Understanding lenses
A lens is a set of rules that controls which assets appear on a portal page. Instead of showing the whole library, a page backed by a lens shows only the assets that meet its conditions, and updates automatically as assets change.
This page explains what lenses do, how their conditions work, and how they relate to taxonomy and portal pages.
What a lens does
A lens filters which assets appear on a page, based on the keywords applied to assets, the asset type, and the domain. A portal listing page is associated with one lens, and the page then displays only the assets that match.
A lens filters which assets are shown; it does not copy or move assets. The same asset can appear through several different lenses, much like the same file matching several saved searches.
How conditions work
Keyword conditions are organised into three groups, each with its own logic.
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All: an asset must have every keyword listed to appear (AND logic).
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Any: an asset with any of the keywords listed will appear (OR logic).
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None: an asset with any of these keywords is excluded (NOT logic).
For example, a "Christmas 2026" lens that lists Christmas and 2026 in the All group shows only assets tagged with both. Listing the same keywords in the Any group would instead show assets tagged Christmas or 2026, which would wrongly include 2027 assets that happen to be tagged Christmas.
You can also filter by asset type and by status, and use the None group to keep sensitive assets out, for example anything tagged confidential.
Lenses are dynamic
A lens is not a fixed list. Assets flow in and out of it as their keywords change, so you do not edit the lens each time you add an asset.
The intended workflow is to set the lens up once and then keyword assets to match it. Changing a lens’s conditions updates the associated page immediately, as assets are re-keyworded they appear or disappear, and a well-built lens rarely needs to change. Renaming a lens does not rename the page it is associated with; the page name is updated separately.
By default, assets past their availability dates do not appear in a lens. Where a specific audience needs to see expired assets, you can create a separate lens that includes them and restrict that page to a particular group.
How lenses relate to taxonomy
Conditions are built from keywords, so a lens is only as good as the taxonomy behind it. See Understanding taxonomy.
This connection also carries risk: deleting a keyword that a lens relies on can leave the lens returning fewer results, or none.
Where lenses are used
Asset listing pages use a lens to decide what they show, as do print template listing pages. Digital template pages are the exception: they use keywords directly rather than a lens.
A lens can also back a button on a CMS page, showing filtered results without a dedicated page in the navigation. It can further restrict a template’s image picker, so that people choose only from a specific set of assets rather than the whole library; this is usually configured by a consultant.