First introduced in SharePoint 2010, the Asset Library is a valuable component developed Microsoft to help users manage multiple types of documents within a single repository in SharePoint.  With the Asset Library, you can upload a variety of documents including image, audio, and video files, and share them with other users and/or groups.  In this article, we will walk through how to set up your asset library, as well as some common functions such as uploading, managing, and sharing your documents.

1.       Create a new Asset Library:

Go to your home screen and click on the Add lists, libraries and other apps icon:

Select Asset Library from Your Apps:

Input the name you would like to give your list, and click Create to create your new Asset Library (in this example, we’re using the name “MyAsset” for the library):

To check your content type, go to Settings in the MyAsset screen:

2.       Upload documents to Asset Library:

Image, audio and video files can all be uploaded into your Asset Library.  Simply select the desired file from your local drive and add it to the Asset Library clicking +new item.  Once the file has been uploaded, you will be able to select its content type and input its properties:

To add an image:

To add an audio file:

To add a video:

Once they’ve been added, you can view all of the documents in your Asset Library:

3.       Manage Items in Asset Library:

Image files:

Hover your mouse over the image file and click the … button in the bottom right corner to open a menu that includes all of the image file’s details and properties:

From here, you have the option of clicking Share or Download to share or download your file, as well as the … option, which you can click to open a context menu where you can edit the properties of the file.

Audio files:

Just as you did with the image file above, hover your mouse over the thumbnail and click the … button in the bottom right corner to open a menu that includes all details and properties of the audio file:

From here, you have the option of clicking Play, Share, or Download, as well as the … option, which you can click to open a context menu where you can edit the file’s properties.

Video files :

Again, hover your mouse over the thumbnail and click the … button in the bottom right corner to open a menu that includes all of the video file’s details and properties:

From here, you have the option of clicking Play or Download, as well as the … option, which you can click to open a context menu where you can edit the file’s properties.

Unfortunately, at this time, you are not able to Share video files from the SharePoint Asset Library; only the Play and Download options are available.

4.       How to share an Item from Asset Library:

As mentioned previously, within the Asset Library, you have the ability to share image and audio files with other users/groups, as well as assign them permissions from your Asset Library (once again, as of now, you are unable to share video files).

After you click Share on the file you are looking to share with another user/group, a menu will pop up.  From here, you will be able to input the applicable permissions for the user/group for the file: