AEM desktop app v1.10 best practices

Opening files from AEM Assets Web UI on desktop. From the web UI, you can reveal assets on desktop (in Finder, Explorer), or open an asset using a desktop application.

Check-out and check-in. Assets can be checked out for editing, they are marked as locked for the user in AEM Assets. After editing, the asset can be checked in to unlock it.

Save changes to files. Any change that you save to the file in the network share is uploaded to AEM automatically, and a new version is created.

Place linked assets in other documents. In applications, such as Creative Cloud (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Illustrator), you can place an external file as a link. For example, you can place an image into an InDesign document. In this case, the network share mount lets you browse and select assets from AEM for placement. Placing linked files also works in some non-Adobe apps, such as MS Office.

Reference resolution in AEM. If both, the placed files and the main files with link, are stored in AEM it can automatically provide server-side information about the asset references.

Access the asset from desktop. In the mounted network share, a contextual menu provides a More Info dialog (larger preview, key metadata) and the ability to open an asset in the AEM UI.

Uploading large, hierarchical folders in bulk. If you use the Create > Folder Upload option in AEM UI to upload assets, AEM desktop app uploads the selected folder hierarchy to AEM in the background. Upload progress can be monitored with a dedicated UI in the desktop app.

Do not use AEM desktop app to manage assets from the desktop. AEM desktop app was not built as a replacement for network drives. Use the following capabilities instead:

• AEM Assets web UI for digital asset management (finding or sharing assets, metadata, and copy or move).

• AEM desktop app Folder Upload to upload large, hierarchical folders.

Do not treat AEM desktop app as a “desktop sync” client for AEM Assets. The key benefit of AEM desktop app here is that it provides “virtual” access to the whole repository, and desktop sync applications typically synchronize just assets belonging to one user. AEM desktop app provides some level of caching and background upload; still, it works very differently from typical “Sync” applications, such as Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app or Microsoft OneDrive.

Do not use AEM desktop app network drives to save assets frequently. All save operations are transmitted to AEM Assets. Therefore, it is impractical to perform intensive edit operations directly in the mounted AEM Assets repository. Editing an asset directly in the mounted repository crams the asset’s timeline with irrelevant versions and imposes additional overheads on the server.

Do not use AEM desktop app for migration of large amounts of data from one AEM instance to another. See the Migration Guide to plan and execute asset migrations. In contrast, desktop app supports bulk uploading large number of assets for the first time in Adobe Experience Manager.

Use collaboration features in AEM Assets Web UI to provide more direct access to the right assets for the creative user. Sharing folders or collections, providing Smart Collections (saved searches), or sending notifications with pointers to the right assets are some of them. Creative user can then use desktop actions in the web UI to quickly get access to these assets on their desktop.

Consider the right permissions for assets (access control) to simplify the view into the DAM repository for the creative users, basically limiting their access to only assets they need or are interested in:

• Certain areas not relevant to the creative users might be denied for their user groups, to remove them from their view, also on desktop.

• Most assets in DAM are final and not intended for changing - these should be read-only for the creative users.

• Only assets that require changes or retouching should be write-enabled for the creative users. Some organizations use AEM Projects and the folders they create to host assets that are still subject to changes.

Use the AEM Assets web UI to locate the asset. Not only is search in AEM Assets powerful (search facets, saved searches), it also provides additional capabilities to find the right asset. These include additional filters, like the ability to search assets based on status (approval, expiry), collections, tasks, notifications, and sharing folders/collections with other users/groups.

After you locate the asset, use Desktop Actions in AEM UI to access the asset on desktop .

For minor updates, such as minor retouching requests in the approval process:

• Check-out the file and open it on desktop.

• Update the file.

• Save the updated version. The asset is updated, and the timeline displays the original version for comparison.

For major updates, such as a change request that requires a small creative WIP cycle:

• Use the Reveal option to open the appropriate folder on desktop.

• Copy the file to a WIP folder outside of the mapped AEM Assets share (for example, copy the file into a folder synced with Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app).

• Work on the file and save it intermittently. The changes are not saved to AEM Assets.

• After the edits are complete, move, copy, or save the file mapped from AEM to upload it as a new version.

Use properly configured Dispatcher. Use AEM Dispatcher for additional security and ensure that it is configured for AEM desktop app connection to AEM behind a dispatcher

Save bandwidth. Consider turning off icon preview in Finder on Mac - when browsing the mounted repository using Finder. Finder requests each file to generate a preview and causes desktop app to download & cache the asset locally. Please note that while saving bandwidth it would also decrease user experience for the users on desktop, so it should be done when working with repositories with large assets and/or limited bandwidth.

More performant asset upload. Configure the AEM Asset Update workflow model to be transient.

Limit server CPU for uploads. Ensure that the maximum parallel workflow jobs parameter is set correctly, so that uploads do not exhaust all the CPU.