Beeldbank.nl, Dutch Mediabank Software for Organisations: How to Share a Collection as Link or ZIP

What a Beeldbank.nl Collection Is: Images Grouped by Campaign or Project

In Beeldbank.nl a collection is a group of images, for example grouped by theme, project or campaign, such as a press kit ("persmap") or a spring campaign ("campagne voorjaar"). The point of a collection is that it holds a deliberate set and not everything you own. When a communication officer needs to give a partner the pictures for one campaign, the collection is the unit that gets shared.

That is what makes this mediabank software practical for organisations. A mailed attachment is a one-off, and a shared folder can mix finished material with drafts. A collection is a set you decide on, name and hand over as one thing. The rest of this how-to follows the order in which you do it: build the collection, invite colleagues if needed, set the share options and choose between a link and a zip download.

Creating a Collection and Adding Images With the Heart Icon

Collections are created and viewed through your personal menu, under Collecties. Images are added with the heart icon. When you click it, a pop-up asks which collection you want to add the images to. In practice you build the collection while you browse: you spot a suitable image, click the heart and choose the collection.

A few habits make this work even better for a campaign:

• Give the collection a name that tells a partner what it is, such as the campaign and the year.
• Decide the purpose before adding anything. A press kit and an internal selection are different collections.
• Add images that are cleared for the audience you will share with. Consent for people in photos is easiest to settle before sharing; see sharing photos without breaching the AVG.

Inviting Colleagues to Edit a Collection Together

Sometimes a collection is a team effort. A designer may add visuals, or a colleague may remove an image that has not been approved. A user you invite to a collection can also edit it, by adding or removing images. The invitee is a user of the image bank, a colleague who works in the system.

That keeps the roles clear. Inviting is for the people who build the collection, and the share options below are for the people who receive it. A journalist or agency gets a link and downloads the images, with no login to create.

Share Settings for a Collection: Validity, Format, Watermark and Password

Sharing a collection creates a link. The person who receives the link can view the collection and download it in full. Before you send it, you choose the conditions:

• Validity: how long the link works.
• Download format: the format in which the files are delivered.
• Watermark: optional, if you want a mark on the files.
• Notification: whether you receive a message when the link is opened.
• Password: whether the recipient has to enter a password.

Fit each setting to the situation. If a press kit is tied to a campaign date, let the validity end soon after it. If the images are only for selection, a watermark makes that obvious. If the link goes to a named contact and the content is sensitive, a password is worth the small extra step, and you send it by a different route than the link itself. The notification tells you the link was opened, which saves you a "did you get it?" message.

Downloading a Whole Collection as a ZIP File

A collection can be downloaded as a zip file, in the format you choose and optionally with a watermark. You give the zip a name and pick the desired format. For a press kit this is the practical route: one file with all the images, in one format, instead of a long list of single downloads.

Choose the format with the end use in mind. Think about whether the recipient will place the images on a website, print them or post them on social media, and select accordingly. A short sentence in your message about what the set is for helps the recipient use it right away.

Collection Link or ZIP Download: Which Route Fits Which Situation

The two routes work together. A link is how a recipient reaches the collection, and the zip is one way to take it away. The table shows which option fits each situation in Beeldbank.nl.

Why a Collection Link Gives You More Control Than a Folder

Handing out access to a folder means handing out access to what is in it today and what will be added tomorrow. A collection link points at a set you selected, and the validity, format and watermark settings belong to the share, not to the folder structure. When the campaign ends, the question "who can still get to these images?" has a clear answer because the link was given an end date from the start.

That is the real gain: the decisions you would otherwise make informally, in a message or in your head, become settings you choose at the moment of sharing. For a look at daily use, see how an airport shares media files daily.

Your First Campaign Collection in Beeldbank.nl, Step by Step

1. Open your personal menu, go to Collecties and create the collection for the campaign.
2. Browse the image bank and use the heart icon to add each chosen image to that collection.
3. If a colleague has to help, invite them to the collection as a user of the image bank.
4. Review the set once: is every image cleared, current and needed?
5. Share the collection and set the validity, the format, a watermark if wanted, the notification and a password if wanted.
6. Send the link, or download the collection as a zip file and send that, with a sentence explaining what it is for and until when it works.

Press officers who want a place of their own for journalists can read how a press portal and mediabank share images without e-mail attachments. Organisations that share seasonal images with partners will find collections in that setting in a mediabank for a tourism organisation. Either way, the same few steps carry over: build the set, choose the conditions, share it.