Catalog On Demand
Welcome Guest
- Sign In
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Catalog-on-Demand
Do you have a question that is not covered below? Please click here to contact us anytime!
Big Picture Questions
What do you mean by a "PDF for every product" (Always Fresh™ flyers)?
What are Always Fresh catalogs and brochures?
How do I make an Always Fresh catalog or brochure?
What is the difference between a brochure and a catalog?
How-To Questions
How do I connect my Google data feed to Catalog-on-Demand?
How do I set up automatic imports from my Magento store?
How do I create a PDF for every product (Always Fresh flyers) for my e-commerce site?
I have successfully made a PDF for every product (Always Fresh flyer). How do I put in the links?
Why are there blank pages in my catalog?
Can I specify where filler ads are to be placed?
When I try to select products for my publication, none of my items are found. Why?
What do you mean by a "PDF for every product" (Always Fresh™ flyers)?
Always Fresh flyers provide a high quality alternative to the print button on your site. Instead of letting your visitors print the web page HTML, give them an Always Fresh™ PDF — including a QR code — that will help sell your products 24x7. Every product page on your site gets its own print-ready PDF. To see an example, check out the Global Industrial site — go to any product page and click on the PDF icon.
- Each flyer features one sku family
- Customize with your own artwork, logo, and colors
- Include your own filler ads for remaining space on the page
- Flyers are Always Fresh — automatically updated when your data changes
What are Always Fresh catalogs and brochures?
To answer this question, it helps to first understand "on-demand". On-Demand catalogs and brochures are created for a specific need at a specific time. For example, you might want to create an on-demand catalog for a particular trade show. Once you deliver it, you're done.
In contrast, Always Fresh catalogs and brochures are meant to be downloaded from your website. They are for visitors who want to return to your site from their mobile phone or tablet. Or perhaps they want your product information when offline. Of course, you want to be sure that any PDF posted on your site is always up-to-date. That is what is great about Always Fresh catalogs and brochures. The Always Fresh publication is automatically updated within 24 hours of a data change.
How do I make an Always Fresh catalog or brochure?
Very easily! The main thing to understand is that Always Fresh publications start out as On-Demand publications. You can take any On-Demand publication and make it into an Always Fresh publication. You will see an Always Fresh button next to each one of your publications in the job history table. Click on that button, and you are presented with a couple of configuration settings. These are explained by clicking on the help icon.
What is the difference between a catalog and a brochure?
A Catalog typically has more products than a brochure. Catalogs are often created for a particular market segment, or for trade shows, events, seasons, holidays, etc. In contrast, a brochure is a targeted sales publication, often intended for a single customer.
- Both feature the same types of product presentations. There is no difference between catalogs and brochures in this respect.
- A catalog always has a front and back cover. Some brochure styles offer a front cover, and some just offer a "first page header".
- Catalogs contain a Table of Contents (ToC) and a choice of several types of indexes. Brochures do not have a ToC or indexes.
- Catalogs have section (and sub-section) headers to separate different groups of products. Brochures do not have these headers.
- The maximum number of SKU families in a catalog is 1,000. The maximum for a brochure is 100.
How do I create a PDF for every product (Always Fresh flyers) for my e-commerce site?
First, you must create the flyers in Catalog-on-Demand. To do this:
- a) Sign in to Catalog-on-Demand.
b) Click "Start a New Configuration".
c) Choose Flyer, then click on "Ironwood Flyer". - Configure your flyer appearance and features.
a) Click on the help icons to learn about each setting.
b) Frequently save your configuration. - Make test flyers. To do this:
a) Click on Select Products.
b) Expand the tree, check the box for a few products, then click Finished Selection.
c) Enter a Job ID and click Create Test Publications. - Cycle through steps 2-3 until you are satisfied with how your test flyers look.
Be sure and test your configuration with a representative selection of products.
For example, try products with wide graphics, narrow graphics, long descriptions, short descriptions, etc. - When you are ready to create flyers for all your products:
a) Click on Create Flyer for Every Product.
b) Click OK to the message about taking 24 hours (usually it is much faster than that!).
- Inspect your flyers from the Always Fresh Dashboard
a) At any time, click on the Details button for the Up-to-date flyers.
b) Click on Download to view any of the listed flyers.
After you have spot-checked your flyers, you are ready to enable them on your e-commerce site. You do this from a configuration setting in the Catalog-on-Demand module for your e-commerce system.
Can I specify where filler ads are to be placed?
No, Catalog-on-Demand automatically puts your filler ads where they will have the best fit. Therefore, it is a good idea to create filler ads of different size. Click on the help icon for filler ads for more information.
How do I connect my Google data feed to Catalog-on-Demand?
The same data feed that you provide for Google Product Search can be used with Catalog-on-Demand to make custom print catalogs and brochures. This feed can be automatically imported into your Catalog-on-Demand database.
- Obtain the feed URL that you provide to Google.
- Go to your Catalog-on-Demand Account page > Automated Data Import Setup.
- Choose "Google Product Search data feed".
- Paste your Google feed URL.
- Check at least one of the "Auto Start Days of Week" (most users set it to run every night).
- Click Save Changes.
- Test the import.
- Click on Import Now.
- After a couple minutes, click on History. Your new import job should appear in the history table.
(Note: This refers to the History button found in Data Import Setup.) - When the import is finished, click on Download Report. You should see a value for "Items created" that is the number of SKUs in your database.
You're ready to start publishing! If you have any question or problems, please contact support.
When I try to download a publication, I get a message that says "The file is damaged and cannot be repaired". What do I do?
There is probably nothing wrong with your publication. Usually this message is due to a browser problem or an Acrobat problem. First, just try dowloading the publication once or twice more. If that does not work, close your browser (all tabs & windows) and try again. Usually that does the trick.
When I try to select products for my publication, none of my items are found. Why?
This is because your product information has not yet been imported into Catalog-on-Demand. Please follow the instructions for the Catalog-on-Demand module for your e-commerce system.
I have successfully made a PDF for every product. How do I put in the links?
This is best done by your e-commerce (or template/theme) provider.
Ask them to build in links to a "PDF for every product". This is a free service from Catalog-on-Demand. Explain to them that their services and products will be more useful by allowing their users to include this link on every product page.
If you cannot get support from your provider, you will need to put a linked image on every product page, like this:
<a href=[URL of the PDF icon] target="_blank"><img src=[URL of the Always Fresh flyer]></a>
For the URL of the PDF icon, most sites use this link:
http://www.catalog-on-demand.com/print-catalog.png
However, you can use any other icon that you prefer.
The URL of the PDF flyer is constructed like this:
http://www.catalog-on-demand.com/PDF-e-Link/?AID=[organization ID]|[product code (encoded)]
Important! Be sure to put a pipe delimiter | between the organization ID and product code.
organization ID
You will find your organization ID at the top of your Catalog-on-Demand Account page, under Account Info. Often it is the same as your user name.
product code
If your data source is Google Product Search data feed...
For products without variants, use the value you mapped to "g:id".
For products with variants, use the value you mapped to "g:item_group_id".
If you are using the Catalog-on-Demand extension for Magento...
For simple products, use the Product ID.
For grouped products, use the Product ID of the parent product.