You can import a CSV file into Dash to update the metadata of a large number of assets in one go.
You might consider doing this if:
You've just completed a bulk import of a large number of local files into Dash and want to now add additional information to them
You want to bulk update the metadata of existing assets in Dash.
How to import your metadata into Dash
To successfully import your metadata into Dash, you'll need to make sure the data in your CSV is correctly prepared and formatted. Refer to this article for guidance on how to format your sheet so it successfully imports.
Once your sheet is ready, we recommend preparing a copy with only one or two rows, so you can test how the import will look before applying it to all of your assets.
To do a metadata import
As an admin, navigate to Admin > Import & Export > Metadata
In the Import Metadata section, click on Choose file > select your metadata file. Your metadata is now updated in Dash.
Once your metadata import is complete, check your assets to verify that they were updated correctly.
Metadata import use cases
Here are some examples of using a metadata import.
Pre-load a custom field with field values
If you have created a custom field like a controlled tags field and now need to populate it with entries, if you have a lot of entries it can be quicker to do this via a metadata import, as opposed to typing them all in by hand in Dash.
Please refer to our article How can I upload a list of names/tags etc into Dash? for detailed steps on how to pre-populate your Dash custom fields.
Making multiple edits to different assets all at once
For example, selecting all assets with a certain tag, then replacing some of these assets with one tag, some with another, etc. This is possible in Dash directly, but if you want to edit a lot of assets at once with many different edits, you might prefer using a spreadsheet. In this case, you could use find and replace to make your edits.
Converting a field from one field to type to another
You might wish to change an existing free tags field to a controlled tags field, in order to benefit from the additional functionality available in that field. Alterantively, you might wish to change a tags field to a dropdown list or a checklist.
To learn how to do this, please refer to our dedicated article how to convert one set of fields to another with a metadata import.
Adding additional metadata to assets with existing fields populated
Use case: You want to add additional tags to assets without removing existing tags. If you want to append metadata (add on to the existing metadata without removing the existing data), you'll need to include the previous metadata in the import sheet as well.
This is because the metadata import sheet will always replace and overwrite the field values for an asset in Dash with whatever is in the sheet.
Steps:
For each asset, keep existing tags and add new ones (separated by semicolons)
Import the CSV
Identifying fields with no entries so you can populate them
For example, maybe you have a controlled tag field set up called "Primary colours", and you want to identify any assets that don't have a colour added.
Do a metadata export to generate a list of all existing asset field values
Filter the "Primary colours" column in your export by "blanks" to identify missing values
Fill in the necessary colour(s) for each asset
Re-import the metadata sheet
Replacing asset titles with an ascending order
For example, there may be duplicate titles across your account, so you want a more standardised way to be able to identify assets using titles.
Do a metadata export to generate a list of all existing assets and their filenames
In your spreadsheet, filter to all your assets with the names you want to replace.
Add something like "filename01", then use the drag down functionality of most spreadsheet applications to auto-populate the rest of the fields with ascending names.
Re-import the metadata sheet