When migrating assets from Canto to Frontify, your Canto metadata export can be used to prepare the Frontify migration metadata sheet.

The standard migration approach is to provide the original asset files through an agreed file transfer method, such as an S3 export. For Canto migrations, there may also be an alternative option: using the Direct URL of Original File column included in the Canto metadata export as the source for the asset files.

Before preparing your Canto export, confirm the following:

For most migrations, Frontify recommends using an S3 export or another agreed file transfer method.

With this approach, your original files are made available in a stable location for the migration. This is usually the safest and most predictable option, especially for larger migrations.

In the Frontify migration metadata sheet, the Location field normally points to the asset’s location in the AWS S3 bucket folder and must match the asset location exactly.

Canto metadata exports may include a column called:

In some cases, this URL can be used as the source for the asset file instead of requiring a separate S3 export. This option may be helpful when:

Before using this method for the full migration, the URLs must be validated to confirm that they point to the full original assets.

Ask your Canto administrator to export the metadata for the assets included in the migration. Your export should include, where available:

Depending on your Canto setup, your export may include many additional columns. Not every column needs to be migrated into Frontify.

The Frontify migration metadata sheet requires the following fields:

The first four metadata fields in the Frontify migration sheet are mandatory: ID, Filename, Location, and Title. For more information on the metadata sheet, see here.

Click the drop-downs below to learn more about how to map each value to Frontify:

Use the following table as a starting point when preparing your Canto export for migration.

For a sample sheet, click the link below to see an export sample vs how it's mapped for Frontify.

Canto exports may contain several tag-like fields:

Before migration, decide how each field should be handled.

Canto tag values may be separated by semicolons.

Example Canto value:

For Frontify, tags should be separated by a pipe character:

Frontify’s migration sheet expects multiple tags to be separated by |.

Canto Keywords may contain values that are useful for search in Frontify.

You can choose to:

A common approach is to merge useful keywords into the Tags column.

Example:

Converted Frontify Tags value:

Canto Smart Tags are AI-generated tags. Before migrating them, review whether they are useful and accurate for your asset library.

You can choose to:

If Smart Tags are migrated, they should be merged into the Tags column and separated with pipes.

Example:

Canto multi-select fields may be exported with semicolon-separated values.

Example Canto value:

For Frontify, multi-select values should be separated with pipes:

Frontify custom metadata columns should include the metadata field name and the field type in brackets, such as Region (Multi-select). Multi-select values should be separated by |.

Example:

Canto Albums can be useful when deciding how assets should be organized in Frontify. However, Canto assets may appear in more than one album. In the export, multiple album paths may appear in one cell, separated by semicolons.

Example:

Before migration, decide how these album values should be used.

If you want to use Canto albums to create a backend folder structure in Frontify, each asset should have one clear Directory value.

Example:

The Frontify Directory field uses / to separate folders. For example, Brand/Assets/Logo Mark creates a folder path with nested folders. The Directory field controls the backend folder structure and does not determine how assets are shown to end users in the frontend.

Because Canto may list multiple albums for a single asset, do not assume that the first album is the correct directory unless your team has approved that rule.

If your Frontify library will use a new structure, you may choose not to migrate Canto album information.

This can be useful if you are using the migration as an opportunity to simplify or redesign your asset organization.

If you want to preserve some of the asset’s Canto album context, you may choose to map selected album values to Frontify Collections.

This can be helpful when an asset belongs to multiple meaningful groupings in Canto and you do not want to force those values into a single Directory path.

Example Canto albums:

Converted Frontify Collections value:

However, this approach should be used intentionally. Collections can enhance a library by grouping related assets, but they should not replace a clear metadata strategy, a well-structured taxonomy, or thoughtful asset organization.

In general, we do not recommend creating an overwhelming number of collections from every Canto album path. Instead, review the album values and decide which ones are useful as collections in Frontify. Other album information may be better handled as custom metadata, mapped into a controlled taxonomy, or excluded if it is no longer needed.

Canto exports may include custom metadata columns such as:

Before migration, these columns should be renamed to the actual metadata field names you want to use in Frontify.

Frontify custom metadata columns should use this format:

Examples:

Frontify supports custom metadata types such as single-select, multi-select, text, date, and number in the migration sheet.

The Canto export may not show whether a custom metadata field was originally a text field, select field, multi-select field, number field, or date field.

If you want the Frontify metadata setup to match your Canto setup, review the field types in your Canto library settings before preparing the migration sheet.

Example:

Canto exports may include date fields such as:

If a date should be migrated into Frontify, confirm where it should be mapped.

For example:

For expires_at and custom date metadata fields, Frontify requires a RFC3339_EXTENDED format (with +00:00 on the end and not Z). Example value:

Frontify uses this date-time format for asset expiration dates and date custom metadata fields.

Canto exports may include a Copyright field.

If the value is copyright text, such as:

map it to:

By default, if there is a Copyright_notice field, a Copyright field is required in a separate column. We only accepts specific values:

Use Copyright only if your values have been normalized to one of those accepted options. Otherwise, use Copyright_notice for the full copyright text.

Canto exports may include a Status field, such as:

You can choose to map this to:

or to a custom metadata field.

Before mapping Canto status values to Workflow_status, review the values carefully. This helps avoid creating or applying workflow statuses that do not match your intended Frontify workflow.

The Frontify migration sheet supports a Workflow_status column for applying a workflow status to migrated assets.

Canto exports may include native system properties such as:

You do not need to migrate all of these fields if they are not relevant for you DAM. And some fields, like dimensions and size, are native to Frontify.

Before migration, decide which fields are useful for:

As a general rule, avoid migrating fields that will not be useful to your Frontify users or library managers. This keeps your library clean.

Once you’ve exported your metadata from Canto, use the steps below to prepare it for migration into Frontify. Each section covers a key cleanup task, from preserving the original export to formatting required fields, reviewing tags and albums, and deciding which metadata should be migrated.

Click each step to expand the instructions.

Before running the full migration, We prefer completing a test migration with a representative sample of assets.

This is especially important if using Canto original file URLs.

The test migration should confirm:

Review and approve the test migration before proceeding with the full migration.

Before the final migration sheet is prepared, confirm the following decisions internally so you can proceed efficiently with adjusting your metadata sheet:

Before sending the prepared migration sheet to Frontify, check that:

A Canto metadata export can provide much of the information needed for a Frontify asset migration.

For most migrations, the recommended approach is to provide the original files through S3 or another agreed transfer method. For some Canto migrations, the Direct URL of Original File field may be used as an alternative source for the asset files, as long as the URLs are validated first.

Before the full migration, prepare the metadata sheet carefully, review tag and album mapping decisions, confirm custom metadata field types, and approve a test migration.