Portfolio is capable of cataloging any digital file. It also has the ability to generate or extract thumbnails, generate screen previews and extract a range of metadata from most standard graphic and video formats.

Supported audio and video formats will playback within the Portfolio application. Portfolio also has limited ability to batch convert certain imaging formats to TIFF, JPEG and VFZ/PFZ formats. Portfolio can also embed IPTC and XMP metadata into TIFF and JPEG formats, and index and search text from select documents.

Portfolio's current supported file formats are listed here. File formats not listed will be visually cataloged as icons, allowing users to link to the original files for editing. The Mac OS X version may extract thumbnails from additional formats from the resource fork.

1. Multi-page Previewing of Flashpix supported on Mac OS X only
2. Currently does not support Zip compressed TIFF files
3. Versions 2, CS, CS2 and CS3 (Mac only);requires user to set the embed preview option.
4. PDF 1.6 (Acrobat 7) supported on Mac OS X; PDF 1.6 (Acrobat 7) supported on Windows.
5. Images must be saved with maximum compatibility, when using layers. PSB, 16-bit LAB and 16-bit CMYK is not supported
6. Windows supports PPT 2000 and higher. Mac supports PPT X, but requires PowerPoint X to be installed on the machine
7. User must enable Portfolio thumbnail option in Freehand preferences.
8. Mac OS X only; Requires Page2Pict XTension (third party Xtension).
9. SWF: Support for SWF (Flash 6) via QuickTime 7.3.0 or lower, must be enabled. (As of QuickTime 7.3.1 SWF not supported.).
10. Requires QuickTime MPEG 2 plug-in available for purchase from Apple
11. Supports a wide range of video codecs including: Animation, Apple BMP, Apple Pixlet (Mac OS X 10.3) Apple Video, Cinepak, Component Video, DV and DVC Pro NTSC, DV PAL, Graphics, H.261, H.263, H.264, JPEG2000 (Mac OS X), Microsoft OLE, Microsoft Video 1, Motion JPEG A, Motion JPEG B, MPEG-4, Photo JPEG, Planar RGB, PNG, Sorenson Video 2, Sorenson Video 3, TGA and TIFF For the best results be sure to download the most recent version of Apple QuickTime
12. Microsoft Word (DOC) format and Excel (XLS) formats are only supported on Windows. PPT format (2000, 2003) is supported on Windows. PPT is supported on Mac OS X, under Office X only, which must be installed on the machine performing the cataloging (Portfolio client or Server.) Office 2007 Open XML file formats (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX) are not supported and must be saved in legacy (DOC, XLS, PPT) format before they can be cataloged correctly in Portfolio.
13. To use the first page of documents as the thumbnail and preview image, choose InDesign > Preferences > File Handling (Mac) or Choose Edit > Preferences > File Handling (Windows) in Adobe InDesign. Enable the "Always Save Preview Images with Documents" option, choose a preview size and click OK