Assets can be stored anywhere on the host system that PMM has visibility of (i.e. if using docker, the directory must be mounted/visible to the docker container).
For the sake of this document, we will assume that your assets folders are all based within the directory mapped to `config` within your PMM environment.
* You can specify an Image Asset Directory per Metadata/Playlist/Overlay File when calling the file. See [Path Types](../../../config/paths.md#asset-directory) for how to define them.
Managed Collection and Playlist assets are applied whenever that collection/playlist is run. You do not have to specifically enable assets for these items; PMM will always search for and apply them.
Item [movie/show/etc] assets and Unmanaged Collections assets have to be specifically enabled before PMM will search for and apply them. Do this by enabling the `assets_for_all` Library Operation:
* If you want to silence the `Asset Warning: No poster or background found in an assets folder for 'TITLE'` you can use the [`show_missing_assets` Setting Attribute](../../../config/settings.md#show-missing-assets):
If a media item has an asset associated with it, that asset image is taken as the source of truth for what artwork the item should have, and the overlay pipeline will no longer download and back up the base artwork from Plex. Using the Asset Directory to assign custom art is the simplest and safest way to ensure that the overlay pipeline doesn't unexpectedly overwrite your custom artwork in Plex.
The table below shows the asset folder path structures that will be searched for. There are two options for how Plex Meta Manager looks at the files inside your Asset Directories. Choose an option with the [`asset_folders` Setting Attribute](../../../config/settings.md#image-asset-folders). Note that `asset_folders` is a toggle; you can't put some images in folders and some not in a context where it is enabled.
Assets can be stored anywhere on the host system that PMM has visibility of (i.e. if using docker, the directory must be mounted/visible to the docker container).
???+ important
The below table assumes that your assets are stored within the directory mapped to `config` in your PMM environment.
* For **Collections** replace `ASSET_NAME` with the mapping name used with the collection unless `name_mapping` is specified, which you would then use what's specified in `name_mapping`.
* When `asset_folders` is set to `true` movie/show folders can be nested inside other folders, but you must specify how deep you want to search because the more levels to search the longer it takes.
