Pencil includes a built-in Asset Lineage System and automated Asset Expiry Management to take the guesswork out of licensing compliance. Together, they map where every piece of content comes from and ensure licensed assets are never used past their usage timelines.
How does asset lineage work?
Pencil automatically maps the relationships between raw source assets and the final creatives or templates produced from them. Tracking happens at the variation level, not just the project level: if you swap the background image in one vertical video variation, only that variation's history is updated.
The system scans both design layers (images, videos, and graphics inside scenes) and audio tracks (background music and voiceovers) to map exactly where each asset is used.
These relationships form a traceable content graph that works in both directions:
Trace backwards – Start from a final ad and identify every original source it draws on.
Trace forwards – Start from a raw asset and see every piece of content built on top of it.
This provenance data lets brand, legal, and audit teams answer "where did this come from?" instantly, and gives creative teams the confidence to reuse winning assets.
Lineage tracking operates in the background. The data is recorded automatically and used by the platform to enforce expiry rules; there is no visual interface for browsing the lineage graph itself.
How does asset expiry management work?
Expiry management uses the lineage graph to enforce licensing deadlines across everything you create.
Where do expiry dates come from?
Pencil captures original licensing expiry dates automatically from integrated Digital Asset Management systems, including AEM, Bynder, Orange Logic, TAB, and Diageo.
From there, two rules govern how deadlines apply:
The earliest date wins – When a creative draws on multiple sources, Pencil applies the earliest expiry date among them as the effective expiry of the final output.
Deadlines propagate – Expiry dates travel down the creation chain, so any creative, template, ad, or remix built from a source asset inherits its deadline automatically.
How do I set rules for assets without expiry metadata?
For assets that arrive without licensing metadata, such as local device uploads, Google Drive imports, or stock assets, you can define an expiry rule in Asset Expiry Settings, found in Workspace Settings:
Click New expiry setting.
Name the setting, for example "Default uploads policy".
Select sources – Choose the import sources the rule applies to.
Set default asset expiry – How long assets from the selected sources remain valid after import, for example 90 days.
Set warning period – How far in advance of expiry Pencil warns users, for example ten days.
One configuration profile is active at a time, and it also applies to DAM assets that arrive without embedded expiry dates.
Can expired assets be removed automatically?
Yes. In the same expiry setting, toggle on Auto delete expired assets and select a deletion period. After that period, expired assets are permanently removed from Pencil.
Deleted assets cannot be retrieved via Pencil, so set the deletion period with care.
How do I see what is expiring?
Asset thumbnails carry clear visual cues: a Warning icon appears ahead of an upcoming expiry, and an Expired icon marks assets past their usage date.
You can also surface expiry dates directly in your listing tables. In Files, an Expires At column is available across the Works, Generations, Assets, and Templates tabs. Toggle its visibility under Edit table, then sort or filter by it to audit content at a glance.
What happens when an asset expires?
Pencil enforces expiry at every stage:
Selection – Expired files are blocked from selection during ad creation.
Workflows – Automated workflow executions involving expired assets are halted.
Export – Export is disabled for any built creative or Work item containing an expired source asset.
Which formats are covered?
Lineage tracking and expiry enforcement are fully active for Ads, Display Ads, Templates, Images, and Videos.
They do not apply to content generated or managed through Feeds, Email & Text, Agent Generation, or Universal Chat Generation. The Target DAM integration does not consume asset expiry fields.