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Create a print-ready A4 size PDF catalogue of your products, with front and back pages, table of contents, an introduction page and page numbering. Add a link to your website for people to download your catalogue too.
Creating Your PDF Catalogue
Set Up Stage
- Add new pages
In Page Manager, set up the following pages that are used in the PDF with the following Page Type settings:
- Table of contents page - it must have the URL set to: product_listings_pdf_toc_page
- Product listings introduction page - it must have the URL set to: product_listings_pdf_start_page
This page is freetype content which you can use to describe the catalogue, delivery methods, any promotions you are running and so on. It appears after the table of contents and before categories and products are listed.
- Table of contents page - it must have the URL set to: product_listings_pdf_toc_page
- Exclude categories
In Product Manager, you can edit categories and tick to exclude any you do not wish to have in the PDF:
You can also:
"Override category description for PDF" enabling you to display different text in the PDF to that shown on the website.
Enter "Content to show after this categories product listings" which can be used to fill blank spaces after a category's listings have finished, or to display advertising or other information.
Check below for dimensions for images for inside pages. - Create cover images for your front and back pages
Using images gives you better design control and these will be uploaded and used for your PDF and should have the following dimensions:
2480px x 3508px - A4 @ 300 DPI - Create images for your inside pages
On inside pages the full page width is 2480px (21cm) less 1cm margins either side brings it down to 2244px (19cm). As for the height, the total page height is 3508px (29.7cm less 1cm top & bottom margins) so you'd have to pro-rata for the available space.
This calculator can help get the measurements right: https://pixelcalculator.com/en
Set the dpi to 300 which is print quality.
Generating Your PDF
Go to Admin > PDF Product Listings
- Tick if you want to make the PDF link shareable
- A link is generated that is used for sharing, by default it is called product_listings.pdf
Creating Different Versions of the Catalogue
If you create different versions of the PDF in the future (e.g. with categories excluded or different page content added) it will overwrite the existing PDF and use the same link shown above. To avoid that, save your existing PDF first so you have a copy. To keep the previous version available on the website, go in to Admin > File Manager and rename the product_listings.pdf file before generating a new PDF and then add a link on your website to the renamed file name in this suggested format: https://www.yourdomain.co.uk/userfiles/product_listings_sept22.pdf - Upload the images for your front and back pages - make sure they match the dimensions given previously.
- Click Save
- Preview The Catalogue
This is a quick way to look at the content that goes into the PDF before you generate it, which will take longer.
Click View HTML Version
- Once happy, click Generate PDF to create your catalogue.
This may take a few minutes to run if you have a large number of products.
Wait for it to complete before using any Admin programs in other tabs or windows.
A link to the PDF is shown at the bottom of the screen.
Note: If you view the PDF and it doesn't show your latest changes, perform a hard refresh in your browser a few times as it may be caching the previous version. - Promote your catalogue.
Add a link to it on your website
Send out a mailshot with a link to the PDF
Update order notifications with a link to the PDF
Update other Email Tasks with a link to the PDF
Print it for distribution at shows - have a single test print done first for approval.
Developer Notes
The catalogue is automatically updated and cached every 7 days. Ensure any relevant cron is set up.