Public and private media

Each media item in openlane is either public or private. The main difference is how its links work.

When a media item is public

A media item is public when it belongs to at least one public workspace. One is enough: an image in the private Brand workspace that is also assigned to the public Prodotti workspace becomes public, regardless of the permissions on Brand.

In the library sidebar, public workspaces have a globe icon and the description "Media visible on external platforms too"; private workspaces have a padlock icon and the description "Media that live in the PIM only".

Permanent and temporary links

A public media item's link is permanent: anyone with the link can view the image, even without an openlane account. This is the link sent to sales channels and external systems that read the catalogue.

A private media item's link is valid only for a limited time: 4 hours by default. openlane generates it for you while you use the software and uses it to display the media item on its pages. You can copy and share the link, but it stops working when it expires. When you copy a private media item's link, openlane displays a warning.

To give someone outside your company controlled access to a private media item, use external sharing, as described in its documentation.

Private media and sales channels

A sales channel receives links to product media. If a media item is private, the channel receives a link that does not work, and the online product displays a missing image.

To prevent this, the administrator can require, for a specific media attribute and channel type, that all media belong to a public workspace. With this rule in place, a product with a private media item in that attribute is marked as not ready for that channel, rather than being sent with a missing image.

When a media item's visibility changes because it is added to a public workspace or removed from its last public workspace, openlane automatically checks the products that use it.