🗃️Your Custom Product Catalog

This use case will teach you how to create and manage product data in Canvas, My Catalog, and Catalog Pro. For maximum benefit, complete this training after Inspiration & Mood Boarding.

Who would benefit from this training?

• Designers, Furniture Dealer Ancillary Designer, Furniture Dealer Technical Designer, Brand Designer, Brand Product Manager, Brand Marketing

Step 1: Open the Canvas for this Training

Custom Product Catalog Canvas 👈

This "Training Canvas" is in Preview/Viewer mode to all users - If you’d like to edit this Canvas, duplicate the Canvas and edit the duplicated version.

• Use the Training Canvas to follow along as you learn how to create your own custom product library of standards and products you love.

• Helpful Tip: Have access to multiple tabs and/or screens? Make the most of your training session with Canoa University open on one monitor (referring to the Syllabus with helpful articles and the Training Checklist), and the Training Canvas open on the other.

Step 2: Syllabus

You now have your very own teaching assistant and guided support along side the Training Canvas. Below are helpful articles and videos that will help you along the way.

*Also search for articles in the AI Search Bar above

Create, Enrich, and Share data in Canvas

• How to create Custom Products in Canvas

  • Copy/Pasting products from customer packages

  • Bringing in products from the Web via copy pasting URLs

• How to edit/manage custom products in Canvas

  • Categories = temporary placeholder 2D drawings

  • Single sku product card vs. Multiple skus in one product card

• How to share products in Canvas

  • Sharing links, inviting collaborators, and embedding

Create, Enrich, and Share data in My Catalog

• My Catalog - An Overview

  • My Catalog is a visual database of your entire product library. Here you can see what other accounts have shared, and it's the place to create kits and collections of your own. And it is the best place to organize product data.
  • The place for bringing in small groups of products and duplicating products from your Catalog or Canoa's Public Product Library.

• How to create products in My Catalog

  • Individually

  • Duplicating products that have been shared - Enrich data for ROM and spec development

    • Pro = edit existing products to your liking

    • Con = the product is no longer synced to account managed live data

• How to edit products in My Catalog

  • Importance of data formatting

    • Subcategories for temporary placeholder Drawings

    • Tags for organizing

• How to organize within My Catalog

  • Creating Collections
  • Creating Kits
• How to share from My Catalog

Create, Enrich, and Share data in Catalog Pro

• Catalog Pro - An Overview

  • Catalog Pro is a dashboard that focuses on your custom product data. Add tons of new products at once and maintain data in bulk here. Best place for bulk actions - importing, editing, and exporting .CSV files.
  • This method is perfect for large, very large spreadsheets of product information. Create and manage 1000s of products in minutes using Catalog Pro. Utilize the videos in the Canoa Learning & Support center during this part of the session.

• How to create products in Catalog Pro

  • Import, edit, and export products in bulk with a .CSV file

    • Data formatting best practices* and Product IDs <- reference the Product Data Template linked below :)

• The in's and out's of Catalog Pro

  • Navigation overview
  • Individually create a product
  • Selecting your hero image

  • Drawing editor

  • Creating your own View

  • Using the Filter tool

• How to share your data from Catalog Pro

An optional or additional session on preparing your data and product drawings is available for all the data-loving users. Just let us know if you're interested!

Step 3: Training Check List

Make sure you've hit all of the important topics by following along to this checklist.

• Create a custom product in Canvas from an image you brought in:

  • Enrich data by adding in product details

  • Select a Subcategory to initiate a placeholder drawing

  • Bring in a product from your favorite website via copy pasting the URL into Canvas

• Upload data into Catalog Pro:

  • Use the "Create Product" button to create at least 2 products manually

  • Use the Product Data Template (Airtable version here) to bulk upload a minimum of 5 products (Bring as many products as you'd like)

    • Review how your data appears in Catalog Pro

    • Create your own View and save it

  • Journal your experience

    • Did your data upload and appear in Catalog Pro?

      • Did you receive the email notification?

    • Did you encounter any errors when uploading your data?

      • If so, what errors? Do you know why there were errors?

    • Did you add Tags and a Subcategory?

• Click on an uploaded product in My Catalog:

  • Does the product data appear correctly in the product card view?

  • Did an image or multiple images upload? How do the images look?

  • Did a Drawing upload? How does the Drawing look?

  • Duplicate a shared product and enrich it's data with your own data

• Collections:

  • Organize your products into a Collection

    • Add details and Tags in the Settings

• Kits / Applications:

  • Create a Kit in Canvas with the products in your Catalog

    • Reference: How to create a Vignette
    • Pull in products from My Catalog into a Canvas

    • Copy-paste product cards to utilize product drawings and layout your vignette

    • Give your Canvas a unique name to reference the Kit often

Video Recording & Transcript:

• Coming soon

Resources:

📋 Homework Guide - Canvas: Custom Product Catalog

🧱 For Canoa blocks and placeholders - Search by manufacturer 'Canoa Standards' they should pop up in your Canvas.

📊 Product Data Template - for bulk imports and formatting in Excel / GoogleSheets

📊 Product Data Template - for bulk imports and formatting in Airtable