Upload a file or image
Upload media into the Asset Library either directly from your computer or by giving Sonta the web address of an image. Either way it becomes an asset in the library, organized in folders, that any entry can point at — and that you can reuse or replace later without touching the entries.
Requirements: a role that can manage the Asset Library. To attach an asset to a record, you also need access to that collection.
Upload from your computer
- Open the Asset Library and choose the folder the media belongs in. Deciding the folder now saves hunting later, once there are hundreds of files.
- Upload the file. Supported image formats are JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, and SVG.
- Name and describe it so it can be found by someone who did not upload it — "blue-widget-front" rather than "IMG_4821".
- Attach it to an entry by choosing it in that entry's image field. The entry points at the asset; it does not take its own copy.
Bring an image in by its web address
If the image already lives somewhere online — a supplier's product photo, an existing catalog — you can give Sonta its address instead of downloading and re-uploading it. Sonta fetches the image and stores it as an asset like any other. The address must be a normal secure web link to the image itself.
This is also how media arrives in bulk: a batch of images can be brought in and attached to their entries in one pass, which is how an agent or an import populates a catalog without anyone dragging files. Large batches are processed in the background, so results appear as the work completes rather than all at once.
Replacing an asset later
When a photo needs updating, replace the file on the existing asset rather than attaching a new one to each entry. Every entry pointing at that asset shows the new image — there is nothing to redo record by record. Replacement swaps what the asset holds, so make the change deliberately.
Notes and limitations
- Supported image formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, SVG. Replacement accepts images only.
- A URL import must point at the image itself and be a secure link — a page containing the image will not work.
- Bulk imports run in the background and are rate-limited, so a large batch completes progressively; individual items can fail without stopping the rest.
- Assets are shared, not owned by one entry. Replacing or deleting one affects every entry pointing at it — check where it is used first.
- An image field only accepts assets, so upload first and then attach.
Related
Why media lives in a library rather than on each record is explained in what the Asset Library is. Image fields themselves are covered in working with collections and fields.