Publishing a Catalog

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What Does Publishing Mean?

Publishing makes your catalog live and visible to customers and any systems connected to your Alana account. Think of it like flipping a switch from “private draft” to “public store.” When your catalog is in draft status:

• Only you (and your team) can see it
• Changes are private and experimental
• Customers can’t find it
• Connected platforms don’t know about it

When your catalog is published:

• It’s live and accessible
• Customers can browse and purchase products
• Connected platforms (like your website, marketplace, POS system) can access your catalog
• Changes are visible to everyone

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Publishing Your Catalog

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Step 1: Open Your Catalog

Go to Catalogs and click on the catalog you want to publish.

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Step 2: Click the Publish Button

Look for the “Publish” button at the top of the page (usually blue or green). Click it.

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Step 3: Review and Confirm

A confirmation dialog will appear showing:

• How many products are in your catalog
• When the catalog will go live
• What integrations will be able to see it

Review this information to make sure everything looks correct, then click “Confirm Publish”.

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That’s It!

Your catalog is now published and live. You’ll see a “Published” badge or indicator on your catalog.

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Making Changes to a Published Catalog

Don’t worry — you can still make changes after publishing! Here are your options:

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Quick Updates (Recommend Publishing Immediately)

For small changes like:

• Updating a product price
• Changing product descriptions
• Adding or removing a few products
• Fixing images

Just edit the product or catalog directly. Your changes will apply immediately to the published version.

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Large Changes (Consider Using Versions)

For significant changes like:

• Reorganizing all product attributes
• Restructuring product categories
• Making wholesale-wide changes

Consider using catalog versioning to test changes before they go live. This creates a separate copy you can work on without affecting your current published catalog.

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Unpublishing a Catalog

If you need to take a catalog offline temporarily:

1. Open the published catalog
2. Click the “Unpublish” button
3. Confirm when asked

Your catalog will return to draft status and won’t be visible to customers or integrations. You can publish it again anytime. Note: Existing orders for products in unpublished catalogs are unaffected — they continue normally.

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Draft vs Published Status

Here’s the difference:

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Common Publishing Scenarios

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Scenario 1: New Seasonal Collection

1. Create a new catalog (e.g., “Summer 2025”)
2. Add all your summer products
3. Review everything thoroughly
4. Publish when you’re ready to launch the collection
5. Later, create a new catalog for the next season

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Scenario 2: Product Updates

1. Publish your main catalog
2. As you add new products or update existing ones, changes go live immediately
3. No need to “republish” — updates happen automatically

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Scenario 3: Testing Changes

1. Your current catalog is published and live
2. Use versioning to create a “test” version
3. Make changes to the test version without affecting customers
4. Review and verify the changes work as expected
5. Merge the test version back to your main catalog
6. Your changes are now live

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Scenario 4: Seasonal Turnover

1. At the end of a season, unpublish that seasonal catalog
2. Publish your new seasonal catalog
3. Customers see the new season immediately
4. Old seasonal catalog remains in draft if you want to reference it later

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Syncing with Connected Platforms

When you publish a catalog, any platforms connected to your Alana account will have access to it:

• Your website
• E-commerce marketplaces
• Point-of-sale (POS) systems
• Mobile apps
• Third-party sellers

These integrations typically sync with Alana every few minutes to an hour, so your changes will appear on those platforms relatively quickly after publishing. For technical details about how integrations work, see our Connecting Platforms Guide.

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Best Practices

Before Publishing:

• Review all product information for accuracy
• Check that images display correctly
• Verify prices are correct
• Make sure descriptions are clear and complete
• Test on your preview/staging version if available

After Publishing:

• Monitor for customer feedback on products
• Check that connected platforms are showing your catalog correctly
• Keep product information up to date as inventory changes

For Large Catalogs:

• Publish in batches if you have hundreds of products
• Give the system time to sync with external platforms (5-15 minutes typically)
• Monitor platform dashboards to confirm sync was successful

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Troubleshooting

“I see my catalog is published, but it’s not showing on my website”

• Wait a few minutes for the integration to sync
• Check that your website is connected to your Alana account
• Contact our support team if it doesn’t appear after 15 minutes

“Can I schedule a publish time?”

• Currently, publishing happens immediately when you click Publish
• If you need to schedule a future publish date, contact support

“What if I publish by accident?”

• You can unpublish anytime
• Your changes won’t be visible once unpublished
• No data is lost — you can publish again

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Publishing to the Marketplace Hub

Beyond your own channels, you can publish your catalog to the Marketplace Hub — a B2B content exchange where other Alana workspaces can discover, preview, and subscribe to your catalog. When you publish a catalog to the Hub:

• Other workspaces can browse it in the public Hub feed
• Subscribers receive automatic sync updates when you release a new version
• Field-level conflicts are managed via the subscriber’s chosen conflict resolution policy (keep_local, accept_remote, or manual_review)

To list your catalog on the Hub, go to Catalog Settings → Publish to Marketplace Hub. See the Marketplace Publishing guide for full instructions.

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Next Steps

• Learn about versions — Create test copies without affecting live catalogs
• Set up integrations — Connect your catalog to your sales channels
• Publish to Marketplace Hub — Make your catalog discoverable to other B2B buyers
• Manage your catalogs — Learn more about catalog organization and best practices