/drag across any of the metadata, e.g. Title or Name (filename).

There are other icons that you can see here and in other views.

1 - Visit the asset in Asset Bank. Clicking this will open up a new browser window and take you to the asset.

2 - Use file. This has the same effect as dragging and dropping the file.

3 - Update file. This will allow you to add a new version of this file in Asset Bank. It looks like this:

Assuming you have upload permission, you can upload the file you are working on - here I've selected my active Photoshop document from the dropdown. When I click OK it will upload it to Asset Bank and save it as a new version of the original file. Users will now see this when they search in Asset Bank, though Admin users can still visit the previous version if they need to - accessible via the Versions metadata field in Asset Bank.

Additional settings

To see where CI HUB will store temporary files on your computer, click on the four stacked lines icon at the top right hand corner of the CI HUB panel.

UI scaling

You can also tweak the size of the user interface here via the UI scaling option. I.e. 200% will make everything twice as big.

Target folder

This shows you the target folder and from here you can change the location if preferred.

Enable same filenames

This is checked by default and just means that the connector can handle dealing with files stored in Asset Bank that happen to have the same filename.

Also link to Stock Content Sites

In addition, once you have the connector, you can also link to your favourite stock content sites, including Getty Images, Adobe Stock, Shutterstock and Unsplash.