Sharing and downloads
ZIP downloads
How to enable and use ZIP bulk downloads.
Enabling ZIP downloads
ZIP downloads let clients download all the assets in a section or folder as a single archive. This saves time when a client needs an entire logo package, a full set of campaign images, or every file in a deliverable folder at once.
To enable ZIP downloads, go to Portal settings → Downloads and toggle Allow ZIP downloads on. Note that individual file downloads must also be enabled for ZIP downloads to be available. The ZIP option appears as a Download all button at the top of each section in the portal.
How the ZIP is created
When a client clicks Download all, boveDAM assembles the ZIP archive on the server. This happens fresh for every request — archives are not cached. The resulting archive contains the original files exactly as uploaded, with no re-encoding or compression of the contents.
Once the archive is ready, boveDAM returns a signed URL pointing to the file, using the same mechanism as single-file downloads. The URL is valid for five minutes from the moment it is generated. If the client does not begin the download within that window, they can click Download all again to generate a new one.
The archive file name is based on the section or folder name and the date the download was requested.
Large archive times
For sections containing many files or large individual assets, generating the ZIP takes longer. Archives exceeding 500 MB may take up to 30 seconds to prepare.
During this time the client sees a loading state on the Download all button. They should keep the portal open and wait — navigating away cancels the request. Once the archive is ready, the download begins automatically.
A practical example: a client downloading a full brand asset package containing 120 high-resolution images, several vector files, and a PDF brand guide might be working with a 600 MB archive. They should expect a wait of up to 30 seconds before the download begins.
If the request times out or an error occurs, the client can try again. Each attempt generates a fresh archive, so retrying a failed large ZIP will produce the same result as the first attempt.
For downloading individual files rather than a whole section, see Single asset download.