How to Create Lifecycle Rules

A lifecycle rule changes assets automatically when conditions are met. For example, it can move assets with expired rights to Expiration, archive assets that have passed their expiry date, or lock assets so they can't be used. This saves admins from checking assets one by one.

How Lifecycle Rules Work

• A rule has one or more conditions and an action. When an asset meets the conditions, the action is applied.
• Rules only run when they are turned on. Use the toggle in the list to turn a rule on or off.
• Use Move up and Move down to change the order of the rules in the list.

For all available conditions and actions, see Lifecycle Rule Conditions and Actions.

Built-in Rules

Four suggested rules, marked Built-in, cover common end-of-life cases. They are off by default, and you can edit them like any other rule:

• Archive expired assets: moves assets past their expiry date to Archive.
• Send expired assets to review: moves assets past their expiry date back to Review.
• Flag aged assets for expiration review: moves assets older than 365 days to Expiration, so owners can archive, delete or extend them.
• Flag assets with expired rights for expiration: moves assets whose rights have expired to Expiration.

Turn on only one of the first two, depending on whether expired assets should be archived or reviewed again.

Steps to Create a Lifecycle Rule

1. Go to App Setup > Lifecycle rules and click New rule.
2. Enter a Name and, optionally, a Description.
3. Under Conditions, choose whether assets must match ALL (AND) or ANY (OR) of the conditions.
4. Click Add condition and choose a field, an operator and a value. Repeat for more conditions.
5. Choose an Action, then fill in the Action settings it needs, for example the metafield and value for Assign metadata.
6. Leave Enabled on if the rule should start running straight away.
7. Click Create rule.

To change a rule later, click its edit icon in the list.

Tips

• Start with a built-in rule and adjust it. They're there as suggestions and can be edited.
• Add Lifecycle state as a condition (for example equals Active), so a rule only affects assets in the state you expect.
• Review the age threshold before turning on a rule based on days, so it doesn't move a large part of the library at once.
• Rules are checked as soon as an asset changes, for example when it's uploaded or its metadata is edited, so an upload waiting in review can be approved automatically.