Media and other assets find their way into the Library in several ways. For instance, content that is provided with Pinnacle Studio, such as templates, titles, transitions, and effects, are added to the Library when you install the application.

If you enable Watchfolders, the Library automatically discovers some assets on your system by regularly scanning Windows-standard media locations. You can add your own watchfolders (see below), and they will be automatically updated, too.

Finally, you can import media manually by any of several methods.

You can turn on Watchfolders to monitor directories on your computer. If you add media files such as video clips to a watchfolder, or one of its subfolders, the files automatically become part of a Media Library branch in the Asset Tree. Updating occurs each time the application is launched and while the application is running.

Watchfolders are set up on the Watchfolders page of the Setup control panel. For each folder that you add, you can specify that either one particular supported media type will be ‘watched for’, or all of them. Please see “Setup” on page 255 for more information.

If you need to import a large amount or variety of media, or to import from analog media such as VHS tape, click the Import button near the top of the application window to open the Importer. See “The Importer” on page 217 for full information.

Direct import via drag and drop: To select and import items in one step, use drag-and-drop from Windows Explorer or the desktop into the Browser. The new items are immediately displayed in the Collection ‘Latest Import’, which is created for the occasion if necessary.

Any photo, video, audio file or project in the Library panel can be directly exported “as is”, using the context menu commands described below, to either a Cloud-based storage service or a disc. For other exporting options, choose Export from the context menu. See “The Exporter” on page 241 for full information.

To store a Library asset on a disc, select Burn Disc Image on the context menu. You can burn just the file, or a disc image if you have made one. If you select multiple assets, and then select Burn Disc Image, all of the assets will appear on the Burn files to disc dialog. More assets can be added by clicking the File icon and browsing. You can also delete files from the list before burning.

To remove an item from the Library, or a selection containing multiple items, choose Delete selected from the context menu or press the Delete key. A confirmation dialog lets you approve the list of media files to be removed from the Library database. By default, the files themselves will not be affected, but the Remove from library and delete option lets you delete the files too, if desired. Be careful, as this command works on all kinds of Library assets, including your Pinnacle Studio projects if any of those are selected.

When all the files in a folder are removed, the Library hides the folder as well.