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Export and Import metadata in Pics.io

Learn how to operate your assets’ metadata - export and import it.

Written by Eugene

Changing metadata field values may be a time-consuming process, when talking about thousands of assets or, especially, if there is a ready metadata field schema for your digital gold ready to be transferred over to Pics.io.

We introduce you to Import CSV functionality for you to reap the benefits of easing managing high volumes of metadata in Pics.io.

NB! Import CSV feature is available starting with the Small subscription plan.

Export metadata from Pics.io

You can export the metadata of your digital assets in the form of a CSV file. This very file would also come in handy for importing metadata in bulk, which is described a few scrolls down.

  1. To select assets one by one, you need to mouse over the necessary asset and click the checkbox in the upper-left corner of the asset.

  2. To select all assets within a particular collection, click the necessary collection in the collection list, and after that, click «Select all assets» in the Details panel ( «i» icon in the upper right corner) or use a shortcut Cmd/Ctrl + A.

  • Once the necessary assets are selected, click the three vertical dots to the right of the Lock icon at the top right corner of the Details panel and click the Export CSV button.

The appearing pop-up message would suggest you select specific metadata fields to export or export all of them.

Import metadata to Pics.io

To modify metadata properties of assets and import them to your Pics.io library, especially in bulk, you would need a CSV file containing the very properties you need to update. The process of exporting is simple and described in the previous chapter of this article.


​Tip: You can find the sharing links for your assets in the CSV file; the field is called Sharing Link.

An exported CSV contains different properties and they are all connected to their columns, like the picsioId header, which is essentially the ID of an asset and should not be modified.

Tip: use picsioId, Name, Title, and Description headers to locate needed assets to update metadata for.
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The process of updating metadata is broken down into:


1. Adding, updating, or overwriting: Title, Description, Keywords, Flag, Rating, Color. Take a look at the values these fields take:

  • Title and Description — text value;

  • Keywords — text, should be separated with ; e.g. word1;word2;

  • Flag — text, allows only flagged, unflagged and rejected;

  • Color — text, allows only red, yellow, green, blue, purple and nocolor;

  • Rating — number, allows only a value from 0 to 5 and any float value would be rounded up or down e.g. 2.5 to 3 and 2.4 to 2.

Tip: you can delete Keywords in bulk by erasing the existing ones from the corresponding column and leaving the field blank.
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​NB! The values are overwritten by default, e.g. if the Keywords field already contains any values, you should add new keywords to the field alongside the existing ones to preserve the latter.

2. Creating your own Custom Fields, updating and importing them to Pics.io.

This is the option if you want to migrate the metadata from your previous DAM system, if you had custom-made fields that are not part of a standard metadata scheme, to a Pics.io account, or if you want to update your existing custom fields.
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For the former purpose, recreate a custom field schema from your previous DAM system within the Pics.io interface using these simple steps: How can I create my own custom fields?
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​NB! You can't create new Custom Fields in the exported CSV document, as it can only be done via the Pics.io interface.

Once assigned and exported, find a column starting with «meta.CustomFieldName» in the exported CSV, where CustomFieldName is the name of your custom field within Pics.io.
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Assign any value to it from your previous metadata scheme.
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​Tip: If you need to delete a value assigned in Pics.io to a custom field, set it to <NULL> (with angle brackets) in the exported CSV.

After changes are made and the file is ready to be imported back to Pics.io, hover over your team library name and click «Upload CSV», choose a file, and proceed with Import.

The results will appear on the screen and the system would suggest you refresh the page and close the menu to see changes or import another CSV file.

Troubleshooting issues

If you failed to import changes made to metadata fields, probably you entered an invalid value in some fields. The system will let you know it and include a number of assets on the result page next to 'Assets did not update'.

Note that if you modified several fields for the same asset e.g. flag, title, color, and custom field, and the flag value was invalid (allows only flagged, unflagged and rejected), the rest of the fields won't be updated and the file will land in the CSV report.
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However, if 5 out of 100 assets failed to update, they won't interfere with the rest 95 assets and they will be updated successfully.

Download the CSV report to check a full list of non-updated assets and resolve the issues. Error messages are self-explanatory and will guide you on how to fix the fields using valid values.

Once fixed, save the report file and import it to your library.

If you get stuck or would like to report any issues, there is always our support@pics.io team to call for help.

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