Documentation AEM AEM Tutorials AEM Assets Tutorials

Adobe Asset Link 3.0

Last update: March 23, 2025

Topics:
Adobe Asset Link

CREATED FOR:

Beginner
User

Adobe Experience Manager assets can be used by designers and creative users within their favorite Adobe Creative Cloud desktop applications.

Adobe Asset Link extension for Adobe Creative Cloud for enterprise extends the capability to search and browse, sort, preview, upload assets, check out, modify, check-in and view metadata of AEM assets within Creative Cloud applications.

TIP

Learn more about how the Adobe XD Premium Training Program can help you integrate Asset Link with your Adobe Experience Manager workflow.

Adobe Asset Link and AEM creative workflows

The following video illustrates a common workflow used by creatives working in Adobe Creative Cloud applications, and integrating directly with AEM using Adobe Asset Link.

video poster

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/335927?quality=12&learn=on

Transcript

Adobe Experience Manager Assets, or just Assets is a world-class Enterprise Digital Asset Management platform designed to be a single source of truth for large and expanding list of media and marketing Asset types to manage a variety of content authoring to publishing workflows. Designers and content creators, users of Creative Cloud applications like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator can work directly in their favorite tools and also work with Assets and files in AEM Assets by using Asset Link, a Creative Cloud panel in several Creative Cloud apps that connects directly to AEM Assets. What follows is a demonstration of working with Adobe InDesign and AEM Assets to manage a few common production steps while maintaining source files housed in AEM Assets, a useful single source of truth for this kind of workflow. In this demo, I’ll work with AEM Assets, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Asset Link to access and modify content.

Note that for this demonstration, all of my Assets, my InDesign files and images that I will place in my InDesign file will originate from AEM Assets. When I uploaded these image files into AEM, an image processing profile generated an FPO rendition of each of the images. This FPO rendition is the same ratio and pixel count as the original, but it’s a highly compressed rendition reduced file size making for a faster handling between applications. Referencing this image inside of InDesign, we’ll use the FPO rendition whenever possible.

Now on InDesign with the Asset Link panel open, I’ve already navigated to the AEM folder that has the files I wish to access. I’ll check out and open a file for editing a half-baked document that has the design framework, but needs some images added for the purposes of this demo. In Asset Link panel, I’ll check out this InDesign document, which will lock it for editing from anyone else while it is checked out.

I’ll add a few images into this document using Asset Links place linked command. Once finished with these image additions, I’ll save this document and check it back in to AEM Assets.

Back in Assets, notice the thumbnail this document will begin to update as soon as the upload is complete. The checking in and re uploading over the source file creates a new version of this document, which you can see if you navigate to the Assets timeline and show the versions. The bottom most item is the current version. AEM maintains version control this way by showing all versions in this list. Any edit actions are always operating on the current version is the denoted by the word current at the bottom here. If needed, you can always roll back to an earlier version by selecting a version that’s not the current and click revert to this version.

In AEM Assets, you can see which files this document is referencing by selecting the Asset and choosing properties. This shows all the metadata associated with the Asset and in this case and reference files like the images that have been linked to it in InDesign. Notice my image files and some vector logo files under dependencies.

There has been an image edit requested on one of the file images I’m using in the travel story document. In Photoshop using Asset Link, I’ll check out the image, make an edit here, really something to show an obvious change in the image like tinting the image for demonstration purposes. Once done, I’ll save the file and check it back in into AEM.

Recall when you use Asset Link to check in and save over document, a document already existing in Assets, this creates a new current version while maintaining access to previous versions of Assets, always available from the versions list for any Asset.

Now, however, my InDesign file is out of sync with all of the referenced Assets. Back in InDesign, looking at my currently checked out design file, InDesign will attempt to check on the status of all linked files and let you know if one of them is out of sync.

On the Links panel, the status icon for the file that was just edited changed to show that it is out of sync. Click on the update icon to update all out of sync files and the design preview will update to show any new image edits.

This demonstrates a few ways to use Creative Cloud and authoring applications for design workflows while referencing source files housed in AEM Assets. -

Adobe Asset Link capabilities

Adobe Asset Link integrates with AEM Assets and Assets Essentials.
Adobe Asset Link auto-configures connection to cloud-based AEM environments (AEM Assets as a Cloud Service and Assets Essentials)
Adobe Asset Link is an extension that works within Adobe Creative Cloud applications:
- Adobe XD
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
Automatic authentication to AEM using their Adobe Enterprise ID or Federated ID
Browse and search for digital assets in AEM
Access file details for assets residing in AEM from with the panel:
- Thumbnail
- Basic metadata
- Versions
Place, download or drag-n-drop assets into their layout
Modify assets by checking them out from AEM and working on them (WIP) within their Creative Cloud Assets account
Check an asset back into AEM after they have finished modifying it, and the new version is reflected in AEM
Search for assets in AEM from the Adobe Asset Link In-App panel
Browse AEM Assets collections and smart collections directly from the Asset Link panel
Add newly created assets to AEM directly from the panel
Drag-and-drop assets directly into InDesign frames

Placing assets in InDesign

Adobe Asset Link provides InDesign direct linking support between Adobe Asset Link and AEM. With InDesign direct linking support, you can place (Place Linked or Place Copy) or drag-n-drop digital assets into InDesign from AEM via the Adobe Asset Link panel. Also, introduces the *For Placement Only+ (FPO) rendition.

video poster

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/28988?quality=12&learn=on

Transcript

In this video, we are going to discuss features introduced in Adobe Asset Link 1.1. Adobe Asset Link strengthens calibration between creatives and marketers in the content creation process. You can now access content created and stored in Adobe Experience Manager Assets without leaving the app you are most familiar with. You can seamlessly browse, search, and check out and check in assets using the in-app panel in the Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Adobe Asset Link 1.0 offers some of the features discussed about. Adobe Asset Link 1.1 now provides InDesign direct linking support between Adobe Asset Link and AEM Assets. It is also called as deep linking or URL linking. With InDesign direct linking support, you can now place or drag and drop digital assets into InDesign from AEM Assets via the Adobe Asset Link panel. A link is retained to assets within AEM. If assets change in AEM, a new version gets created. Creatives will be alerted via the InDesign linking functionality that the users are familiar with today. InDesign files can move across platform and devices as long as creative users have access to the Adobe Asset link and to the same AEM Asset instance. Direct linking will work seamlessly. Make sure your Creative Cloud solutions are configured with Adobe Asset Link 1.1 extension and integrated to Adobe Experience Manager. Below this video, you can find a link to set up your instance. Let’s open a sample file in Adobe InDesign and then open the Adobe Asset Link panel. Click on the window, select Extensions, and then open Adobe Asset Link panel. From the Adobe Asset Link panel, navigate within AEM Assets to find a biking image to replace the image that we have on our sample file. Select an asset and view our options. You have several options to use this asset in your creations. Place Option in Adobe Asset Link 1.0 is renamed to Place Copy, and Place Linked Option is a net new capability introduced in Adobe Asset Link 1.1. With InDesign documents, you can perform a Place Copy option, which places a copy of the original AEM asset into your InDesign layout after downloading the binaries to your local system. Adobe Asset Link does not maintain any link between the original asset and image placed using the place copy option, which means if the original asset is modified in AEM Assets, the changes are not linked to the InDesign file. To get the latest version of the original image, you have to delete the placed file and then redo the Place Copy step again. Let’s perform a Place Copy option for this image. You now have a copy of the original asset embedded on your InDesign layout. Take a scenario where the original asset gets modified by a user in AEM. Let’s first do Adobe Experience Manager Assets window and modify this image to create a new version. Let’s flip the image horizontally and then save your changes. A new version of the biking image gets created in AEM Assets. Now, let’s switch back to Adobe InDesign and quickly refresh your Adobe Asset Link panel. We can immediately notice the changes made by an AEM user reflected within your Adobe Asset Link panel, but the image placed onto the InDesign Layout using the Place Copy option doesn’t reflect this change. Click on the window and then select the Links options. Within the Links panel, you can see the list of image and its linking status. The linking status for this image is currently embedded. Now, let’s explore the Place Linked option. Let’s select another biking image from Adobe Asset Link panel and then select the Place Linked option. You know have a reference of the original asset linked to your InDesign layout. Let’s modify the original asset in AEM Assets, switch to Adobe Experience Manager Assets window, and open the biking image to edit it. Let’s flip the image horizontally and then save your changes. A new version of this biking image gets created in AEM Assets. Now, let’s switch back to Adobe InDesign and quickly refresh your panel. You can notice the changes made by an AEM user reflected within your Adobe Asset Link panel, but the image placed onto the InDesign layout using the Place Linked option doesn’t reflect this change. Click on the Windows option and then select the Links panel. Within the Links panel, you can see the list of images linked and notice the status of the link changed to modified. Double-click on the Relink Status icon and you can notice the new version of the biking asset linked to your InDesign layout. When you place an asset to your InDesign layout using the Place Linked option, Adobe Asset Link maintains a link to the original asset in AEM Assets. You can check whether the original asset has been changed in AEM Assets by reviewing the status column in the links panel in InDesign. When large files are placed into InDesign documents from AEM Assets using Adobe Asset Link, creative users need to wait for a few seconds after initiating the place operation. This impacts the overall user experience. With Adobe Asset Link, you can now temporarily place a low-resolution image of the original asset from AEM Assets, rather than using the time taken to place an image. At the same time, it increases the overall user experience and productivity. The lower resolution image is placed temporarily, and when the final output is required for printing or publishing, the original full-resolution asset replaces the lower resolution image, and it all happens in the background. This new low resolution is also called Ask for Placement-Only Rendition option. For this capability to work, you need to update the DAM Update Asset workflow to enable For Placement Only rendition option. From your AEM homepage, navigate to Workflow Models and open the DAM Update Asset workflow. Click Edit Workflow option and find the Process Thumbnails step. Let’s configure the Process Thumbnails step to enable the FPO rendition creation. Make sure to save your changes and also sync your changes. Now, let’s navigate back to AEM Assets window and then run a DAM Update Asset workflow for one of the biking image. For existing assets, you can re-run the DAM Update Asset workflow for generating FPO rendition. For all new asset uploads, Asset Upload workflow automatically generates the FPO rendition. Once the workflow is complete, open the image and you can see a For Placement Only rendition with lower resolution and lower size created. Switch to Adobe InDesign and from the Adobe Asset Link panel select the image for which we created an FPO rendition and choose the Place Linked option. Adobe Asset Link adds the For Placement Only rendition of the original asset to the InDesign layout. Click on the Windows option and select the Links panel. Under the list of linked assets, you can see the status listed as For Placement Only for this image. When you click on the linked image, you can also notice the low resolution of the FPO compared to the original resolution of this image. The lower resolution image is placed temporarily, and when the final output is required for printing or publishing, the original full-resolution asset replaces the lower resolution image, and it all happens in the background. Let’s select the Download Original option for the linked asset. Once the original file is downloaded, you can replace the FPO rendition with the original rendition by double-clicking on the Link Status icon. You can notice that the FPO rendition on the InDesign file has changed to an original rendition. To summarize, Adobe Asset Link 1.1 now provides InDesign direct-linking support between Adobe Asset Link and AEM Assets. It also introduces a low-resolution rendition, For Placement Only rendition, when linking an asset with InDesign using Adobe Asset Link. -

NOTE

Use your Adobe Creative Cloud Enterprise ID or Federated ID only. Make sure you configure AEM for Adobe Asset Link.

You can place an asset to your InDesign layout using one of the below options:

Place Copy - Embedding an asset (using the Place Copy option) places a copy of the original asset into your InDesign layout after downloading the binaries to your local system. Adobe Asset Link does not maintain any link between the embedded copy and the original asset. If the original asset is modified in AEM, you must delete the embedded asset from the InDesign file, and re-embed the asset from AEM.
Place Linked - When working with InDesign documents, you have the option to reference the assets from AEM in addition to directly embedding the assets (using the Place Copy option in the context menu). Referencing assets lets you collaborate with other users and incorporate any updates made to the original asset in AEM. To reference an asset from AEM, use the Place Linked option in the context menu.

For Placement Only images

When large asset files are placed into InDesign Documents from AEM using Adobe Asset Link, creatives users need to wait for few seconds after initiating the place operation. This impacts the overall user experience. With Adobe Asset Link you can temporarily place a low resolution image of the original asset from AEM, thereby reducing the time taken to place an image. At the same time, it increases the overall user experience and productivity. The lower resolution image is placed temporarily and when the final output is required for printing or publishing, you need to replace the FPO renditions with the originals. If you want to replace multiple FPO images with respective original images, navigate to Windows > Links panel and then download the original assets. After the original images are downloaded, choose Replace all FPO’s With Originals.

FPO renditions are lightweight substitutes of the original assets. They have the same aspect ratio, but are of smaller size compared to the original images. Currently, InDesign supports importing FPO renditions for the following image types only:

JPEG
GIF
PNG
TIFF
PSD
BMP

If an FPO rendition is not available for a specific asset in AEM, the original high-resolution asset is referenced instead. For FPO images, the status FPO is displayed in the InDesign Links panel.

Adobe Asset Link authentication with AEM Assets

How Adobe Asset Link authentication works in the context of Adobe Identity Management Services (IMS) and Adobe Experience Manager Author.

Adobe Asset Link Architecture

The Adobe Asset Link extension makes an authorization request, via the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App, to Adobe Identity Manage Service (IMS), and upon success, receives a Bearer token.
Adobe Asset Link extension connects to AEM Author over HTTP(S), including the Bearer token obtained in Step 1, using the scheme (HTTP/HTTPS), host and port provided in the extension’s settings JSON.
AEM’s Bearer Authentication Handler extracts the Bearer token from the request and validates it with Adobe IMS.
Once Adobe IMS validates the Bearer token, a user is created in AEM (if it doesn’t already exist), and syncs profile and group/memberships data from Adobe IMS. The AEM user is issued a standard AEM login token, which is sent back to the Adobe Asset Link extension as a Cookie on the HTTP(S) response.
Subsequent interactions (ie. browsing, searching, checking in/out assets, etc.) with the Adobe Asset Link extension results in HTTP(S) requests to AEM Author which are validated using the AEM login token, using the standard AEM Token Authentication Handler.

NOTE

Upon expiry of login token, Steps 1-5 will automatically invoke, authenticating the Adobe Asset Link extension using the Bearer token, and re-issues a new, valid login token.

Additional resources

Adobe Asset Link website

recommendation-more-help