Folder Structure

Updated June 30, 2025 17:15

Folders in NetX organize your assets for browsing and are the starting point to manage user access.

Learn the role that folders play in presenting and granting access to your assets. As you develop a folder taxonomy, you'll consider the type of assets you have and how different users will access them, resulting in a solid foundation for the structure of your NetX instance.

In what ways are your assets similar and how can they be grouped together?
Who is browsing for assets and what terms, themes, or types of content are they looking for?
Do you have sensitive items that certain users shouldn't have access to?

If you're not sure how to get started on your DAM taxonomy, ask your Onboarding Specialist about our taxonomy development exercise.

5 things to know about NetX folders

Folders are for directing users to your content.

Think about the similarities between your assets and how they can be logically grouped together. This could be by asset type, by organizational department, by geographical location, by date, by workflow stage, etc. Think about your users and how they might expect to see your content structured.

Permissions are set at the folder level.

Creating permissions at the folder level, not the asset level, allows for easy administration. Consider organizing content by the different types of users that need access to it. Think about sensitive or restricted content and if different permissions need to be granted for different groups of users.

Assets can live in more than one folder.

A virtual reference is created so assets are not physically duplicated into additional folders. This means storage costs aren't impacted and the same version of an asset exists in all locations.

The folder tree is for browsing.

Unlike local file systems, NetX folders and subfolders do not have to remain in alphabetical or numerical order, so the folder tree can be arranged in any order you wish. Users can also quickly search for any folder or subfolder by typing in the filter box.

Folder names are metadata.

A keyword search for any part of the folder path will return assets, so choose folder names that leverage this fact. Avoid multiple subfolders with the same name — unique folder names are easier to search for.

Best practices

Keep it simple.
Take some time to develop a unified and predictable taxonomy that will help your users quickly find assets. Your folder structure doesn’t need to be very complex — that’s where searching and filtering on attributes come into play.

Use clear and consistent names.
A clear folder naming convention makes browsing and search easier. Beware of illegal or problematic (non-ASCII) characters in folder names. There is a maximum 100 character limit for folder names.

The flatter the better.
A structure that doesn't get too deep makes uploading and organizing content more efficient and less frustrating for users to browse through. Try not to go more than 3-4 levels deep, but aim for less than 100 folders on the same level.

Plan for permissions.
A folder structure that isolates restricted content reduces the complexity of your permissions. Utilize recursive folder permissions to make administration easy. Rest assured the folder tree only shows folders that a user has permission to access.

Avoid frequent reorganization.
Frequent moving of folders can confuse users and requires time to reindex. Plan for a logical folder structure that's also flexible enough to grow and evolve along with your organization. Start with a solid foundation, but don't get too hung up on accounting for every future possibility.

How-to articles

Learn about browsing folders and folder actions in the NetX DAM User Guide.
See Managing Folders to learn how to create, delete, and edit folders.
Beware of illegal characters in folder names.

Collections and Saved Searches can take the place of folders for ephemeral groups of assets.
See Organizing Assets for how to move, add, or remove assets from folders.

Folders can be configured as Search Filters to allow for category-based search filtering.
See Managing Permissions to learn about recursive/non-recursive permissions in relation to subfolders.
Enhanced ACL Permissions on folders allow for granular control over user group actions.

Tips and tricks

An Admin-only Trash folder is recommended instead of deleting assets. The delete action is permanent and cannot be undone, so consider a workflow that moves assets to a folder with Admin-only permissions. Assets can then be permanently deleted after a certain amount of time passes.

Consider a separate Portals folder structure to easily identify the assets that are visible in your portals. See Configuring Portals for recommendations.

A dedicated folder structure for Upload Requests can help your asset import workflows. Think of this as a staging area where newly uploaded assets can be approved and cataloged prior to being released to their permanent folders.

Use Saved Collections instead of creating extra folders to gather assets for a specific project or temporary exhibition. Saved Searches can be a better option for grouping assets based on specific criteria, like metadata values or date ranges.

BEFORE YOUR NEXT ONBOARDING MEETING

Meet with your Core Team to draft a solid initial folder structure.
Think about your groups of users and the folders they can and can't access.
Use the Folders Onboarding Worksheet to plan your folder structure or try building your structure directly in NetX.
Be prepared to discuss your approach with your Onboarding Specialist.

Up next...

Learn about Metadata and Searching.

BEFORE YOU IMPORT ASSETS
Discuss the plan for your initial ingest with your Onboarding Specialist.
Review our File Ingest Policy and read about File and Data Ingest.