5. Collection

Collection is designed to re-organize your assets without modifying their original locations (If they are from your local storage). You can use collection for arbitrary purposes, for example, gather textures from different folders, put together references for your next project, or whatever situation. Collection is based on Found’s database system, when you put an asset into a collection, Found creates a virtual shortcut in the database pointing to the asset, rather than creating a copy of the file. The collection will reflect any changes to the original files. Collection is like the pin board on Pinterest, but a local version.

However, there is an exception: when new assets are not from local storage(including NAS), for example, using Found’s browser extension (https://aalab.com/plugin). In this case, Found will put those newly generated files into the database folder which you specify when installing Found. The location of the database can be changed in the setting.

5.1 Create a new collection

You can create new collections with below methods, or using the browser extension.

5.1.1 In the Collection panel

Click the plus icon to create a new collection, double-clicking the collection to rename. (Note that a new collection must be renamed before you can create another collection)

5.1.2 Basing on a folder

Drop a folder or files to the plus icon to create a new collection containing the files from the source.

5.2 Adding assets to the collection

The common way is to drag and drop assets to the target collection, or using the web extension. You can also paste images directly from your clipboard(by Ctrl + V) to the collection, or dropping the snapshot of a video. In these cases, Found will put those newly generated files into the database folder which you specify when installing Found. The location of the database can be changed in the setting.

5.3 What happens when you remove assets from a collection

If the assets are from your local storage, they will only be removed from the collection, the original files are always intact

If they’re generated from either the web extension or clipboard, they will be marked as deleted. If other collections contain the same asset, you can still find the asset from other collections. When you remove the same asset from all the collections, after 30 days (can be changed in setting) they will be removed permanently(only when they’re not from your local storage).

In either situation, you can still find the deleted asset in the recycle bin before the recycle bin is cleared.