Cleanup of placement relations for layout assets

The Placement Cleaner removes placement relations in layout asset structures from the database. This increases the performance of your client applications. Your InDesign documents are unaffected by this.

Context

• Placement Cleaner module for InDesign placement relations in layout assets.
• Configuration takes place in the censhare Admin Client.

Prerequisites

We recommended that you have a relevant asset deletion policy in place so that it is possible for users to revert the cleaning process.

Introduction

Frequently used or placed assets are often related to so many other assets in layout asset structures that the data volume can exceed the capacity of the client application, hindering performance. Simply deleting or modifying the layout assets themselves isn’t optimal, as users often want to preserve and reuse specific layouts.

With the Placement Cleaner server action, you can configure to have the relations removed in the database (asset_rels and asset_element_rels). The relations in the layout document itself are kept. From InDesign's perspective, nothing changes as all images and logos are still placed via their Virtual File System file path. The server action always creates a new version of the parent asset. The change history is also preserved.

The master file remains untouched. Content and geometry flags can still be triggered. Users have the option to delete or hide the master storage item to prevent placement cleaning. Placement cleaning can be reversed by using the asset version history.

So that users are able to restore previous asset versions, make sure that your version deletion policy covers that at least the last 2 versions of an asset are kept.

In addition, you can delete the master storage item, variant, or planning relations. This helps to avoid that content or geometry updates being triggered at a later point.

It is not possible to roll back the deletion of variant or planning relations!

Key steps

In the Placement cleaner module, in the censhare Admin Client, you can configure which placement relations should be deleted and define filters on the MIME type and asset type of the placed child assets. You can either apply the options manually to selected assets or schedule automatic cleanups at specific trigger events such as specific times or changes in a workflow step.

In the censhare Admin Client, go to Configuration > Modules > Placement cleaner. Double-click the server action type that best fits your needs: Placement cleaner for manual cleanup or Placement cleaner (automatic) for scheduled cleanups. Then proceed with setting the cleanup options.

Configure placement cleanup options

In the Placement cleaner configuration dialog, set the following options:

1. Under Cleanup placement relations, select the MIME type and asset type of the placement relations that should be cleaned up. For example PBG image, Image, Logo.

   With empty filters on MIME type or asset type, all types are cleaned up. If no filters at all are defined, no placement relations are removed.

2. Under Cleanup storage file, select whether to move master storage items to placeholder files. This helps to avoid triggering content or geometry updates at a later point.

3. Under Cleanup further relations, select whether to also remove variant or planning relation types.

   Warning: Deleted variant and planning relations cannot be restored!

Manual cleanup

The cleaning options are activated on the assets that you select in the censhare Client.

1. After selecting the options in the Placement Cleaner configuration, click Update server configuration from the toolbar.

2. In the censhare Client, search for the layout asset structures you want to clean up. Select the assets.

3. On the Server Actions menu, select Placement cleaner.

censhare searches for the specified relations or storage items in the selected asset structures and removes or moves them according to the specified options.

Automatic cleanup

The cleaning options are scheduled according to the trigger events that you define.

1. In the Placement cleaner configuration (automatic), set the following trigger options in addition to the cleanup options:

2. Under Trigger event, set a Timer event to your needs The cleanup is activated at the defined time intervals.

3. Under Trigger event, select an Asset event to your needs. This can be a change in a value of a workflow step for example. The cleanup is activated when the event occurs.

4. Click Enable to activate the configuration.

5. Click OK to confirm.

6. Click Update server configuration from the toolbar.

The cleanup is started when the specified trigger events occur.

Restore placement relations

1. Select the asset for which you want to restore the placement relations and storage items.

2. Right-click the asset and select Show version. All available versions of the asset are shown.

3. Click the previous version. Click Actions at the bottom and select Restore asset version.

4. Confirm with OK.

The deleted storage items and placement relations are restored. 

Planning and variant child or parent relations cannot be restored.

Result

You have learned how to configure the deletion of placement relations of layout asset structures.