Creating your PDF Catalog

With your B2B Wave eCommerce platform, you and your sales reps can easily and quickly create a digital product catalog in PDF format and share it with your customers.

Let’s see how to create your PDF catalog, customize the appearance, and troubleshoot error messages.

Creating your PDF catalog

To generate your digital product catalog, complete these steps:

Step 1. Go to Tools >PDF Catalog on your Admin Dashboard.

Step 2. Choose what you want to include in your PDF catalog. You can select specific product categories and the price lists you want to display. You can also choose which products to include based on brand, product status, or availability. You can also choose individual products. Here you can also select which customers you would like to create the PDF catalog for (if you intend to generate separate catalogs for different customers or customer groups). Finally, you can decide which product attributes to display under each product in your catalog.

Let’s look at the options you will encounter on this page:

Categories	Export all categories to your PDF catalog by selecting one and then use  Control+A/Command+A to select all. Otherwise, to choose the product categories you want to include in your PDF catalog, use Control+Click/Command+Click to select multiple categories
Brands	Select specific brands using  Control+Click/Command+Click. Otherwise, your PDF catalog will include all available brands
Group by Brand	Check this box to showcase your products grouped by brand in your PDF catalog
Price list	Select the price list you want prices tags displayed in our PDF catalog
Customer	Generate a PDF catalog for a specific customer by typing their name in this field
Product status	Deselect (or leave unselected) all options featured in this box to display all product statuses in your digital catalog. Use  Control+Click/Command+Click to select the specific product statuses you want to include in your PDF catalog
Only products with discounts	Check this box to include only products that have discounts in your digital catalog
Hide prices	Check this option to hide product prices from your PDF catalog
Sort by	Select from the drop-down menu how to sort your products in your PDF catalog (i.e., Product name or Product SKU). This option will sort products based on their name or SKU in alphabetical or ascending order, respectively. Note that by default your products will appear in alphabetical order in your catalog
Show full category path in title	Check this box to include the full category path in your digital catalog (e.g., Men's >Shirts). Otherwise, the PDF catalog will display only the product category title (default setting)
Show product status	Check this option to display a product's status below the product image on your digital catalog
Show product description	Check this boxto display product descriptions in your PDF catalog. Remember to add a product description to the “PDF description” field in the Product >Advanced menu for each of your products
Show available quantity	Check this option to show the available quantity left in stock for each of your products
Show minimum quantity	Check this box if you have set a minimum order quantity for your products and want to display it on your PDF catalog
Show detailed product discounts	Check this option if you have set multiple discounts for a single product. Remember that if you select this option only up to three of these discounts will show below the product's image
Show MSRP	Check this box if you want the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price to show in your PDF catalog
Show quick order link	Check this option to add a “quick order” link to each product in your PDF catalog. When your customers click on the link, the specific product’s page will open on your B2B Wave store
Per page	Select how many products you want to display on your PDF catalog from the drop-down menu: 20 (4x5), 9 (3x3), 6 (2x3), and 4 (2x2). These options allow you to show bigger or smaller images of your products in your digital catalog. Please note that we recommend the 9 (3x3) option
Select products	Enter the name or SKU in the product field to include only specific products in your PDF catalog. Click “+Add product” to include more products and re-arrange them by dragging and dropping them in your desired order.You can save the specific product selection by clicking on “Create new selection” and naming it for future use

Step 3. Once you make your selections, click “Generate PDF”. Your digital catalog will be ready in a few seconds, and you can store it on your devices.

Customizing your PDF Catalog

To customize your PDF catalog, complete these steps:

Step 1. Go to Settings >Profile menu on your Admin Dashboard and click on the “Appearance” tab.

Step 2. Go to “PDF catalog settings.” Here, you can upload your logo, which will appear on the top left corner of each catalog page through the “Catalog Logo.” You can also upload a cover for your catalog in the “Catalog Cover” field, which will be the front page of your catalog. Note that the optimal dimensions for the cover are 2480 x 2918 pixels.

Step 3. Choose the color in which product category titles appear in your catalog through the “PDF category color field” and specify the color for the outline border that will display around each product in “PDF image border color.” Check the “Click to order” option on the “Appearance” tab to add a link to your online B2B store to your PDF catalogs. 

Step 4. Click “Save” to keep your selections.

Troubleshooting Error Messages

You may encounter some issues when attempting to generate a PDF catalog. Let’s check the usual error messages that may appear and see what you can do to resolve them.