8 tips for organizing your digital assets in Kontent.ai

Digital assets are the lifeblood of modern content operations. In Kontent.ai, the asset library allows you to upload and manage a wide variety of files—from images and videos to PDFs and beyond.

But as your library grows, so does the challenge of keeping everything findable, reusable, and well-managed. That’s where organization and discoverability come in. In this post, we’ll walk you through some best practices to help you get the most from your digital assets in Kontent.ai.

1. Structure assets with clear folder hierarchies

In Kontent.ai, folders in Assets are essential for keeping your digital assets structured, discoverable, and ready for reuse. But beyond simply storing files, a smart folder system should reflect how your team actually works—how you search, collaborate, and publish content.

Instead of sorting only by file type or upload date, organize your assets into purpose-driven categories. Here’s a practical example of how we structure folders across our teams:

• People – Assets related to individuals working for the company, useful for bios, profiles, and stakeholder content: Author photos, Jobs, Photos from the offices...
• Customers – Assets related to customer success stories, testimonials, etc.: Customer headshots, Hero images for success stories...
• Images for articles and pages – Support materials (hero images, stock images, card images) for blog posts, landing pages that feature downloadable resources, etc.: Blog posts, Resources...
• Design assets – This is a very important parent folder as it contains assets that are commonly reused across many content pieces: Icons, Product logos, Schemas...
• Marketing and campaigns – Assets supporting events, integrated campaigns, and other public-facing content: Events and webinars, Press releases, Special landing pages
• Archive – For managing outdated assets and preventing accidental reuse

Pro tip: Avoid overly nested folder structures. Two to three levels deep is usually enough. If it takes more than a few clicks to find something, it’s too complicated.

2. Use consistent and descriptive file naming conventions

File names are more powerful than you think—especially when paired with Kontent.ai’s full-text search. A consistent naming convention makes assets easier to identify at a glance and improves search results.

Examples:

• new-york-office.jpg
• onboarding-checklist-2025.pdf
• webinar-customer-success-march2025.mp4

Stick to a consistent vocabulary, avoid vague terms like final_final_v3, and make sure your whole team is aligned.

In our team, we frequently need headshots of employees, partners, and external collaborators for events, testimonials, and other kinds of content. To make the headshots easy to find, we include the person’s full name in the file name because that’s exactly what people search for when they need a photo. A simple format like firstname-lastname.jpg goes a long way in improving discoverability.

3. Leverage full-text search for maximum discoverability

Kontent.ai’s full-text search is a powerful tool—but only if your assets are named and organized well. Use descriptive keywords in your filenames and folder structures to improve searchability.

Tips for better search results:

• Include product names, formats, or intended uses in filenames.
• Tag or name assets with terms your team commonly searches for.
• Think like your end user: if someone were looking for this file, what would they search?

4. Regularly audit and archive

Set a recurring schedule to review and clean up your Assets library. Archive old or unused files in a separate folder like Archive that we mentioned in Section 1 of this article to avoid cluttering your primary workspace.

Ask:

• Are any assets duplicated or outdated?
• Are folder structures still relevant?
• Are naming conventions being followed?

A tidy asset library means faster production, fewer errors, and less frustration for everyone involved.

5. Document your guidelines

Finally, don’t keep these best practices in someone’s head. Write them down in a short Asset magement playbook and share it with your team. This should include:

• Folder structure examples
• Approved naming conventions
• Who’s responsible for maintaining the library

With clear documentation, your asset library becomes a true shared resource—not a mystery to solve every time you upload or search.

6. Speed up updates with Replace file

Keeping digital assets up to date can be a time-consuming task—especially when those assets are already in use across multiple content items. That’s where Replace file comes in.

With this feature, you can quickly replace an existing file without needing to re-upload it, be it an updated company logo, a revised product image, or a new G2 badge.

Benefits:

• Instant updates across all content items using the asset
• No need to manually relink or reinsert the new file in your content

⚠️ The asset URL changes after replacement. If that file is linked externally (e.g., on a website or in emails), those links will break unless updated. Replacement is immediate and cannot be undone, so make sure you’re uploading the correct version.

7. Track usage with the “Used in” panel

When managing digital assets, it’s crucial to know exactly where each file is being used, especially before replacing or deleting anything. Kontent.ai makes this simple with the “Used in” panel, which shows you all the content items currently using that asset.

Whether it’s a hero image reused across landing pages, or a workflow diagram used in multiple blog posts, this quick overview helps you stay informed and avoid accidental disruption. 

Check “Used in” to:

• Avoid breaking live content by checking where assets are published before you replace or remove them.
• Audit content reuse to ensure consistency and reduce duplication.
• Speed up collaboration by giving editors and designers visibility into dependencies.

In the asset detail view (see the screenshot below), you’ll see a list of content items where the asset is used including the content item name and its publishing status (e.g., Published, Draft). This is especially helpful when you’re trying to track down why an outdated visual keeps showing up on your site.

Pro tip: Pair this feature with Replace file (covered earlier) for efficient visual updates. But always check the “Used in” list first to avoid unexpected changes across published content.

8. Strengthen governance and visibility with collections

As your content operations grow, so does the need for structure, security, and scalability. Collections in Kontent.ai help you organize content and assets according to your team’s structure, business units, websites, or regional markets and give you fine-grained control over access and collaboration.

Think of collections as buckets with boundaries—they allow you to isolate content and assets in ways that reflect your actual business logic.

So why use collections? You can:

• Simplify content governance by aligning collections to your teams, departments, brands, or sites.
• Control access so team members see only what they need.
• Improve content clarity by reducing visual clutter and focusing contributors on the right assets.

Each collection can have its own role-based access controls, meaning users can have different permissions per collection, or even across languages. For example:

• Antonio can be an Editor-in-Chief for the “US Branch” and External Contributor for the “Technical” collection.
• Sofia might have full editing rights for Spanish-language content in the “Global” collection, but no visibility into other areas of the project.

This helps your team collaborate safely while maintaining content integrity. 

Assets can also be assigned to collections—and governed just like content items. This is especially useful when you want to restrict who can access or update images, documents, or videos or you’re working across multiple websites or content spaces.

Discoverable assets will make your work easier

A well-organized asset library in Kontent.ai unlocks efficiency and reuse across your content workflows. With smart folder structures, consistent naming, and good search practices, your assets become discoverable, useful, and ready to go when you need them.

Start small, define your standards, and grow from there—your future self (and your team) will thank you.