Collections

This document covers the use of Collections within the Content Browser.

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CB_Collections.png

Collections serve as a way to organize sets of assets into personally defined groups, like folders. For instance, you may find it useful to create a Collection of all environment-based Static Meshes that fit a certain visual style, for quick access later.

Under the hood, Collections are really just lists of references to given assets. The assets themselves are not moved into the Collection. This means that a single asset can exist in any number of Collections, and you can create as many Collections as you wish.

To display the Collections panel, click the toggle button in the Content Browser to switch from the Paths panel to the Collections panel.

CollectionsToggle.png

Creating Collections

  1. To create your first Collection, click on the add Collection icon in the top right corner of the Collections panel and name.

    AddNewCollections.png

  2. Select a collection types.

    • Shared Collections are visible to other users.

    • Private Collections are available only to those that have been specifically invited to view the Collection.

    • Local Collections are available only on your local machine.

  3. You can nest Child Collections inside a selected Collection by right-clicking within the Collections panel and entering a name for the new Collection.

    Collections_New.png

Shared and Private Collections are available only if Source Control is active under the main

[**Editor Preferences**](Basics/ToolsAndEditors/EditorSettings)
.

Adding Asset References to Collections

There are two ways to add an asset reference to a Collection.

  • Drag the asset into the given Collection.

    AddingReferencesToACollection.png

  • Select one or more assets, then click the yellow bar to the left of each Collection name to which you want to add the selected asset references. If the asset references are not already in a Collection, it will be added.

    If the selected asset references are already in a selected collection, the references will be removed .

Removing Asset References from Collections

There are two ways to remove asset references.

  • Right-click on one or more selected assets and choose Remove from Collection from the context menu. This does not delete the asset; it only removes the reference to that asset from the Collection.

    RemovingAssetsFromCollections.png

    If you select an asset in a Collection and press Delete , you can delete the asset entirely. You will get a prompt verifying that this is what you want to do, but keep in mind that deleting an asset means it is destroyed . If you simply want the asset reference out of the Collection, use the method described above.

  • Select one or more assets, then click the yellow bar to the left of each Collection name from which you want to remove the selected asset references. If the asset references are already in a Collection, it will be removed.

    If the selected asset references are already in a selected collection, the references will be added .

Renaming and Deleting Collections

button_CollectionContextMenu.png

To rename a Collection, right-click on the Collection to display its context menu, select Rename , then entering the new name.

To delete a Collection, right-click on the Collection to display its context menu, and select Delete . Note that since Collections are references to the actual assets, deleting your Collections will not delete the assets within the Collection.

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