If you need to share products and product details with vendors or dealer networks, use syndication or channels in Entries. 

The syndication tool takes your product assets and attributes, transforms them for individual digital commerce platforms, and then exports that data to the sites. Read this article about how to syndicate your products. 

Using channels is another way to distribute your products. You can download a CSV or XLSX file from the Channels page that includes a filtered list of product information that can be sent to your network. The list can be filtered to the products dealers carry, and only includes the attributes they care about. You can also distribute product information by creating digital catalogs called Channel Portals. 

When you have the Access Channels permission, in addition to distributing product information, you can also see what information is included in a channel, then edit that information and add new channels.

Learn more in the Distribute Product Information video in Acquia Academy.

For more information on using AI Assistant in syndication, visit How to use AI Assistant in syndication?

Add channels and view channel details¶

Existing channels are displayed on the Channels page, but you can quickly set up new channels whenever you have new partners. Simply click Add channel and enter a channel name, and all products and attributes are added to the channel.

The maximum number of channels that can be created per customer is 100.

From there, view more details about products in the channel, including a preview of what will be exported, or take action in the channel. (You can also select an existing channel from the Channels page to view more details.) The most recently updated channel product is listed first.

Take action to filter product details that you want to export, select attributes that apply to the channel that can also be exported, export a CSV, XLSX, or FTP of attributes, and rename the channel. Last, page through all the products in the channel to get an idea of what your distributors are seeing. 

Select attribute columns¶

When selecting attribute columns, you’re choosing attributes that apply specifically to the channel. They’ll display in the channel preview after selection. If the channel doesn’t need certain attributes, you can de-select those. The SKU and product name are always included for the channel.

Configure and schedule an export¶

Within each channel, you can configure an FTP export of product information to ensure that your e-commerce sites have the most up-to-date product information from Entries. You can even schedule those exports daily or weekly, or when you want (on demand), to keep those downstream channels in sync with the latest information.

Configure an export from the gear icon. Select Configure FTP export to set up a configuration and select a frequency for exporting. Setting up a configuration involves entering FTP credentials and testing the connection, while the frequency allows you to choose if you want to automate recurring FTP exports or run an export when needed (i.e., run it on demand).

Get started with scheduled exports by setting up FTP credentials. Credentials include:

• FTP URL: The path on the FTP server to the CSV or XLSX file. Note that only secure FTP (SFTP) connections are supported.

• FTP filename: The filename of the FTP, which must include a .csv or .xlsx extension. Note that the filename and URL cannot already be in use for an existing scheduled import.

• FTP user and password: The credentials that allow access to the FTP server.

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After credentials are entered, test to ensure that the connection between the FTP server and the Entries app is successful. A failed connection could not connect to the FTP server, so we recommend checking the information entered for the configuration and testing the connection again.
 

Schedule¶

Next, set up recurring FTP exports  or choose to run a configuration for an export on demand. Recurring exports can run daily at a certain time or weekly on a certain day of the week and at a certain time.

Running on demand means that an export will run when needed and will not reoccur.

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Download a CSV or XLSX file¶

Selected attributes will be included if you choose to download a CSV or XLSX file or configure an FTP export. CSV and XLSX downloads include only the products and attributes that were filtered in the channel. FTP exports send a CSV or XLSX export of the channel to an FTP location.

Note that XLSX files have a limit of 32,767 characters per cell, so make sure attribute values are under that limit, otherwise the export could fail. Values in exported CSV and XLSX files can be modified and re-imported. 

View a list of channels¶

See all channels that have been added on the Channels page. Channels are ordered alphabetically by channel name.
 

Rename or delete channels¶

If you need to update the channel name, select to rename it from the gear icon.

If you’re no longer distributing product details to a particular channel, delete the channel from the same icon.