Introduction ​

Customizations are created by your customers in your store using the Colorlab app. Every customizable product that's added to the cart is available in the Colorlab Console, even if the customer did not order the products yet.

The Colorlab Console enables you to view every created customization and even change it from within the Console.

List of customizations ​

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

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

To search for a specific customization, enter a Customization ID or the name of a product.

Opening a customization ​

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

Exporting a customization ​

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 Colorlab:

1. Export manually from the Console ​

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

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

2. Export using a direct link ​

When the Colorlab Designer is integrated in your online store, it will add a unique reference to the created customization 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 customization using the following link structure:

https://export.colorlab.io/:storeId/:customizationReference

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

https://export.colorlab.io/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 customization without any user interaction.

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

Export using the Colorlab API ​

The last method to export customizations is by connecting your software to the Colorlab 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 Colorlab 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.