Media

Media in Optimizely are images, documents (such as PDF or Word documents), videos, or mp3 files. Media files must be stored in the media library on the Media tab in the assets pane to be available in Optimizely CMS. You can either upload a media file to the assets pane and then drag and drop it onto a page or a block from the assets pane, or you can drag and drop the file straight from your computer onto a page or block. In this latter case, the file is automatically uploaded to the assets pane, and is stored in the For this Page or For this Block folder. See the Folders topic for more information on how to organize your files in folders.

Image: Assets pane, Media

Searching for media

Use the search field at the top of the pane to enter search criteria and retrieve media files. Clicking a search result expands the folder where the file is located. To browse for media files, click a folder to expand the folders and content beneath it.

Uploading media

Media files are uploaded through drag and drop from a file location on your computer to the upload area. You can also click directly in the upload area to add files. Or, you can select Upload Files in the context menu for the target folder to which you want to upload files.

You must have Create access rights to the global or site-specific folder under For All Sites/For This Site where you want to upload a media file, or to the current page when uploading media files to the local For This Page folder.

Publishing media

If your system is not configured to automatically publish media files when they are uploaded, you must manually publish, or schedule for later publishing, media files just as with other items.

There are a few important things to know regarding publishing of media files.

  • If media files should be automatically published on upload, you must have Publish access rights for the folder where you upload the files. See Access rights.
  • When a media file is automatically published, it may be immediately indexed by search engines and can thereby by found in searches. This is worth remembering if you are uploading sensitive information that should not be accessible until a set time, such as an annual report.
  • If a content approval sequence has been set on your media folder, or if you have a project enabled when uploading media, media files are never published automatically.

Inserting media

You can add links to uploaded media files, or insert images and embedded media such as videos. See also: Adding links and Adding and editing images.

Previewing media

Media files in list views are represented by thumbnail images. Common image file formats are rendered for preview by default in Optimizely, but other rendering formats can be developed.

Downloading media

Select the desired media file in the Media structure, and select Download in the context menu. Or, if you are previewing the media file, select Download this file from the Options button.

Editing metadata for media

Available metadata fields depend on the implementation; images can have photographer, description and copyright information. Select Edit for the desired media file in the Media structure, and then the All properties editing view to edit the metadata properties.

Renaming media

Select the media file in the Media structure and then the All properties editing view, and change the Name and the Name in URL.

Renaming a folder or media file changes its URL. This does not break internal links on the website, but incoming links from external websites may break.

Replacing media

To replace an existing media file with another, upload a new file with the exact same name to the same folder as the file you want to replace. A replaced media file is published immediately, affecting all places on the website where the file is used.

If you change the name property, the file name in the database is changed as well. If you rename an image, for example, from Button1.png to Button1, and you later want to overwrite this image, you have to upload an image with the name Button1 without the file extension. Otherwise it will be uploaded as a new file.

Image: Renamed image property name

When replacing images, the changes may not be immediately visible due to website caching. Refresh the page to see the changes.

Managing media file versions

Versions for media files are managed in the same way as for other types of content, that is, by using the Versions gadget. See Publishing and managing versions.