Image bank

Collections

Images are organised into collections. Every image must belong to a collection.

If you have permission to create collections, you can create one under the section ‘Shared’ by clicking the create icon. A panel will open, allowing you to define the collection name, add descriptive information, and configure its settings.

Provide a concise title and a meaningful description for the collection.

You can assign user groups as maintainers. The users of the selected user groups will be able to upload images to the collection and edit image metadata.

The field ‘Visibility’ allows you to select which users (user groups) may see and use the collection. By default, this is set to all users.

You can also tick ‘Allow contributions from all users’. When enabled, all users can upload images to this collection directly from apps such as News and Workspaces in which they use the Image Bank library, even if they are not official maintainers of the collection.

Images uploaded by users who are not maintainers will initially appear with a pink border, indicating that the image is awaiting approval by the collection maintainers. Only approved and published images will be visible in the documents in which they are used.

Private collections

In the ‘Private’ section, you can create collections for your own personal use. This is handy for building a collection of images that need work like finding the right copyright information or making selections before transferring them to a shared collection for wider use.

All users can create and use private collections without needing special permissions.

Workspaces

The section ‘Workspaces’ allows you to browse images stored in workspaces.

You cannot create collections in this section. Instead, a set of predefined ‘smart’ collections is displayed. These collections automatically group images from the Workspaces you have access to, organised by type.

Opening an image allows you to ‘promote’ it to a shared collection. This creates a copy of the image and stores in Image bank so that you and others can use in their documents in various apps and Workspaces.

Tags

The section ‘Tags’ allows you to browse images stored in shared collections, organised by tag. This provides an alternative way to explore images across multiple collections, based on shared tagging rather than collection structure.

Library subscriptions

Depending on your configuration, you may see additional sections that provide subscriptions to external image libraries, such as Flickr, Pexels, or Pixx.io.

You cannot upload images to these libraries, nor can you create collections or edit image metadata. All content in these sections is provided and organised by the respective external library.

Uploading images

Browse to a shared or private collection and click on the upload icon to select images from your harddrive to upload to Image bank. When the upload icon is greyed out, you do not have permission to add images to the collection.

After uploading, images will appear in the collection, with the most recently added items displayed first.

The upload mechanism automatically names each photo using the image title stored in its EXIF metadata. If no title or EXIF data is available, a name is generated from the original filename using the following automated transformations:

• The file extension is removed.
• The first character is capitalised.
• All remaining characters are converted to lowercase.
• Underscores are replaced with spaces.

Workflow management

Like most documents in Quaive, also images have workflow managment. This allows you to control which images may already be used or which ones still need to be approved before users can use them in their documents. The ‘workflow status’ is displayed in the toolbar of an image.

Status ‘Draft’

Images that do not contain copyright information in their EXIF metadata are initially marked as ‘Draft’.

You can edit the copyright information for each image individually and change its status to ‘Published’ by clicking the workflow icon and selecting ‘Published’. In some cases you have to click on Submit first. Only images with the status ‘Published’ will appear in published documents.

Status ‘For approval’

If you upload images containing valid copyright information in their EXIF metadata to a collection for which you are a maintainer, the images will automatically be set to ‘Published’.

If you upload images with valid EXIF copyright data to a collection for which you are not a maintainer, their workflow status will automatically be set to ‘Waiting for approval’. The collection maintainers will be notified that new images require review and approval.

Transferring an image to another collection

Open the image you wish to move by clicking on it within its current collection. The image will open in a panel view.

At the top right of the panel, click the three dots icon (more options menu). A menu will appear. Select Transfer to another collection.

A dialogue window will open. Under Target collection, choose the collection you would like to move the image to. The dropdown menu displays all collections available to you, grouped by shared and private collections where applicable. Select the desired collection from the list.

Click Transfer to confirm. The image will be removed from the current collection and added to the selected collection. The target panel will close automatically, and the selected collection will open with the transferred image visible in it.

If you do not wish to proceed, click Cancel to close the dialogue without making any changes.

Deleting an image

Open the image you wish to delete by clicking on it within its collection. The image will open in a panel view.

At the top right of the panel, click the three dots icon (more options menu). A menu will appear. Select Delete.

A confirmation dialogue will open, informing you that you are about to delete the image and that this action cannot be undone.

If you are certain, click I am sure, delete now to permanently remove the image. The image will be deleted immediately and cannot be recovered.

After deletion, the panel closes automatically and the collection view reappears, with the deleted image no longer there.

If you do not wish to proceed, click Cancel to close the dialogue without deleting the image.

Editing image data

Open a photo within a collection by clicking on it. The image will open in a panel. Then click the Edit icon at the top of the panel to enter edit mode.

Here you can change the title of the photo. Keep the title as short as possible, preferably one or just a few words. A concise title ensures clarity and improves readability in overviews and search results.

The description explains what can be seen in the photo. This text is shown in search results and helps users quickly identify the correct image.

The alternative text (alt text) also describes what is visible in the photo, but in more detail and as precisely as possible. This text is intended for people who cannot see the image. Screen readers read the alt text aloud. Therefore, describe exactly what is visible, without adding unnecessary information.

You can then add tags. Tags make it possible to view cross-sections of collections via the Tags tab on Image bank’s homescreen. They also support the interpretation and refinement of results in the global search. Use clear and relevant keywords.

Under Copyright, indicate which level of copyright protection applies. This ranges from public domain (lowest level of protection) to all rights reserved (highest level of protection), with six Creative Commons licences in between. Consult the Creative Commons website to learn more about Creative Commons licences.

Under Copyright holder, enter the name of the rights holder. This name will be superimposed on the image, alongside the symbol representing the selected type of copyright protection (where applicable).

Finally, click Save to store all changes.

Batch operations

Batch operations allow you to apply actions to several images at the same time.

Open the collection containing the images you wish to update.
At the top right of the collection view, click the three dots icon (more options menu). From the menu, select Select.

Selection mode is now enabled. A tick box appears on each image.

Click the images you would like to include. A tick will appear on each selected image. You may select as many images as required.

Once one or more images have been selected, the batch action bar appears above the collection. From here, you can choose one of the following actions:

• Tags – Add tags to all selected images in one action.
• Copyright – Assign copyright information to all selected images.
• Delete – Permanently remove all selected images.
• Transfer – Move all selected images to another collection.

After choosing an action, a dialogue window will open where you can complete the selected operation.

To leave selection mode without making any changes, click the close icon in the batch action bar or click ‘Select’ again, from the more options menu.

Once the operation has been completed, the collection view updates automatically to reflect the changes where applicable.

Permission levels