Activating and versioning assets

This section describes how to change the status of your assets, and how to perform other basic operations in the Manage Assets UI.

    About the asset status

    Each asset has a status of either active, inactive, or archive:

    • Inactive assets are typically assets that have not been finalized. When you create a new asset (including a letter template), its status is set to inactive.

    • Active assets are the final versions of assets. You should activate an asset only when it is ready for use in final correspondence. You cannot edit an active asset. When you activate an asset, any assets that it uses must be active too. If you need to make changes to an active asset, click Edit to create an inactive version, make the changes to the inactive version, and then activate it. The previous version of the asset will be archived and any assets that include this asset will be updated to use the updated version.

    • Archive assets are assets that used to be active, but have been deleted or replaced by a newer version. You cannot archive an inactive asset. By default, archive assets are not displayed in the list that appears in the Manage Assets UI. To see archive assets, use the Advanced Search feature. (See Searching for assets.)

    Using the Managed Assets UI

    This section describes how to use the buttons located at the top of the Managed Assets UI.

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    Manage Assets UI

    Viewing asset properties

    To view the properties for any asset, select the asset from the list and click the View button. The Editor dialog box for that asset is displayed, but you cannot make changes to any of the asset’s properties.

    Activating assets

    When you create any new asset (including a letter template), its status is set to Inactive. Before a letter template (or any other asset) can be activated, all of the assets that it uses must be active.

    Note: You cannot edit an active asset. To change the properties of an active asset, click Edit to create an inactive version that you can edit. Make the changes and then activate the inactive version. The previous version of the asset will be archived and any assets that include this asset will be updated to use the updated version.

    To activate an inactive asset, select the asset from the list and click the Activate button.

    Editing an asset

    To edit an asset, select the asset from the list and click the Edit button. If you selected an active asset, you are prompted to create an inactive copy of the asset. You can edit the copy and then activate it. The copy will become the active version, and the original version will be archived. Any assets that rely on the edited asset will be updated to use the new version.

    Changing the data dictionary

    When editing an asset, you can change the data dictionary associated with the asset if:

    • the asset does not use a data dictionary element

    • the asset is not being used by another asset

    Copying an asset

    You can create a copy of an active or inactive asset. To create a copy, select the asset to be copied from the list and click the Copy button. The Editor dialog box for that asset opens, with the properties for the copied asset displayed.

    Note: You must change the asset name before saving your changes.