Contently offers support for AEM versions 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5 in both Classic UI and Touch UI.

Contently’s AEM integration — also known as Contently’s AEM connector — helps teams create new AEM pages using content from Contently. When you create a new page in AEM, the integration automatically pull your Contently content, metadata, and assets for you. Also, your page properties and component fields will be filled in.   

The following sections walk through how to install, configure, and start using the Contently connector. This guide is written for your AEM team to follow. We’ve called out certain sections that should be completed with the help of someone who is also familiar with Contently.

Note: If you need any more information, please consult our AEM Technical Manual and AEM FAQ pages.

To follow the steps in this section, you will need admin privileges in AEM.

To start, please make sure someone with access to Contently follows these instructions to add the AEM integration to your Contently account.

Before you can install the Contently connector on your AEM instance, you need to add the package to your AEM Package Manager. To do this, you can either download the package from Adobe’s Package Share or download the zip file directly from Contently. We've included instructions for each option below.

Note: To read more about packages, visit Adobe's documentation here.

Note: For help, visit Adobe’s Package Share instructions here.

1. Download the Contently package from here.

2. In your AEM author instance, navigate to the CRX Package Manager (/crx/packmgr/index.jsp). Click the "Upload Package" button.

3. Upload the zip folder that you downloaded in step 1 and click "OK."  If you already have the Contently connector installed and would like to reinstall it, check the box next to "Force Upload." Once the package is uploaded, you will be ready to install the Contently package and proceed to the next step.

Note: For help, visit Adobe’s instructions for “Uploading Packages from Your File System” here.  

The next two subsections will walk you through how to install and verify the Contently package.

1. In the CRX Package Manager (/crx/packmgr/index.jsp), you should see the new package named contently.all. To install the connector, click the "Install" link next to the package. 

2. Once installed, you will see three Contently packages in the CRX Package Manager: contently, contently.config, and contently.content.  

After you install the Contently connector, there are two ways to verify that your installation was successful.

1. Navigate to Cloud Services in AEM (/etc/cloudservices.html) and look for Contently under the "Third Party Services" heading.

2. Navigate to your system console bundles (/system/console/bundles) and search for "Contently Core Bundle." Expand the "Contently Core Bundle" entry and verify that all dependencies for the Contently connector have been met under the "Imported Packages" subsection. Errors will appear in red.  

To follow the steps in this section, you will need admin privileges in AEM. The steps in the “Create a Sample Page” section should be completed by someone who regularly creates AEM pages and is familiar with what your final AEM pages will look like when they have Contently content on them. The steps in the “Create a Mapping” section should be completed by someone who is familiar with your AEM fields and components alongside someone who is familiar with your Contently fields and preferences.

If your AEM instance is installed behind a firewall, you will need to allowlist Contently's domain so your AEM instance can communicate with Contently's API through GET requests. Your AEM instance servers should be able to communicate with all of Contently's subdomains. At a minimum, please make sure you can access api.contently.com.

Your sample page should be created by someone who regularly creates AEM pages and is familiar with what your final AEM pages will look like when they have Contently content on them. While someone creates your sample page, your IT Team can jump ahead to the "Set Up Your Contently Cloud Service Configuration" section below. 

When you pull Contently content onto a new AEM page, your Contently content, metadata, and assets will automatically appear. To do this, we use a sample page as a model to create and fill in your new page. This way, your new page will use the right template and page properties.

By using a sample page as a model, your new page will also already include the components you use and expect. This helps us put your Contently content and assets right on the page for you—not just in your page property fields but in your existing component fields as well.

Before you continue the installation process, please create a sample page as a model for pages that will use Contently content on them. Sample pages are normal AEM pages. To create a sample page, create an AEM page using any AEM template.

Note: Please view the Sample Page Instructions before you create your sample page.

When you first install the connector, your UI settings in the Web Console Configuration will be set to Classic UI by default. If you are using Touch UI, please follow these steps to update your UI settings in the Web Console Configuration. These settings directly impact how the connector works and allow us to provide support for both Classic UI and Touch UI.

Note: You only need to complete these two steps if you are using Touch UI. 

1. Navigate to the Web Console Configuration page in AEM (/system/console/configMgr). Find "Contently OSGI Service" in the list and click to open it.

2. Choose Touch UI in the "Contently Dialogue UI" drop down and click "Save."  

Once you install the Contently package and create your sample page, you will be ready to set up your Contently Cloud Service Configuration.  

1. To connect AEM to your Contently account, navigate to Cloud Services in AEM (/etc/cloudservices/html). Find the Contently integration in the list and click "Configure now."

2. Enter your API key and click "Create." Your Contently API key was emailed to you along with the link to these instructions. To find your API key again, log into Contently and navigate to the Integrations page in your Publication Settings. Expand the details for your integration to view the API key. If an AEM integration does not appear in the list, follow these instructions to add the AEM integration to your Contently account.

3. After you click "Create," a new configuration will appear. Its name will match the integration name you created in Contently. That will be your indication that you have successfully connected AEM to Contently.

Note: Each API key can only be used to create one cloud configuration. Each cloud configuration has one set of mappings tied to it. There are limitations to how many mappings you can create per AEM template.

After you follow the instructions in the "Create a Mapping" section below, if you find that you need a separate set of mappings, you can always create a second integration in Contently, receive a second API key, and then repeat steps 1–3 above to create another cloud configuration in AEM. 

In step 1, click the "+" link next to the "Available Configurations" heading to create a new configuration once you already have an existing configuration. Make sure to use the right API key for each configuration. Each time you add an AEM integration to your Contently account, we will email an API key to you. To add the AEM integration to your Contently account and receive an API key, follow these instructions. This note is included here as a precaution. Most teams will only need one API key and one AEM cloud configuration.

The steps in this section should be completed by the person who created your Sample Page alongside someone who is familiar with your Contently fields and preferences. You cannot complete the steps in this section until you have created a Sample Page.

When you pull Contently content, metadata, and assets onto a new AEM page, Contently will automatically fill in your page properties and component fields for you. Configure a new mapping so that Contently knows which fields from Contently match to each field on the sample page you created.

The mappings you create are tied to your integration / API Key. If you share your integration across multiple Contently publications, each publication will use the same mappings when you pull content from Contently into AEM—based on the AEM page template you choose. This works well if your Contently publications typically use the same tags and custom fields. If two of your publications use the same AEM template but need different mapping rules, you will need to create a new AEM integration in Contently for your second publication. This new integration will have its own API key and therefore its own set of mappings.

Notes: Please create a separate mapping for each sample page if you have more than one. You can only create one sample page (and therefore one mapping) per AEM template per API Key. 

1. If you just completed the steps in the section above and are viewing your new cloud configuration, click "New Mapping" at the top of the page to create a new mapping.

2. On the "New Mapping" form, choose the sample page you want to use as a model for this mapping. Then choose a DAM Path. From there, configure your mapping by using the drop downs to choose which Contently field should map to each AEM page property field in the list. Next, use the bottom section to choose which component fields should map to Contently fields. We tried to limit the length of these instructions. For helpful information about each section on this New Mapping form and for details about the AEM field types Contently supports, please read the "Mapping Details" and "Supported AEM Field Types" sections in our AEM Technical Manual.

3. Click "Save Mapping" at the bottom of the form to save the mapping.  

4. Your new mapping will appear in a list on your cloud configuration page. Use this list to manage your existing mappings. If you created more than one sample page, make sure to create a new mapping for each of your sample pages.

You can now use Contently's AEM integration to pull Contently content into AEM.

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