Managing Assets
Liferay DXP 2026.Q3+
Access content, files, and folders in Liferay CMS in different ways, depending on your location in the interface.
Start from one of these locations:
-
The All, Contents, and Files sections under Assets (1) display assets from all of your spaces.
Click Global Menu (
) → CMS → All, Contents, or Files. -
To view assets within a specific space, navigate to that space (2) and click View All Files.
Managing Asset Actions
Perform actions on individual assets or use bulk selection to manage multiple items at once.
You can choose individual actions from an asset Actions (
) menu.
To perform bulk actions, select assets with the checkboxes and click Actions () in the top-right corner.
Actions vary by type: some apply to specific assets (files, folders, or content), some apply to all assets, and others are limited to bulk selection.
| Action | Selection | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Edit | Single | Opens the editing view for the asset or folder. |
| Share | Single | Opens the sharing modal to manage collaborator access. |
| View | Single | Opens the asset for viewing. |
| Show Details | Single | Opens the Info panel to view metadata and versions. |
| View History | Single | Opens the version history page. |
| Translate | Single | Opens the manual translation interface. |
| Copy To | Single, Bulk | Copies selected assets or folders to another space or folder. See Copying and Moving Assets to learn more. |
| Move / Move To | Single, Bulk | Moves selected assets or folders to a new destination. See Copying and Moving Assets to learn more. |
| Duplicate | Single, Bulk | Copies the selected assets or folders in place, in the same space and folder. See Duplicating Assets. |
| Delete | Single, Bulk | Removes the selected items or specific versions. See Deleting Assets to learn more. |
| Expire | Single, Bulk | Transitions the asset status to Expired, hiding it from end users. |
| Export for Translation | Single, Bulk | Generates an export package for translation workflows. |
| Import Translation | Single | Imports translated versions of the asset. |
| Download | Single, Bulk | Downloads assets (bulk selections are compressed as .zip). |
| Edit Tags / Categories | Bulk | Adds or updates metadata for all selected items. |
| Find and Replace | Single, Bulk | Replaces text in Title, Content, and Friendly URL. |
| Permissions | Single, Bulk | Configures access levels or resets to defaults. |
When you initiate a bulk action on many assets, Liferay processes the request asynchronously. This prevents performance degradation and allows you to continue working in other areas of the platform.
Bulk Duplicate and Expire open a confirmation reporting how many items are affected, and bulk Delete confirms only when the deletion is permanent. Expire is hidden from the bulk Actions menu whenever your selection includes a draft, pending, or expired item, because it applies only to published content.
Copying and Moving Assets
Copy and move assets or folders within the same space or across spaces where you’re a member. You can perform these actions on a single item or in bulk.
When you start a copy or move action, the item selector displays destination folders based on your current view:
-
From All, Contents, or Files, the selector displays folders across all spaces you can access.
-
From a space, the selector displays folders in the current space by default.
To copy or move an asset or folder,
-
Open Actions (
) for a file, content, or folder.Use the checkboxes to select multiple assets of the same type for bulk copy or move.
-
To copy, select Copy → Copy To. To move, select Move.
For a bulk selection, select Copy To or Move To.
-
In the item selector, choose a destination folder.
-
Click Select.
How Copy and Move Work
Copy and move actions follow these rules:
-
Copying or moving a folder includes all of its nested contents.
-
Only categories and tags available in the destination are retained.
-
Copied assets and folders inherit the destination folder’s permissions.
-
Assets that use content structures not available in the destination space cannot be copied or moved.
-
To copy or move a folder, the destination space must support the content structures of every asset within that folder. If a structure is missing, the action fails.
-
The system prevents invalid operations, such as moving assets from Content into Files or vice versa.
-
You cannot bulk copy or move mixed asset types (e.g., Files and Web Content).
If a naming conflict occurs, use the provided modal to resolve the conflict before completing the operation. For other errors, such as missing structures, review the alert notifications for details.
Resolving Name Conflicts
If an item with the same name exists in the destination folder, choose how to proceed:
-
Do not copy or move: Cancels the action for that item.
-
Replace: Overwrites the existing item.
-
Keep both: Adds a suffix to the new item’s name.
If a copy or move action fails, an error message appears explaining the reason.
Duplicating Assets
Duplicate a file, content item, or folder in place. Unlike Copy To, duplicating doesn’t prompt for a destination. The copy appears in the same space and folder as the original.
To duplicate an asset,
-
Open Actions (
) for a file, content item, or folder.Use the checkboxes to select multiple assets for bulk duplication, then click Actions (
) in the top-right corner. -
Select Copy → Duplicate.
For a bulk selection, select Duplicate.
The copy takes a (Copy) suffix, such as Quarterly Report (Copy). Duplicating the same item again produces (Copy 1), (Copy 2), and so on. Copies start as drafts, so duplicating doesn’t trigger a workflow.
A single duplication takes effect immediately, with no confirmation. A bulk duplication opens a Duplicate Items confirmation reporting how many items you’re duplicating. Click Duplicate to proceed or Cancel to dismiss it. Duplicate isn’t available when you use the expanded select-all option, so select items individually to duplicate them in bulk.
Duplicating requires permission to update the asset.
To copy a specific earlier version rather than the current one, use Make a Copy in the version history. See Viewing Asset History.
Sharing Assets
Share assets, folders, and other content with users or user groups. Sharing provides controlled access for collaboration without changing global permissions and can include an expiration date. You can also share individual content and files with people who don’t have a Liferay account by inviting them with their email address. See Inviting External Users.
To share an asset,
-
Open the asset or folder you want to share.
-
Click Actions (
) for the asset and select Share. -
Enter the user’s name, email, or user group (1).
-
Select one of the available permissions: View and Download, View, Download, and Comment, or View, Download, Comment, and Update (2).
-
(Optional) Set an expiration date for the shared access (3). Once the date is reached, users lose access automatically.
-
(Optional) Use the Actions (
) menu to Allow Resharing or to Remove Access (4). -
Click Share.
Sharing grants access for collaboration. To manage detailed permissions independently of sharing, use the Permissions action.
Inviting External Users
Share content with an unregistered guest user by their email address. This grants view and download permission on individual content items and files so clients, partners, or external reviewers can access CMS assets. You can’t invite external users to folders.
To invite an external user,
-
Open the content item or file you want to share.
-
Click Actions (
) for the asset and select Share. -
Enter the external user’s email address.
If the address doesn’t match an existing Liferay user, an Invite External User option appears below the field. If it matches an existing user, that user is added as a regular collaborator instead, and the invite option isn’t offered.
-
Select Invite External User.
The email address is added as a guest collaborator, labeled with a (guest) suffix and a To Be Shared status.
-
Click Share.
The invitation is sent, and the guest is listed with an Invited status until the recipient accepts. To check the status later, reopen the Share dialog for that item. The invited person receives an email with a link to accept. Following the link prompts them to create a Liferay account. After signing up, they access the shared item from the Shared Content app in their user menu and through the notification they receive. For more about the Shared Content app, see Sharing Documents with Other Users.
To customize the invitation email (sender name, sender address, subject, body, and the link expiration, which defaults to 48 hours), open the Invitation to Collaborate entry under Control Panel → Instance Settings → Sharing.
Viewing Asset History
Track and manage all versions of an asset. Depending on your permissions, you can preview, restore, expire, delete, download (for files), or copy any previous version.
Expired or deleted versions cannot be restored.
To view an asset’s version history,
-
Open the asset or folder whose history you want to see.
-
Click Actions (
) for the asset and select View History. -
Review the list of versions, which shows the version number, workflow status, author, and modification date.
-
(Optional) Perform version actions.
Restore Version: Revert the asset to a previous version. The restored version becomes the latest version while preserving its workflow status.
Delete: Permanently remove a version. Previous version numbers remain unchanged.
Expire: Expire a version so it is no longer actively used. Expired versions cannot be restored.
Download: Download a specific version (available for file entries only).
Make a Copy: Create a new independent copy of a specific version as a new asset.
Finding and Replacing Content
Update recurring text or terminologies across multiple assets simultaneously. Find and Replace operates as a bulk action on your search results, allowing for fast, consistent updates while maintaining a clear audit trail.
You must have the CMS Administrator, Space Administrator, or Space Content Reviewer role to use find and replace. Space-level roles are assigned to each space separately, while the CMS Administrator role applies across all spaces.
To perform a find and replace:
-
Navigate to All under Assets.
-
Search for the term or phrase you want to change.
-
Select the checkboxes for the target assets.
-
In the top-right corner, click Find and Replace (
).
-
Enter the updated value in the Replace With field.
-
Select the Language for the replacement.
-
Click Review Changes.
Click on specific assets in the list to preview exactly which fields will change.
-
Select Apply Changes for individual items or Apply Changes to All Assets.
Liferay processes replacements asynchronously in the background. To maintain data integrity, every replacement generates a new asset version, which you can audit or restore. For more information, see Viewing Asset History.
Deleting Assets
Deleting sends items to the recycle bin, where you can restore them. The recycle bin is enabled by default for each space, so most bulk deletions run immediately with no confirmation. A confirmation appears when the deletion is permanent instead: when any selected item belongs to a space where an administrator disabled the recycle bin, or when you delete from within the recycle bin. If your selection spans spaces with different recycle bin settings, the confirmation explains which items are recoverable and which are deleted permanently.
This delete confirmation is separate from the reference check described in Preventing Broken Links When Deleting Assets.
Preventing Broken Links When Deleting Assets
This feature is enabled by default. To disable it, add cms.broken.links.checker.enabled=false to portal-ext.properties.
When you delete an asset in the CMS, the system checks if the asset is mapped to a fragment on a page or to a field in another asset. If the asset is in use, a confirmation modal appears listing the references. Review the references and related items, then decide whether to proceed with deletion.
For bulk or folder deletions, the confirmation modal groups items and shows details for each asset, displaying their references.
This safeguard applies only to the CMS. It does not cover deletions via API calls, widget or collection references, asset expiration, or permission changes. It also does not audit or fix existing broken links.