Troubleshooting Guide: Asset Uploading Issues

Drag and drop works in the backend library view (Libraries tab) and in Creative Collaboration Workspace (Projects). It does NOT work in the frontend consumer view of libraries. Only single files can be dragged at a time — not multiple selections.

Use the + New button in the top-right corner of the library page as an alternative to drag and drop.

Download the file and open it locally. If it won't open, the issue lies with the original file, not Frontify.

Test the file in an online conversion tool such as SmallPDF (for PDFs and documents) or CloudConvert (for images, GIFs, videos, or audio). If conversion fails there too, the issue is universal — the file cannot be processed by any SaaS image system.

Check that the file is not empty (0 KB). Files synced from cloud storage (e.g., Dropbox) that have not been opened locally may appear as 0 KB and will fail to upload. Open the file locally first before uploading.

Frontify supports: Images (bmp, dng, eps, gif, ico, jpeg, jpg, png, psd, psb, svg, tif, tiff, webp), Videos (mp4, mov, avi, flv, mkv, mpg, mts, webm, wmv), Documents (ai, pdf, docx, pptx, potx, dotx, xlsx), and Other (indd, sketch, ttf). The Icon Library only supports .svg format.

Files with embedded restricted fonts can be uploaded to the library backend but will not generate previews or appear in the frontend. To resolve this, remove restricted fonts and re-upload, or compress the file into a .zip and add a custom preview image.

Clear your browser cache and try again. Test in an incognito/private window. Try a different browser or a different network (e.g., a personal hotspot instead of a corporate network).

Upload time depends on file size, number of assets, and your connection speed. Keep the browser tab open — uploads continue in the background as long as the tab stays open. If your connection drops, uploads pause and resume automatically.

Avoid running multiple large uploads in different tabs simultaneously.

The upload bar at the bottom of the screen tracks progress for all uploads, showing which are in progress, complete, or failed. If a file shows as failed, try re-uploading using the + New button.

Re-uploading can re-trigger the conversion pipeline if it got stuck. If the asset still does not process correctly, try re-cropping or re-saving the original file before uploading again.

Frontify supports up to 25,000 assets per batch and individual files up to 5 TB in size. Very large files (e.g., 40 GB+) depend heavily on connection speed and stability.

If your upload is stuck on "Processing" for a long time, contact the Frontify Support Team. Provide the link to the exact library or folder where the issue is occurring, a screenshot or screen recording of the behavior, and the file type and size.

Only invited users with Editor or Owner rights can upload assets. Confirm the affected user has been individually invited to the specific library with the correct role.

If you are able to upload but the user cannot, it is most likely that the issue is on their side. It could be that plugins, ad blockers, or a firewall is blocking the upload. Their IT team may need to give special permissions or whitelist certain URLs.

Ask the user to test on a different network (e.g., a personal hotspot) to rule out corporate firewall or proxy restrictions.

If the user's IT team needs to whitelist Frontify URLs, the following must be allowed:

VPN clients (e.g., Zscaler) can interfere with uploads even if other users on the same VPN are unaffected. Ask the user's IT team to confirm that the user has the necessary upload/extended internet rights within the VPN configuration.

When reaching out to DevOps, provide: whether only one user or multiple users are affected, the IP address of the affected user (if you cannot reproduce the issue), a screenshot or description of the error, the exact link to the library or folder where the issue occurs, and whether the issue affects all file types or only specific formats.

Some file types do not generate previews and will appear with a generic icon. This is expected behavior.

Files with embedded restricted fonts will not generate previews or appear in the frontend.

Upload the file to SmallPDF or CloudConvert and try converting it to itself (e.g., JPG to JPG). If conversion fails, the issue is with the file itself. If conversion succeeds but the file still looks poor, the source file is already degraded.

Re-uploading can re-trigger the conversion pipeline if it got stuck. Check if the asset has no preview thumbnail or if the file size looks wrong — these are signs of a processing failure.

If you have confirmed this is a Frontify-specific issue, submit a bug report using the Image Processing Bug Template. Include the CDN link to the file, the original file upload, and the link to the affected asset in Frontify.

Confirm whether the issue is platform-wide (uploads failing for all users) or isolated to one user or library.

Test uploading from your own account to the affected library. If it works for you but not the customer, the issue is likely environmental (see Scenario 3).

If the issue is confirmed as platform-wide, acknowledge the customer and escalate to the engineering team. Our Product Team investigates media delivery issues, identifies the source, and resolves them.

Keep customers updated and notify them once the issue is resolved.

After a platform incident is resolved, it may be necessary to re-upload affected assets to trigger reprocessing.