Kollaborate Help

Creating Upload Workflows

Upload Workflows can be created from the Workflows page accessible from the navigation bar at the top of every page.

Note: Only admins can access this page.

Creating a workflow

Click New Workflow at the top of the page, then select Upload Workflow.

Choose a name for the workflow. Only admins can see this name from the Workflows page. Choose a name that either references the types of files it targets (e.g. "Dailies") or the functions it performs (e.g. "Watermarking").

Scope

The Scope section allows you to choose which folders this workflow will apply to. You can choose to apply it only to specific folders or departments. This means the workflow will only be triggered for files uploaded to the specified folder and its subfolders.

By default it is set to Everywhere, which will affect files uploaded anywhere within the project.

Match

The Match section allows you to apply the workflow only to files matching the specified criteria. For instance, you could choose to match only video files, or only files greater than 1920 pixels in width.

You can add an unlimited number of match criteria and the dropdown next to the Match heading allows you to specify whether all criteria must be met or just one in order for the workflow to be triggered.

By default this section is empty, meaning that it will apply to any type of file.

Workflow hierarchy

In order to figure out which workflows apply to a file, Kollaborate looks at all of the Upload Workflows for the project and assigns ones that match in order of how narrowly they apply to the file, starting with the broadest. So for instance, if you have a workflow that assigns a watermark to all video files anywhere in the project, that will be applied to the file first. If there is another workflow that adds a LUT only to files uploaded to the folder where the video currently resides, that will be applied secondly. Because the second workflow does not apply its own watermark, the file will therefore inherit the watermark from the broader workflow and will therefore create a file with both a watermark and a LUT.

You can therefore stack workflows on top of each other which makes things more flexible and split workflows up into single tasks to make it clearer what the workflow does.

Actions

The Actions section allows you to apply actions to files matching the previously-selected criteria.

• Apply File Workflow - Applies the specified File Workflow to the file. This gives you access to all File Workflow actions such as color coding, moving files and sending out links.
• Convert to Playable File - Tells Kollaborate to convert the file to a file type that can be displayed in a web browser. This can be applied to video, audio and image files.
• Add Watermark - Applies a visual watermark over a video or image file. This requires Convert to Playable File to be on and the watermark image file must reside within the project.
• Add Overlays - Adds text over a video or image file to show information such as timecode, project title, etc. This requires Convert to Playable File to be on. The Left/Center/Right and Top/Middle/Bottom dropdowns allow you to choose where within the image frame the text will appear.
• Apply LUT - Applies a LUT to a video or image in order to assign it a certain look. This requires Convert to Playable File to be on and the .cube LUT file must reside within the project. .cube files can be created by software such as DaVinci Resolve.

Click Save Workflow to save your changes.

Use Cases

• Processing files in different folders or departments (or different file types) differently. For example, you could create workflows to automatically apply a LUT only to videos in the Dailies department and watermarks only to files in the Clients department.
• Enforcing organizational rules. For example, if all videos are supposed to be uploaded to a Videos department then you could assign a File Workflow to automatically move videos uploaded elsewhere to the correct place.
• Automatically assigning File Workflows upon upload. If you want every uploaded file to be approved before it is moved elsewhere, you could setup an Encoding Workflow to assign a Needs Approval file workflow. You can also use this to automatically assign colors or status tags upon upload.
• Automatically QC-ing uploads. For example, if your deliverables are supposed to be 1080p but someone uploads a 720p video, you could assign a File Workflow to automatically turn the file red and add a "QC Failed" status message.
• Overriding default encoding settings. One thing Upload Workflows allow you to is completely disable encoding by our servers. This would allow you to encode files at different resolutions or bitrates and have Kollaborate play them as-is without conversion. Our default encoding settings are optimized for maximum compatibility so we only recommend switching this off if you know what you are doing.

Notes

1. Upload Workflows are only applied to files uploaded directly through a web browser, not through apps such as Kollaborate Transfer.
2. Upload Workflows are only triggered when a file is uploaded. They cannot be triggered after upload by moving a file into the workflow's scope folder.
3. Actions that are not relevant to the current file type will be ignored when running the workflow. So for instance, if the workflow is supposed to set a LUT but the file is an audio file, Kollaborate simply skips that action.