Image Usage Governance lets your team put licensed, time-limited imagery, such as campaign or model photography, behind a simple rule in Pattern PXM: anyone who downloads a governed image has to accept your usage terms first, with the date the rights end shown right alongside them.
PXM has always let you store usage rights and expiration dates on your assets. Image Usage Governance makes them count at download time, and every acceptance is recorded in a usage history report so you have a clear record of who accepted the terms and when.
Availability: Image Usage Governance is off by default. Pattern turns it on for each account, at your request. Contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to have Image Usage Governance turned on for your account.
Key concepts
Usage governed — a setting you turn on for an image, a product, or a folder. Governed images can only be downloaded after the terms are accepted. It's separate from Published and from tags.
Published end date — the End Date on an image's Published status. It's the date downloaders see as the end of the usage rights. There's no separate rights date to maintain.
Usage terms — your brand's approved wording that downloaders accept. It's set up for your account by Pattern.
Acknowledgement history — the report in Reports that logs every acceptance.
Image Usage Governance isn't an image-quality or channel check. It doesn't change what's sent to your marketplaces or channels, and it only affects images marked Usage governed. Everything else downloads exactly as it does today.
Who can use it
Turning it on: ask your Customer Success Manager. Pattern turns it on for your account at your request. Send your CSM your approved usage terms from your legal team, without dates in the text, since the end date is shown separately.
Marking images as Usage governed: users with the System Settings privilege. Downloaders can't set or clear the setting.
Editing it on a single file's Visibility section: users with the System Settings privilege.
Downloading governed images: anyone with access to the images, after accepting the terms.
Learn more about roles in User Roles and Permissions in Pattern PXM.
Which images are governed
You can mark an image, a product, or a folder as Usage governed. An image is governed if the image itself, its product, or its folder is governed.
Product: every image on a governed product is governed, even if the images aren't marked on their own.
Image: you can govern individual images on a product that isn't governed. Only those images need terms acceptance. The product's other images download normally.
Folder: images and products in a governed folder are governed, including files you add later. Turning off the folder setting stops this right away, except for items marked on their own.
Note: You can't exempt a single image inside a governed product or folder. To release it, move it out, or turn off the setting on the product or folder.
Set up Image Usage Governance
Step 1: Set the published end date
Open the file or product and set the End Date in its Published settings.
Do this for every image you plan to govern. This is the date downloaders see and accept as the end of the usage rights.
Step 2: Mark images as Usage governed
Products
In the product search results (or a folder's PRODUCTS tab), select one or more products.
Click ⋯ next to PUBLISH TO CHANNEL in the bottom bar, then Edit Permissions.
In the ADD PERMISSIONS panel, check Usage Governed, directly below Published, and choose Yes.
Click SAVE CHANGES. All images on the product are now governed.
To turn it off, open the REMOVE tab, check Clear usage governance, and click SAVE CHANGES. To set one value on every selected product, use the UNIFY tab.
Files
In the Files grid, select one or more files.
Click ⋯, then Modify Metadata and Permissions.
In the ADD METADATA panel, check Usage Governed, below Published at the bottom of the panel, choose Yes, and click SAVE CHANGES.
You can also do this from a product's MEDIA tab: select the images, click ⋯ next to UPLOAD / IMPORT, and choose Modify Metadata. (That tab also has a separate Edit Permissions option.)
To turn it off, open the REMOVE tab, check Clear usage governance, and click SAVE CHANGES.
To set one value on every selected file, open the UNIFY tab, check Usage Governed, choose Yes or No, and save. Files keep their current value for any section you leave unchecked.
Folders
Open the folder with View Folder. (The folder's ⋯ menu doesn't include this setting.)
Go to the SETTINGS tab, then the Permissions card.
Set Usage Governed to Yes.
Click Save Changes.
If you don't see Usage Governed in your folder settings, select all the files in the folder and mark them together using Modify Metadata and Permissions.
Step 3: Check your setup
Governed items show a USAGE GOVERNED badge on their cards in the Products grid, the Files grid, and folder views. The badge can take a few seconds to appear after you save. Refresh, or navigate away and back.
To check a single file, open its detail page and expand Visibility. It shows USAGE GOVERNED as Yes or No.
Download a governed image and an image that isn't governed, and confirm only the governed one asks for terms acceptance.
What downloaders see
Click the download icon on a card or on the bottom bar. The DOWNLOAD PREFERENCES drawer opens.
Choose the image variants you want, then click DOWNLOAD.
If the selection includes a governed image, a window opens before anything downloads. It shows your usage terms and the image's end date as Expires on.
Tick the box to accept the terms and continue the download. Closing or cancelling the window stops the download.
Terms are accepted every time, including repeat downloads of the same image.
Governed images that share the same end date are covered by one acceptance. Each different end date gets its own step.
Images that aren't governed download as usual, with no extra step.
Attribute, data, CSV and custom template exports, and Export Folder, don't ask for terms acceptance.
Review the acknowledgement history
Open the Reports page.
Open the Usage Rights card (Acknowledgement history).
Review the rows. A single-file download is one row. A bulk download shows as one export job row that expands to list each file.
Select the rows you need and click DOWNLOAD SELECTED to export them as a CSV file.
The report shows the file name, the published end date, whether the terms were accepted, and the date. Every acceptance adds a new row, so nothing is overwritten.
Tips and best practices
Set end dates first. Add a published end date to every image before you govern it, so downloaders see the right date.
Govern a whole campaign at once. Marking the campaign's folder or product is the quickest way to cover every image in it.
Review the report regularly. A weekly check of which governed images were downloaded, and when, makes it easy to follow up when usage rights end.
Keep dates out of your terms. The end date is shown separately for each image, so one message works across your account.
Coming soon
We're continuing to build on Image Usage Governance. These aren't available yet, and we'll share more when they're ready:
Terms acceptance on share-link downloads.
Expiration reminders, and automatic unpublishing after the end date.
An account setting for admins to manage their own terms messages.
A message that names any images left out of a download.
FAQ
Why do I see a terms window when I download an image?
The image, or its product or folder, is marked Usage governed on your account. Accept the terms to continue. It appears on every download of a governed image, including repeats.
Why did I only accept once for several images?
Governed images that share the same end date are covered by one acceptance. You only get a separate step for each different end date.
Can I skip the terms for one image?
No. An image inside a governed product or folder stays governed even if its own setting is off. An admin can move it out, or turn off the setting on the product or folder.
An image is missing from my download. Why?
If it's governed, check that it has a published end date and that the date hasn't passed. We're rolling out a change where governed files without an end date, or with a past end date, are left out of downloads, and the usage report shows them as expired or missing an end date. Ask an admin to set or extend the end date, then download again.
Why doesn't the product show the badge when some of its images are governed?
The product badge reflects only the product's own setting. Images marked on their own are still governed and still ask for terms acceptance.
Where does the "Expires on" date come from?
It's the End Date on the image's Published status. Change that date, and the new date shows on the next download.
Can I find all my governed images with a filter?
Not today. Look for the USAGE GOVERNED badge in the grids and folder views, or check a single file's Visibility section.
Can we change the terms text ourselves, or use different text per image?
Not today. Pattern sets one message for your account, based on your approved wording, and the end date varies by image. Contact your Customer Success Manager to update it.
Does it pull back images that were already downloaded?
No. It applies at the moment of download and doesn't recall files downloaded earlier.
Does it affect data or attribute exports?
No. Only image and file downloads ask for terms acceptance.
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Need help?
Want Image Usage Governance turned on for your account, or help setting up your first governed campaign? Reach out to your Customer Success Manager or email pxmsupport@pattern.com.