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Designs ​

Introduction ​

Designs are created by your customers in your store using the Printlane Designer. Every customizable product that's added to the cart is available in Printlane Studio, even if the customer did not place an order yet.

You can view and change designs in Printlane Studio.

List of designs ​

Navigate to the list of designs using the navigation on the left hand side.

The list of designs is ordered by last updated date, so the last updated designs appear on the top of the list.

To search for a specific design, enter a Design ID or the name of a product.

Opening a design ​

To view what the customer created, click on the button with the Eye icon in the row of the design you would like to review. This opens the designer from within Printlane Studio, and enables you to make changes to the customers' design.

Exporting a design ​

When you are ready to proceed with the design in your print production workflow, you can create a print job that will generate a print production ready file.

There are 3 methods to retrieve the print production file from Printlane:

1. Export manually from Printlane Studio ​

In the overview of designs, click on the Download button in the row of the design. This will generate a file based on the Export settings of the template the design is based on.

If you need to change the export settings for this specific design, you can click on the button with the Cog icon in the overview of designs. This allows you to change the export settings for this specific design.

TIP

If you want to change the export settings for all future designs based on that template, you need to update the export settings in the template. Please read more in this article on how to do this.

2. Export using a direct link ​

When the Printlane Designer is integrated in your online store, it will add a unique reference to the created design in each order line item. That reference looks like this: 45.3618204e-f166-4a53-8a7f-0ce2828b17ca.

You can use that reference to directly download the design using the following link structure:

https://export.printlane.com/:storeId/:designReference

You need your Printlane Store ID which you can find on the Settings page and combine it with the design reference in the order line item. For example:

https://export.printlane.com/589adada754c20089ed6cfd8/45.3618204e-f166-4a53-8a7f-0ce2828b17ca

Following this link will offer a file download, just like method 1 where you click on the Download-button. You can use this method if you need a direct link to export a design without any user interaction.

WARNING

To prevent unauthorized access to print production files, you need to be logged in to Printlane. The direct link will forward you to the login page if you're not authenticated.

This method allows you to use direct links in places like order detail pages or order confirmation emails, without the need to find the design in Printlane Studio and click on the Download-button.

Export using the Printlane API ​

The last method to export designs is by connecting your software to the Printlane API. This allows you to integrate the download of print production files into your own workflow as soon as an order is placed.

These are some examples of actions you could perform after downloading the print production file:

  • Upload to FTP
  • Save in hot folder
  • Forward the file to printing software
  • Create a packing slip document
  • ...and more.

While this method requires you to connect with Printlane from your own software, it's the most flexible as it allows you to completely automate exporting print production files, and use them in the next step of your print production workflow.

You can find more information on how to connect with the API in this article.

Linking to a design ​

Giving customers access to an existing design by sharing a link can be very helpful. Here are some common situations where this is useful:

  • Avoid disputes: After completing a design, the customer might claim that the final product doesn’t match with what they had in mind. By sharing a review link, the customer can check the design without being able to do any changes.
  • Making Last-Minute Changes: If the customer changes their mind and wants to make adjustments to the design before fulfillment, you can send them an edit link. This allows them to make any last-minute changes directly themselves.
  • Correcting Errors: If there are elements in the design that are misplaced or incorrect, you can ask the customer to correct these issues by providing an edit link.

A link to an existing design that opens in view-only mode, allowing the customer to view the design but not make any changes.

Example:

https://preview.printlane.com/app.html?storeId=[yourStoreIdHere]&designReference=[designId.designToken]&language=[optionalLanguageCode]

TIP

Add this link to the order confirmation email in your webshop. This allows customers to see their design after placing an order, without the possibility to change the design.

An edit link to an existing design that opens in edit mode, allowing the customer to make changes to the design.

https://designer.printlane.com/app.html?clb-shop=[yourStoreIdHere]&clb-id=[designId]&clb-token=[designtoken]&clb-language=[optionalLanguageCode]

WARNING

This link never expires! Anyone you share it with can keep making changes to the design as long as the design itself is available.

My Designs (end-users) ​

The Printlane Designer has a feature called "My Designs" that lets your customers create and save multiple designs in the browser. This way, customers can easily come back and use them later, making it simple to manage their projects.

To activate the "My Designs" feature, follow these steps:

  1. Browse to the Printlane Studio.
  2. Click on Settings.
  3. Find the setting called Allow saving of designs.
  4. Check this setting to activate it.

After enabling the setting, a button with three dots will appear next to the "Add to Cart" button in the Printlane Designer.

WARNING

Saved designs are stored in the customer's browser. This means that if the customer opens your template in a different browser, they won't be able to access their saved designs.