Canto

How to Export Asset Metadata from Canto

Canto is a popular DAM for mid-market and enterprise teams. Here's how to extract your asset metadata into a spreadsheet for quality assessment.

Built-in Export

Yes (CSV)

Admin Required

Standard user

Best Output

CSV / Excel

Time to First Export

5-20 min

The short answer

Canto has a built-in metadata export feature. Select items in the library, choose export metadata, and download a CSV of their properties. For more comprehensive or automated exports, Canto's reporting features and REST API provide additional flexibility.

Canto Library — Metadata Export

EasyBest for: Brand managers, marketing teams, creative operationsOutput: CSV~5 minutes

Canto allows users to select items in the library and extract their metadata as a CSV or Excel file — no actual files are downloaded, only the metadata. This is the fastest way to get a metadata spreadsheet with no technical setup required.

Log in to Canto and navigate to the Library. Use albums, smart albums, or search to find the assets whose metadata you need.

Select the items whose metadata you want to extract. Use Select Allto grab everything in the current view, or pick specific items.

Click Export Metadata from the actions toolbar (or right-click menu). Choose your export format (CSV or Excel).

Configure which metadata fields to include in the export. Select all relevant fields and click Export.

✓

Smart Albums for recurring exports

Create a Smart Album with filter criteria (e.g., all assets uploaded this quarter, all images missing descriptions). Then export the Smart Album contents. Since Smart Albums update automatically, you can re-export anytime for fresh data.

Canto Reports

EasyBest for: DAM administrators, governance teamsOutput: CSV or Excel~10-15 minutes

Canto includes reporting capabilities that generate asset inventory and usage reports. Reports can include metadata summaries, upload activity, download statistics, and more. Available from the Canto admin panel.

Navigate to Admin → Reports in the Canto admin panel.

Select the report type. Asset inventory reports include metadata fields like name, description, tags, categories, file type, and dates.

Configure the report parameters: date range, album scope, asset types. Generate and download the report as CSV or Excel.

Report availability varies by plan

Canto's reporting features vary by subscription tier. Enterprise plans include more detailed custom reports and scheduled report delivery. Contact your Canto account manager for details on available report types.

Canto REST API

TechnicalBest for: Developers, IT teams, automated workflowsOutput: JSON → CSV~20-30 minutes

The Canto API provides full access to asset data including metadata fields, custom fields, tags, categories, and usage information. It supports searching, filtering, and pagination for large libraries.

Get your API credentials from your Canto admin. You need an App ID and App Secret for OAuth2 authentication, or use a personal access token if available.

Authenticate and get an access token, then query the search endpoint to list assets.

python

import requests
import csv

CANTO_DOMAIN = "your-org.canto.com"
ACCESS_TOKEN = "your_access_token"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}"}

def search_assets(keyword="*", limit=100):
    """Search all assets with pagination."""
    all_assets = []
    start = 0
    while True:
        resp = requests.get(
            f"https://{CANTO_DOMAIN}/api/v1/search",
            headers=HEADERS,
            params={
                "keyword": keyword,
                "limit": limit,
                "start": start,
                "scheme": "image,video,document,audio,presentation,other",
                "sortBy": "time",
                "sortDirection": "descending",
            },
        )
        data = resp.json()
        results = data.get("results", [])
        if not results:
            break
        all_assets.extend(results)
        start += limit
        if start >= data.get("found", 0):
            break
    return all_assets

assets = search_assets()

with open("canto_metadata.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
    writer = csv.writer(f)
    writer.writerow([
        "ID", "Name", "Description", "Scheme", "Size",
        "Width", "Height", "Created", "Modified",
        "Tags", "Categories", "Copyright"
    ])
    for asset in assets:
        default = asset.get("default", {})
        writer.writerow([
            asset.get("id", ""),
            asset.get("name", ""),
            default.get("Description", ""),
            asset.get("scheme", ""),
            asset.get("size", ""),
            default.get("Image Width", ""),
            default.get("Image Height", ""),
            default.get("Date uploaded", ""),
            default.get("Date modified", ""),
            ", ".join(asset.get("tag", [])) if asset.get("tag") else "",
            ", ".join(
                cat.get("name", "") for cat in asset.get("relatedCategories", [])
            ) if asset.get("relatedCategories") else "",
            default.get("Copyright", ""),
        ])

print(f"Exported {len(assets)} assets to canto_metadata.csv")

What metadata fields can you export?

Field	UI Export	Reports	Canto API
Asset name	✓	✓	✓
Description	✓	✓	✓
File type / scheme	✓	✓	✓
File size	✓	✓	✓
Dimensions (W x H)	✓	✓	✓
Upload date	✓	✓	✓
Modified date	✓	✓	✓
Tags	✓	✓	✓
Categories	✓	✓	✓
Custom fields	✓	If configured	✓
Copyright	✓	✓	✓
Approval status	✓	✓	✓
Album membership	✕	✕	✓
Download count	✕	✓	✓
EXIF data (photos)	✓	✕	✓
Preview / thumbnail URL	✕	✕	✓

Known limitations

Custom field names: Canto custom fields are defined by your admin. The API returns them under the default object with their configured names. Verify field names in your Canto admin settings before building export scripts.
EXIF and embedded metadata: Canto extracts EXIF, IPTC, and XMP data from uploaded files. These fields are available in the UI export and API but may use different field names than the original embedded metadata.
Canto Classic vs. Canto (New): If your organization is still on Canto Classic (formerly Canto Cumulus), the API endpoints and export features differ significantly. This guide covers the current Canto cloud platform.

You have your metadata export.
Now score it.

Upload your CSV or Excel file to MQS and get a structural metadata health score out of 100 with dimension breakdowns and actionable diagnostics.