Scope: Brandfolder by Smartsheet (SaaS). Help Center articles now live on help.smartsheet.com; where the Help Center and marketing pages differ, the Help Center is preferred. Several capabilities are plan-dependent or paid add-ons (noted inline); the full plan matrix is Not public S80.
Ingestion & storage
- Upload channels: drag-and-drop web uploader (files and whole folders) with pickers for Dropbox, Box, Google Drive and links S49 S66; Guest upload links (with optional auto-approval and required custom fields) S68; SFTP ingestion per Brandfolder/section (Enterprise, or with purchased migration services; server
files.transfer.brandfolder.com, ~1–1.5 Mb/s typical) S59; creative/office plugins (Adobe via CI HUB, Figma, Office, Sketch) S73 S74 S76; Brandfolder panel inside Smartsheet S70; API (public URL or signed GCS upload) S1 S14. - Assisted migration: Ingestion Assistance via sFTP, Google Drive/Dropbox/Box (internal tool), CSV with public links, a Brandfolder-owned GCS bucket (> 500 GB), S3-to-GCS, shipped drive or Google Transfer Appliance; metadata applied afterwards from one clean CSV (no duplicate filenames, semicolon-separated tags/labels/custom fields); source folder structure becomes tags; the PM does not tag assets or apply taxonomy S85.
- Asset model: an asset is a container of up to 75 attachments; extra formats of the same asset don't count against asset limits S49. Sections are typed (files, colours, fonts, external media, people, press, text), and assets can only move between sections of the same type S49 S1. Asset names ≤ 255 characters S49.
- Formats: long list of formats with auto-thumbnails (raw camera formats, Adobe, Office, video…); anything else can be uploaded without a thumbnail; JavaScript and unzipped HTML are refused S50. Maximum file size: Not public. Video uploads up to 8K, streaming at 1080p S58.
- Versioning: per-attachment version history, revert ("make current version"), check-out/check-in with comments S47.
- Duplicates: optional "Don't Allow Duplicate Files" per Brandfolder — pixel-for-pixel exact matches are auto-deleted after 10 minutes (recoverable under Manage Deleted Assets); crops/resizes are not caught S45. A Bulk Management page lists duplicate filenames S46. "Smarter deduplication" with deletion-prevention notifications was announced as shipped in August 2025 S84.
- Storage/CDN: Google Cloud Storage, three availability zones, storage locations in the US and Europe S26.
Metadata & taxonomy
- Built-in fields: name, description, tags, approval status, publish/expiration dates, creator and approver (shown in the asset modal) S35 S37 S1.
- Custom fields (key/value, per Brandfolder): "Control Custom Fields" lets only admins define keys; values can be predefined (restricted) or free; single- or multi-value (multi-value cannot be switched off while assets hold several values); Required at upload; up to 5 prioritized fields shown in previews/filters; values ≤ 1,500 characters;
.,"and:not allowed S38 S1. No typed fields (dates, numbers) — all values are strings S1. - Dependent custom fields: one level of cascade, up to 12 child keys per parent value, only on fields with defined values; managed via CSV in Bulk Management S39.
- Tags: free keywords (no controlled vocabulary), AI tags shown with a dotted border; Bulk Management page to rename/merge/delete tags globally S41 S1.
- Labels: hierarchical, folder-like taxonomy; assets can sit in several labels; not enabled on every account S40 S1.
- Embedded metadata: EXIF/metadata tab and search on
metadata.key:"value"S48; Metadata Conversions turn embedded fields of the first attachment into tags or custom fields for new uploads (retroactive runs via support) S43. - Bulk edit: bulk action toolbar (tags, custom fields, approval, availability, labels, collections) S38 S37; Metasheets CSV export/re-import of names, descriptions, tags, custom fields (≤ 40,000 rows recommended;
;for multi-values; attachment filenames not editable) S42. - Asset automation: up to 1,000 trigger→action rules per Brandfolder (triggers: tag, custom field, section, label; actions: add to collection/section/label, set custom field, availability/expiry, approve/unapprove, watermark), runnable retroactively S44.
- Multi-language: asset names, descriptions, tags and single-value custom fields translatable; sections/labels via CSV; 23 languages S67 S38.
Search & discovery
- Full-text search across indexed fields with four modes (any terms, all terms, contains phrase, exact phrase), case-insensitive S48.
- Field syntax and operators (OR default, AND, NOT, wildcard, fuzzy, ranges, relative dates) including custom fields, labels, sections, collections, approval/expiry status, file properties, creator, people S48.
- Pinned searches and pinned tags, advanced filters, view options, shareable search links S41 S48.
- Recommendations / similarity: "intelligent asset recommendations and search matching" and smart collections are marketed under Brand Intelligence S82; how similarity is computed is Not public.
- Natural-language search: announced as "coming soon" in August 2025 S84; no release found (Unknown).
AI capabilities
- Auto-tagging with Google AI (toggle per Brandfolder; works best up to 20 MB / 75 MP); AI tags flagged
auto_generatedwithsourcein the API S41 S1. Brand Intelligence launched 2019-09-16; suggested tags 2019-02-28 S83. - Video AI: scene detection with per-frame auto-tags and speech-to-text transcription (exportable text) S58.
- OCR / document intelligence (Premium) S80; logo detection improved in 2022 S83.
- People Tagging (facial recognition) released 2026-04-08; naming faces and managing people tags are Owner/Admin capabilities S83 S28.
- Generative: "Suggested Descriptions" generating image descriptions with GenAI (2023-09-13) S83. Generative and agentic AI for content creation and brand compliance were described as "exploring" in August 2025 S84.
- Asset Score (ML-based performance score, 2019) S83.
- AI governance / opt-out: auto-tagging can be switched off per Brandfolder S41; training-data policy Not public.
Organization
- Organization → Brandfolders (separate libraries with own privacy, settings and schema) → Sections; Collections and sub-collections as curated, separately permissioned subsets; Labels as a folder-like tree S63 S40 S3.
- Workspaces: project-oriented collections with tasks (due date, priority, status, assignee), synchronised with Smartsheet S62.
- Brand Portals: organization-level landing pages with tiles, links, Smartsheet forms and asset widgets S55.
- Brandguide: block-based brand-guidelines sites tied to a Brandfolder or Collection, public or private, no drafts (changes publish immediately) S56.
- My Boards (personal boards across organizations) S83; 360° viewer by merging image sequences into one asset S66.
Workflow & collaboration
- Approvals (paid; cannot be switched off from the UI once enabled): any admin, one named admin, or all selected admins (plus the custom role if allowed); pending assets visible only to admins and the uploader; automatable via asset automation S36.
- Comments and annotations per attachment version, with mentions; guest commenting optional; annotations on the first page of multi-page documents only S65.
- Check-out/check-in of attachments S47; Workspace tasks S62.
- Templating: Content Automation (drag-and-drop, InDesign-ingested and coded templates, reviews, bulk creation from CSV) — separate platform at app.outfit.io with its own users and SSO S69 S83.
- Creative integrations: Adobe CC via CI HUB (two-way, versions), Figma, Canva, Sketch S73 S76 S81.
Rights & governance
- Availability (the vendor's "rights management"): publish and expiration dates; Draft/Expired assets hidden from guests, share links, collections and CDN embeds; approval status takes precedence S37. Expiry notifications for downloaded assets S83.
- No dedicated usage-rights/licence object — Not public beyond availability and custom fields S1.
- View-only assets and collections with a request-to-download form (plan-dependent) S61.
- Watermarks: Brandfolder-wide or per asset (JPG, PNG, MP4, MOV, HEVC); image watermarks are display-only, video watermarks produce a new file S60.
- Permissions: roles Owner, Admin, one custom role, Collaborator, Guest at Organization/Brandfolder/Collection/Portal/Brandguide level, inherited downward; no section- or asset-level ACLs besides approval/availability/view-only S28. User groups grant Admin/Collaborator/Guest on resources in bulk S29.
- Audit: asset history log (180 days, sources such as UI, CSV Metasheets, Auto-Tagging, Asset Automations, "APIv4") S35; events feed S34; deleted-asset recovery S45. Retention policies: Unknown.
Distribution & delivery
- Share links: private/public, email-gated, view-only, expiry, notifications, gallery view; admin defaults (private by default, default expiry, restrict sharing) and Bulk Management of all links S54.
- Smart CDN (DAM-as-a-CDN): live-updating embed links per attachment/asset/frame, preset and custom crops, URL-parameter resizing/format conversion/WebP, custom links by filename, bring-your-own-CDN on origin
cdn.bfldr.com; annual bandwidth/hit allowances S51 S52 S53. - Download conversions: vector/raster to JPEG/PNG at 1200/600/300 px or custom size; Office formats to PDF S50; video conversions, resolution, clipping S58.
- Portals, Brandguides, embeddable Brandfolders, request-download workflows, Send-to-Print S55 S56 S83.
- Templating / print: Content Automation exports print-ready documents; web-to-print partners (PrintUI, Ciloo, Templafy) listed S69 S81.
Video & rich media
- HTML5 player, HLS streaming links (streaming minutes counted per subscription), iframe embeds with loop/mute/autoplay S57 S51 S58.
- Video editor: convert (mp4, ogv, mov, flv, webm, audio, waveform), 480p/720p/original, clip, watermark S58.
- Closed captions via SRT/VTT attachments (multi-language) S58.
- YouTube, Vimeo and Brightcove links as external-media assets S58.
- 3D: preview/rotation via RapidCompact integration announced 2021-11-12 S83; current status Unknown.
Analytics & reporting
- Insights dashboards per Brandfolder/Collection: views, downloads, shares, top assets/users, searches, events feed S33.
- Monthly CSV reports (Premium/Enterprise, org level): user engagement, asset performance, user activity, Brandfolder/collection activity, share-link activity, user last-active date, popular searches, page views, CDN link activity S32.
- Insights Data Connector: nightly BigQuery dataset in a customer-specific GCP project (Enterprise) S15 S80; Insights in Smartsheet: daily sync of top assets/users into sheets S71.
- CDN usage details (bandwidth, hits, referrers) and video-streaming usage S53 S57.
Administration
- SSO: SAML 2.0 (Entra ID, Okta, OneLogin, ADFS, Google); default permission levels for SAML users; team mapping via SAML
teamsattribute configured with support; JIT provisioning in the Entra app S27 S30. "Sign in with Smartsheet" (2023-08-05) S83. SCIM: Unknown. - User management at Organization/Brandfolder/Collection level, access requests, CSV export of all org users (Owners), seat limits per Brandfolder S31.
- Multi-brand: multiple Brandfolders per organization, each with its own settings, schema and privacy S63 S3.
- Configuration UI: General Settings (Advanced tab toggles for custom-field control, auto-tagging, duplicate detection, CDN, watermark, guest commenting…), Bulk Management hub S38 S41 S45 S65.
- Sandbox environments: Not public.