Scope: Canto SaaS DAM. Two web UIs coexist — "Canto Classic" and the newer "New Library"; some AI features exist only in the New Library S45. Many capabilities below are add-ons that must be enabled by Canto (marked "add-on").

Ingestion & storage

Upload channels: web library, portals and Upload Links (external contributors) in the browser; Canto Connect desktop app for macOS/Windows (current version no longer needs Java; v3.3.16 published 2026-08-07); Adobe, Office, Figma and Canva connectors; API; cloud imports S59 S68 S70 S72 S5.
File size limits: browser uploads up to 200 GB; current Canto Connect unlimited; Canto Connect (Legacy) 200 GB Windows / 100 GB macOS; Adobe connector 5 GB; API upload 5 GB. PPTX and ZIP files over 1 GB may lack thumbnails S59 S14.
Supported formats: no public format list found — Unknown. Admins can exclude file types from upload S23. Assets are sorted automatically into six schemes (image, video, audio, document, presentation, other) S14.
Bulk import / migration: External Connections sync/migrate folders from Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox, Box, Egnyte (auto-sync every 24 h) S65 S83; CSV metadata import S37; migration included in Standard (≤ 2 TB) and Premium (≤ 5 TB + metadata) onboarding S85.
Duplicate check on upload/import by file name or MD5 with actions (new version, new file, skip, ask); library-wide duplicate scan; MD5 tends to change after metadata edits S28.
Versioning: version history per asset, upload of a new version, version comments S3 S5.
Storage tiers: Cold Storage (add-on) — assets remain visible but must be requested for download, are hidden from portals, and lose older versions permanently S29.
Storage/CDN: AWS-hosted; CloudFront-based preview/direct URLs S6 S87.

Metadata & taxonomy

Built-in fields: name, description, author, copyright, dates, dimensions, resolution, etc. (returned under default{}), plus approval status and expiration S3 S14.
Custom fields: unlimited; types Text, Number (single value), Date, Single Choice (dropdown/radio), Multiple Choice (dropdown/checkboxes), URL, Label (colour), Rating (1–5 stars); grouped into collapsible Sections with display order; translatable name/description/options; exportable as CSV. Field type is immutable; renaming a choice leaves the old value on already-tagged assets S22.
Keywords vs tags: keywords are a small, admin-created controlled list (translatable); tags are unlimited free labels created by admins and contributors S24. No hierarchical thesaurus is documented S3.
Required fields: "Required Metadata When Uploading" in Upload Settings — enforced in the upload pop-up (web, Advanced Uploader, Canto Connect) S23; alt-text can be made required too S41.
Metadata templates: presets of keywords, tags, T&C, copyright, watermark and custom-field values; up to 100 usable S40.
Embedded metadata: choose which IPTC/XMP/EXIF values are read on upload (add vs overwrite for new versions) S23; Custom Metadata Mapping maps embedded fields to custom fields, with read (on upload) and write (on download) toggles S39.
Alt-Text (2026-09): native, translatable accessibility field for images, on by default, rendered as HTML alt in portals and share links S41 S76.
Bulk edit: UI bulk editing and API batch edit; CSV Metadata Import (Description, Keywords, Tags, T&C, Copyright, Status, Albums, facial-recognition names, custom fields; key = File Name or Content ID) and Metadata Export (whole library or folder/album, CSV by e-mail, admin only; plus a "Product Hub Friendly Export") S37 S38.

Search & discovery

Search & filters: global search with advanced filters on metadata, file properties, approval, storage; "empty/non-empty" filters exist in the API S3.
Saved searches: up to 5 per user, usable across library, portals, workspaces and style guides S57.
AI Visual Search (add-on): natural-language search over image and video content, highlights matching clips in videos, maps subjects, actions, time of day, emotion, lighting, composition S42.
Reverse Image Search and visually similar search (included with AI Visual Search) S43.
Facets: filter panel is configurable per library/workspace (Custom Configuration) S55; API facets list distinct values S3.

AI capabilities

Feature	What it does	Packaging
Smart Tags	Automatic tags for images, videos and text using AWS Rekognition; configurable minimum confidence (0–99%) and max tags	Must be enabled by account manager	S25
Facial Recognition	Identify people in images/videos; up to 50 people per image; optional celebrity recognition	May need enabling	S51
Video Transcription	Speech-to-text (AWS transcription) producing SRT subtitles	Account manager enables	S52
OCR	Text recognition for scanned PDFs, stored in "Document Text"	Account manager enables	S53
AI Visual Search / Reverse Image Search	Semantic and image-based search	Add-on	S42 S43
AI Library Assistant — Assisted Metadata	Suggests tags and metadata values from visually similar assets and historical tagging	Add-on	S44
AI Library Assistant — Asset Categorization	Groups recent uploads into visually similar categories for bulk handling	Add-on; New Library only	S45
AI Quick Edit	Generative edits: background replace, generative fill, smart-focus crop, resize, prompt edit, text overlay, 1K/4K output; C2PA manifest written	Add-on; first generative feature	S46 S50
AI Bulk Update Assistant	Plain-English bulk updates of Product Hub attributes with preview	Admin only; Product Hub	S47
Amazon AI Export Assistant	Maps Product Hub data to Amazon Seller Central schema, fills gaps, retries (US)	Included in DAM for Products, must be enabled	S48 S49
AI Portals	AI-assisted portal setup and asset curation	Announced 2026-09-17	S94

AI governance: no training on customer assets, tenant-scoped ephemeral analysis, human review before AI output enters permanent metadata, AI sub-processors under DPA S49. EU AI Act: preservation of existing IPTC/C2PA/XMP provenance (not generation of missing markers); known gaps for video low-res/trim renditions and invisible watermarks S50. A per-tenant AI opt-out setting is not documented — Unknown (features are opt-in add-ons).

Organization

Folders → albums → assets: folders hold folders/albums; only albums hold assets; an asset can be in several albums S31.
Smart Albums by file type S14; My Collections (personal/shared, collaborative with view/edit permissions since June 2026) S4 S75.
Portals: branded public or private sub-sites with optional expiry, selected approval statuses, asset-request flow, download and watermark options S54.
Workspaces: separate working areas with own configuration, branding, and user/group access S55.
Style Guides: public or private brand-guideline sites (colours, typography, imagery); only Approved assets appear S56.

Workflow & collaboration

Approval statuses: Approved, Pending, Restricted, Expired (automatic) plus up to 20 custom statuses, optionally requiring T&C acceptance or an Asset Request in portals; the workflow can be configured per tenant S26 S27.
Approval Hub (add-on): proofs from library assets, reviewers/approvers from the user pool, markup and multi-iteration tracking S67.
Brand Studio (add-on): locked templates for non-designers to produce on-brand materials S66.
Creative integrations: Adobe CC connector (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro…), Figma, Canva, Office S70 S71 S72 S83.
Comments & relations: version comments; related-files groups S3. Task management: Not public (no native task feature documented; integrations with Asana, monday.com, Wrike, Workfront listed S83).

Rights & governance

Roles: three presets (Administrator, Contributor, Consumer) + up to three custom roles; one role per user; long privilege list (approve, edit, delete, view direct URLs, export/import metadata, manage keywords/custom fields…) S32.
Groups: grant access to restricted folders/albums, private portals, workspaces; users can be in many groups S32.
Restricted folders/albums: admin-only or specific users/groups; max 50 restricted items per tenant, 10 users + 100 groups per item S30.
Rights fields: expiration date (with automatic Expired status), copyright, Terms & Conditions, watermarks (DRM settings) S3 S11 S26 S40.
Audit trail: operation log, login history, upload/download/share history, per-asset usage history S8 S58.
Retention: Trash exists (soft vs permanent delete in the API) S3; retention period Not public in the sources read.
Security controls: 2FA and password policy; SAML SSO S33 S36.

Distribution & delivery

Share links with expiry, download/crop/preset options and metadata display S3.
Portals and Style Guides for external audiences S54 S56.
Direct URLs: stable hashed links to originals and fixed preview sizes (100–2050 px) S60 S6.
Media Publisher (paid CDN, formerly Media Delivery Cloud): on-the-fly resize, crop, format conversion, watermark, focus-crop templates; assets > 1 GB may fail to publish S60 S61.
Download presets and watermark presets S6.
Templating: Brand Studio S66. Print/web-to-print: Unknown.

Video & rich media

Video previews and HLS/DASH embed codes S3; smart tags and facial recognition for video; transcription to SRT S25 S51 S52.
AI Visual Search highlights relevant clips inside videos S42.
Adaptive transcoding profiles, 3D formats: Unknown.

Analytics & reporting

Reports (admins or contributors with View Reports): Overview (storage by file type, file count by type, asset views, top direct URLs, top search terms, login history), File Transfer (uploads, downloads, top downloads), Sharing, Metadata Activity (top keywords/tags/smart tags, top commented files), Operation Logs; most exportable as CSV S58.
Same data largely available via the Reports API S8.
SSO users do not appear in login reports S34.

Administration

User provisioning: SAML SSO with just-in-time creation (default Consumer), IdP-managed roles/groups (e.g. Azure group object IDs); supported IdPs include ADFS, Azure AD, Google, Okta, OneLogin, PingFederate, Shibboleth, custom SAML S33 S35. SCIM: not found (Unknown).
Multi-brand: portals, workspaces and style guides inside one tenant S54 S55 S56; multi-tenant per customer: Unknown.
Configuration UI: Settings → Configuration Options (upload settings, custom fields, keywords, approval, duplicates, recognition, API keys, webhooks, custom configuration of editors/filter panel) S18 S19 S22 S23 S28.
Sandbox environments: no separate sandbox offering documented — Not public. Trial accounts exist S81.

Canto Features