Use Workspaces for Collaboration with Invited Users and Library Staff

Workspaces empower creative teams to collect assets from various areas of the Library, the Portal, and from direct user uploads to view, share, comment on, and approve them all in one place and in real time—without ever leaving PhotoShelter. Library Staff and Invited Users can gather assets from different galleries and add them to a Workspace, and Library Staff can invite other users to work with those assets. 

In order to create or use a Workspace on a Portal, collaborators must have a PhotoShelter account. 

• Accessing & Creating a Workspace
• Adding Files to a Workspace
• Collaborating in a Workspace on the Portal
• Use Batch Actions to Work With Sets of Files
• Using Custom Filters

Accessing & Creating a Workspace

As an Invited User to an organization's Portal, you can access a Workspace shared with you by Library Staff, or create a new Workspace for collaboration. 

To access a shared Workspace:

• Log in on an organization's Portal site.
• Click "Workspaces" in the Portal navigation bar.
• Click to expand the "Shared with Me" tab in the left pane.
• Select a Workspace from the options available.

To create a new Workspace: 

• Log in on an organization's Portal site.
• Click "Workspaces" in the Portal navigation bar.
• To create a new Workspace, click "New Workspace."
• In the window that appears, name your Workspace and add a description.
• Click "Create."

 

Adding Files to a Workspace

Files can be added to a Workspace in batch or individually from both the Invited Galleries view and from the Portal Search results page. When selecting files, use the "Add to Workspace" icon pictured below to add a file or file(s) to a Workspace.

 

Adding Single Files to a Workspace from Invited Galleries

Note: For invited users to be able to see the "Add to Workspace" icon in the single file view in the portal, someone on Library Staff has to move the "Workspaces" navigation button to the "Visible Nav Items" column in the Portal Navigation settings. 

• Click on a file thumbnail to view a single file.
• Using the Quick Actions toolbar in the Portal footer, select the "Add to Workspace" icon to add the file to a Workspace
• Select an existing Workspace or create a new Workspace and click "Add."

 

Adding Multiple Files to a Workspace from Invited Galleries

• Click the "Select" icon in the Portal footer. 
• Use the Select icon on an image thumbnail to select an individual image. 
  • TIP: To add all files in an Invited Gallery to a Workspace, use the Quick Actions toolbar in the Portal footer to "Select All" and "Add to Workspace." You may also use the Shift + Click shortcut to select multiple items in a group.
• Once your selections are made, click "Add to Workspace" in the Quick Actions toolbar.
• Select an existing Workspace or create a new Workspace and click "Add."

 

Adding Multiple Files to a Workspace from Portal Search

• On the Portal Search results page, click Select in the Portal footer. 
• Use the "Select" icon on an image thumbnail to select an individual image. 
  • TIP: Use the Shift + Click shortcut to select multiple items in a group.
• Once your selections are made, click "Add to Workspace" in the Quick Actions toolbar. 
• Select an existing Workspace or create a new Workspace and click "Add." 

 

Collaborating in a Workspace

Once files have been added to a Workspace, there are a number of actions users can take on those files.

Curate Sets of Files With Approvals

Approvals enable you to collect feedback from your team in real time so you can easily curate the best assets for your workflow. Library Staff or any Invited User with “Approvals & Comments” permission can approve files. 

In the Workspace view, hover over an asset and click the thumbs-up icon to approve it—click it again to remove approval.

 

 

In the Single-File view, click the blue “Approve” button to approve that asset, and click the gray “Approved” button to remove approval.

 

Leave and Collect Feedback With Comments

Comments enable you to host real-time conversations in Workspaces. Comments are always related to a file so your team can get specific with their feedback, likes, and dislikes on any individual asset. Library Staff and any user with “Approvals & Comments” permission can leave comments on assets in a Workspace.

In the Workspace view, you can see which assets have comments with the message icon beneath the asset. Click on an asset to enter the Single-File view, and then click the “Comments” tab on the right to view or leave comments on that asset. 

 

 

Comments update in real time with timestamps and cannot be edited. To delete a comment you've left on an asset in a Workspace, hover over the comment you want to remove and click the trash icon.

 

 

Upload New Files to a Workspace

Along with files from your Library, collaborators from outside your organization can be invited to upload assets directly to a Workspace so all of your project files are in one place. Library Staff or any user with “Upload” permission can upload to a Workspace.

• While viewing assets in a Workspace, click the upload button in the footer to bring up the Workspaces uploader.
• You can drag files directly from your desktop into the upload window or click “Select Files” to choose files from your computer.
• If needed, you can apply Custom Filters to the files in your upload by selecting a filter from the drop-down in the top left.

 

 

 

Download Files From a Workspace

Library Staff and any user who has been granted download permission can download individual files (and batches of files) directly from a Workspace to save locally.

• In the Workspace view, click the download icon in the footer to download all assets in the Workspace.
• To download a single file, click the file thumbnail and click the download icon in the footer
• Select your file format and file size, then click Download.

 

 

Add Invited Users to a Workspace

Library Staff may grant Invited Users permission to invite other Invited Users to collaborate within a Workspace.

As an Invited User (with “Allow user to invite” permission), access the Workspace on the Portal and click "+" to enter the Visibility and Access dialog.

 

In the Visibility and Access dialog, enter the email address of the Invited User you wish to invite and enable the toggles next to each type of access you want them to have.

 

 

Invited Users may only grant permissions to others given the permissions originally granted to them by Library Staff. If you or any users you invite need additional permissions, use the "Request Permission" button near your email address in the Visibility & Access dialog.

 

 

NOTE: Invited Users can edit permissions for users they invite to the Workspace, but only Library Staff can delete permissions from the Workspace. 

Using Batch Actions to Work With Sets of Files

Batch actions can apply to all files in a Workspace or a set of files you select. Use batch actions to approve multiple files at once, add files to a Custom Filter, or download. 

Any Workspace user may select assets in batch, but they will only be able to take actions that they have permission to take—for example, only users with download permission will be able to download.

Batch Selecting and Batch Actions

In the Workspace view, click the check icon on the thumbnail of an asset to select individual assets. You can then click the check icon on any other assets you’d like to add to that batch.

 

 

To select all assets in the Workspace, click the check icon in the footer.

 

 

Once you’re in the batch select state and have selected the assets you want to take action on, you can use the toolbar icons in the footer to download, approve, apply Custom Filters, remove, and select/deselect all assets in the Workspace. 

To download the selected batch of assets, click the download icon in the footer.

 

 

Note: this action requires permission.

You can approve all assets in the selected batch by clicking the thumbs-up icon.

 

 

Note: this action requires permission.

Apply Custom Filters to all selected assets by clicking the Custom Filter icon.

 

 

Removing Files From a Workspace

When project files are no longer needed in the Workspace, you can remove them from view if you are Library Staff. Deleted files from a Workspace will land in your Library's Trash. You can also delete Workspaces to keep your workflow streamlined.

Note: It is not currently possible to recover deleted workspaces.  To recover files removed from a Workspace that only existed in the Workspace and not the Library, you will need to be Library Staff.  (Library files will remain in the Library, but any directly uploaded files will need to be uploaded again). 

To remove one asset from a Workspace as Library Staff, click the check mark icon on the asset thumbnail in the Workspace view and click the trash icon in the footer to remove it from the Workspace.

 

 

To delete multiple files at once, select them in batch before clicking the trash icon.

 

 

Using Custom Filters

Custom Filters empower users to organize files in Workspaces by marketing channel, campaign, project status, team, or department—whatever your team needs to get the job done. Any user who has access to the Workspace may create new Custom Filters, add files to Custom Filters, and use Custom Filters to narrow down their view in the Workspace.

While in the Workspace view, you can create a new Custom Filter by opening the “Custom Filters” tab on the left and clicking the “New Custom Filter” button.

 

 

Once you’ve created Custom Filters for your workflow needs, you can add a single file to a Custom Filter by hovering over its thumbnail in the Workspace view and clicking the “Add to Custom Filter” button.

 

 

Need to rename a Custom Filter? In the Workspace view, open the “Custom Filters” tab and hover over the filter name on the left. Click the pad and pencil icon to edit the Custom Filter name.

 

 

Other Filters for Specific Results

Along with Custom Filters, you can further customize the Workspace view and which assets you’re working with by using the “Approved by” and “Orientation” filters in the left column.

The “Approved by” filter enables you to view the assets that have been approved by a specific user or a specific group of users. Just open the “Approved by” tab on the left and check the boxes next to each user name to filter your Workspace and view the assets those users have approved.

 

The “Orientation” filter is an easy way to find all the vertical assets, horizontal assets, or square assets in your Workspace. Open the “Orientation” tab and select the image layout you want to find and the Workspace will update in real time to show you those assets. You can select more than one Orientation filter at once to get exactly the results you need.

 

 

Selected filters will appear blue; to deselect an Orientation filter, just click it again.

 

If you have any questions, notice an issue, or need help, please don't hesitate to contact the Customer Success team at support@photoshelter.com.