AEM - Collections vs Folders

[rebeccad2375317]

Hi,

I am just wondering what the pros and cons are for using Collections as well as folders for imagery within AEM.

I currently feel like they are the same thing. Can someone explain the difference, please?

[Ankur_Khare]

AEM Collections are a set of assets bundled together, which can include different types of assets like images , pdf and videos  from different locations. Many times we face the requirement where a customer wants to share group of multiple types of assets with either internal or external clients, this can be achieved using aem collections. These collections can be shared with various users with edit level, owner level and viewer level privileges

This kind of feature you can't achieve using jujst folders.

Refer below link for more details-

http://www.aemcq5tutorials.com/tutorials/adobe-aem-cq5-tutorials/aem-collections-comprehensive-guide...

[rebeccad2375317]

Can you not put all the imagery you want in a folder and just share the url to the folder? Sorry I am a tad confused as to what the benefit is of collections over asset folders still.

[yanirac19051392]

The biggest advantage of using collections is that you can group assets dynamically, say based on search criteria.  Such assets don't need to be in a specific folder (static).

These might help [1] and [2]

[1] Managing Collections

[2] A Comprehensive guide to AEM Collections

[rmahendra · Accepted solution]

Collections only have a reference to the original assets or a search query in case of smart collection. Your folders will have the actual assets. Assets are grouped into different folders based on customer's taxonomy and business requirements. Collections can be used to group assets(again only references are stored) from different folders for sharing.

[rebeccad2375317]

Ah! I understand now, thank you!!