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Using the admin area

Accessing the Admin Area

To manage your store you will need to login to your admin area which is located at "www.yourcompany.com/admin". Basically, just go to your domain name and add the "/admin" to the address bar in your browser. Once you go to that URL, you'll be prompted to login with your e-mail address and password. After logging in, you will be taken to the home page of your admin area where, you may begin managing your store.

Screen Size: It is recommended that you have your screen size set to 1024 x 768 or higher resolution when using the admin area. This allows you to view more data on-screen at one time without scrolling. To view/change your screen size, minimize your windows, right-click on your desktop and choose "Properties". A "Display Properties" window will pop up. On this window, click on the "Settings" tab. This is where you may change your screen resolution.

Navigating the Admin Area

Administration Navigation Description:

Dashboard

Home page of the admin center you can store custom reports here.(For more detailed reporting navigate to Reports ->> Reporting) Use the Quick Links for fast navigation or set your self a To Do List. Get the newest Volusion news and information about growing your business.

Orders

Orders: Area to manage all of your orders. You can Capture payment and edit orders, as well as batch processing.
Phone Orders: Used to take orders over the phone. Allows you to place orders as another customer.
Recurring Billing: Manage your recurring billing orders here. Process all due recurring charges in batch processes.
Returns / RMAs: Add / Edit all returns and RMAs here.
Point of Sale: If you have a UPC scanner and a Credit Card scanner you can create orders here. (Only use this if you have scanners otherwise use the Phone Orders page.)
Abandon / Live Carts: View real time Info about the Abandon / Live shopping carts of your customers here.

Reports

Reporting: Provides info about Orders, Profit and much more. Create custom reports here that can be used on the dashboard
ROI Tracking: Create tracking URLs for campaigns, and maintains lists of referrers . Also the same area you can use to track affiliate traffic to your site.
Affiliate Stats: Info about affiliate sales and commissions.
Search Terms: List of common search terms customers use when searching on your site.

Inventory

Categories: Manage all of your Categories and their settings on this page.
Products: Manage all of your Products and their settings on this page.
Product Options: Create and Manage your Product Options here.
Import / Export: Import / Export all of your tables. Build and save custom exports. Also home to the Volusion API and QuickBooks exports.
Vendors: Create and manage your vendors here.
Purchase Orders: Create, Edit, and manage your POs on this page.
Receiving: Inventory system used for adding incoming merchandise using a scanner.
Product Key Distribution: This page is used to manage Product Keys for software products.
Warehouses: Create warehouses here, used for drop shipping and shipping charge calculation.

Marketing

Coupons / Discounts: Manage your stores Coupons and Discounts.
Nav menu Promotions: Controls the promotions found on the left nav. Special Sales, SSL badges, and Credit Card logos are here.
Newsletters: Create Newsletter emails to send to your customers on your mailing list.
Gift Certificate: Manage your Gift Certificates here
SEO: Control your SEO settings and add Global Meta tags on this page.
Affiliates: Manage your Affiliates and their settings here.
In-Stock Requests: Lists the customer in-stock requests.

Customers

CRM System: Email support system, manage emails and create tickets to support your customers and more.
Customers: All of your customers account info is found here. You can also manage their account settings on this page
Customer Reviews: Manage customer reviews on products here.
Administrators: Admin account management.
Admin History: Tracks admin activity.
Knowledge Base: Create articles to answer common customer questions.

Design

Choose Template: Choose for the Volusion Free Template Library.
My Logos: Upload logos for your website title and invoices
Website Text: Home of all the articles on your site. Create and manage your articles.
Navigation Menu: Controls the look of the navigation menus on your store front.
LiveEdit File Editor: Text Editor used for editing the Template HTML and CSS. You can also edit many of the email templates here.
Maintenance: Close your store, index products and categories, set up redirects, and increment order ids.

Settings

Quicksetup: Company Info, Email Addresses that send website emails , Payment, and Domain Name are all set up here.
Payment: Control what payment methods are available to your customers. Setup Paypal and Google Checkout here as well.
Shipping: Setup and test your shipping methods. Set what methods are available to what countries. Register and configure your live rate calculations.
Tax: Configure your tax rates here. Apply tax rates to certain states and countries.
Currency: Create profiles for each type of currency you would like your customers to shop with.
Countries: Control what countries are available to customers when filling out the address information
States: List of active states, like the country list you are able to control what states are available to choose for addresses.
PCI Policies: Configure your PCI policies. Set how long you save CC data and when its deleted.
IP Firewall: Block access to your site for both the storefront and back end admin pages.
Config Variables: Configuration settings for your checkout, email, and other general settings.
Custom Fields: Setup custom fields for the onepagecheckout.asp and for the registration pages. Use text boxes and drop downs to display/gather information.

HELP!

If you find yourself lost or confused on what an particular page or field does there are a few sources of information that can help you when navigating the admin pages.

Instant Help:On the top right of most admin pages you may notice a yellow box. This is an area that will give you general help information about the page you are on.
[?]: These question marks are found next to each field in the admin center. You can click on these to get information about that specific field. Often times it will give the database column name and what is allowed in the field followed by examples.

Content Management

Pencils: The pencils are found in many different areas both on the storefront and in your admin center
- Admin: Usually appearing on the "View All" pages under the label for each column. They are grayed out until you click them to "activate" the column allowing you to edit data right on the "View All" pages. (Be sure to close all of these when you are done using them. This is a common cause of performance loss for sites.) The pencil are also found next to some fields in the admin. This generally signifies that this field's label is editable and clicking on it will bring you to the area to make those changes.
- Storefront: When logged in as admin and browsing your storefront you may notice pencils on may of the pages. They indicate an article location and if you click the pencil it will open that article to edit its settings.
Swap: Just like the pencils on the storefront. When logged on as admin you may notice a SWAP button pop up when you mouse over certain items on the page. Swap allows you to change the image used for that particular area. When you mouse over an item and click the swap button a prompt pops up and offers some different choices. If you do not like the options we provide you are able to upload your own using the browse button.

Menu Navigation

From the home page of the admin area, you will be able to navigate to all the various sections by clicking on the relevant links. For example, if you're working with products (adding/editing products), you'll find most of the links you need right there under the "Inventory" heading. Once you click into a section (such as "Products"), you will be taken to the products table page, which by default lists all records for that table. In this example, since we've clicked on "Products", the products table page would list all products.

Using the "Table Viewer"

Whenever you browse through the records of your table, you're most likely going to be using the "Table Viewer" page. This page allows you to browse through 25 (up to 500) records at a time, giving you the option of editing each record by simply clicking on the first field listed on the left side of the record. Clicking on that link will take you to the "Record Editor" page, where you may edit the existing record, add a new record or search your table based on any fields.

The light blue tabs at the top-left of the "Table Viewer" each provide the following functionality:

SEARCH: Allows you to search the table by any field or multiple fields.
EDIT: Allows you to edit a single record.
ADD: Allows you to add a new record.
VIEW ALL: Displays all records in that table, X at a time (i.e., 50 at a time, with next and previous page buttons).

There are often tan/peach-colored tabs in the top-right of the "Table Viewer" as well. These tabs take you to a new table or view of records. This is basically just a quick way to navigate to a related table.

Editing Records in the "Table Viewer":

An easy way to edit your products (after you've added them) is to access the "Table Viewer". First click the "(edit)" link at the top of the column you wish to edit. This will make the entire column editable. Now you may change the data as you see fit, then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the SAVE CHANGES button to save the changes you've made to the page.

When editing fields in the TableViewer, please note how many columns you have in view that are editable, and how many records you're showing per page. If you have 10 columns editable, and 500 records showing per page, this means there are 5,000 form fields of information that must be passed to the server when you click Save Changes... however there is a limit within your browser that does not allow this. Therefore we recommend that if you need to edit 10 columns at one time, first set your Rows Per Page to less than 50.

Modules Within the "Table Viewer":

CUSTOMIZE THIS VIEW - This module allows you to show or hide any columns of the table. For example, if you're looking at the "View All Products" page and wish to show the column "SalePrice", do the following:

On the right side above the Product List, click "Customize This View"
In the fourth column, choose the "SalePrice" by clicking on the check box
Now hit the "Apply Preferences" button. The selected column should now be showing on this page. PLEASE NOTE: Not all columns can be shown on this page; some tables / columns cannot be displayed in the "Table Viewer"; as they may only be displayed for individual records.

BULK DATA UPDATE - This module allows you to build SQL statements to update thousands of records in your table quickly. For example, if you want to hide all products with manufacturer "SONY", you could utilize this module to run a quick bulk data update on your table. This feature is very dangerous to use because it has the ability to erase or change data in your ENTIRE TABLE with a single click. Therefore, before using this tool it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you first export all of your records for the table you're working with. To export data, please refer to the "Import/Export" section of this manual.

Note: Be careful what you do with this tool, as a simple mistake can change/erase tons of data.

Quick Edit Window

This feature allows you to view a single record without leaving the table viewer. Selecting the downward arrow in the middle of the bar (where applicable) will bring up a new panel which will show you the details of a single record. This button is available in the following locations:

Orders —>

Orders
Recurring Billing
Returns/RMAs
Abandoned/Live Carts

Reports —>

Affiliate Stats
Search Terms

Inventory —>

Categories(under View All selection)
Products(Low Inventory, Queued for PO)
Product Options(Option Categories)
Vendors
Purchase Orders(POs: Receiving, PO Items, PO Items: Receiving)
Product Key Distribution
Warehouses

Marketing —>

Coupons/Quantity Discounts
Nav Menu Promotions
Newsletters
Gift Certificates
Affiliates(Affiliate Payouts, Affiliate Settings, Pay Affiliates)
In-Stock Requests

Customers —>

CRM System(all ticket status pages)
Customers
Customer Reviews
Administrators
Knowledge Base (KB Articles, KB Articles Categories, KB Articles Pending Review, KB Search Hints, KB Reader Comments)

Design —>

Website Text(after clicking List all records-Articles, Article Categories)

Settings —>

Payment
Shipping
Tax
Currency
Countries
States
IP Firewall
Config Variables (General, Email and Checkout)
Custom Fields (Custom Fields Dropdown Values)

Click the downward-pointing arrow...

The Volusion Quick Edit Window will appear below the listed records.

Then click in any area of an individual record that is not a link or text box in order to view and edit the record in the Volusion Quick Edit Window

Using the QueryBank:

The QueryBank (at the top of the "Table Viewer" in the light yellow section) is used to remember common searches that you might run. For example, if you do a SEARCH of the Products table every day to pull up a set of 50 products for whatever reason, normally you'd go to the SEARCH page, type in your search parameters and hit search. Now with the QueryBank, you only have to run your search ONE TIME. After performing the search, just type the following into the QueryBank:
A name for your new Query (such as "My XYZ Search").
Leave the "Global" check box checked if you'd like for ANY administrator to be able to view and run this query. Otherwise, uncheck it if you only want this query to be displayed for YOUR admin account. For example, if you're the accountant, you might want a bunch of queries that are only useful to you, and therefore you don't want to waste space on other administrator's screens.
Lastly, just click the "add" button right next to this to add the new query. The new query will then show up at the top of the "Table Viewer" inside this small QueryBank section. So to run the query anytime, just click on the query ("My XYZ Search" link, for example)

Export to QueryBank:

The "Export to QueryBank" feature on the right side of the screen above the list of records is used to quickly export the results currently displayed-to an Excel spreadsheet, for example. This saves the current search query to the QueryBank, which is integrated into the "Import/Export" system. This is also referred to as "SAVED EXPORTS", which you may read more about in the "Import/Export" section of this manual.

Using the "Record Editor"

Whenever you arrive at a page that allows you to edit a single record, you'll be using the "Record Editor" page. This page can be used to do three things: SEARCH, EDIT or ADD records. It is important to realize which mode you're in by looking at the top of the screen to see which of these tabs is selected.

SEARCH

To search for a product for example, you would first go to the "Table Viewer" by clicking on "View All Products" from the home page of the admin area. Next you would click the "SEARCH" tab at the top of the page. That will bring you to the "Record Editor" in SEARCH mode. When in SEARCH mode, you can type in any criteria you wish to search for, then scroll down and click the "Search" button, and it will perform the search and display the results in the "Table Viewer".

EDIT

To edit a product, you would first go to the "Table Viewer" by clicking on "View All Products" from the home page of the admin area. Next, you would click on whatever is the very first field on the left side of the record you wish to edit. The first field on the left is always a click able link that takes you to the "Record Editor" in EDIT mode. So from this page you can now edit this single record. After changing the data on this page, you will then scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see a "SAVE CHANGES" button plus two radio buttons below it. The radio buttons are:

Save + View Record - This radio button means that after the changes are saved, you'd like to stay on this page, viewing this record.
Save + View List - This radio button means that after the changes are saved, you'd like to return to the Table Viewer.

ADD

To add a product, you would first go to the "Table Viewer" by clicking on "View All Products" from the home page of the admin area. Next you would click the "ADD" tab. Next you would begin filling in all the fields necessary. You will then scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you'll see an "ADD NEW RECORD" button plus three radio buttons below it. The radio buttons are:

Add + View Record in edit mode - This radio button means that after the changes are saved, you'd like to stay on this page, viewing this record in edit mode.
Add + View Record in add mode - This radio button means that after the changes are saved, you'd like to stay on this page, viewing this record in add mode, with all the fields pre-filled with the same data as the previously added product. Therefore, if you're going to be adding many products with lots of the same information, this makes it VERY EASY to keep adding products quickly without having to re-type the same information over and over.
Add + View List - This radio button means that after the record is added, you'd like to return to the "Table Viewer".

Helpful note: An easy way to duplicate a product, or add a new product with many of the same attributes of an existing product, is to do the following:

Go to "View All Products".
Click to edit the similar existing product.
Now click the "ADD" tab at the top of the page. This will take you to "ADD" mode with all of the fields pre-filled with the same information as the existing product.

This idea works for any table/record, not only products.

"QuickEdit Toolbar"

For more information on the QuickEdit Toolbar, please see the section in the Volusion Manual on the QuickEdit Toolbar. QuickEdit Toolbar

Configuration Variables

Throughout this documentation, as well as throughout your admin area you'll run across references to configuration variables, commonly called "config variables". Anytime you see a word beginning with "Config_" this is a config variable. For example "Config_EnableCoupons", "Config_WebsiteTitle". A configuration variable makes changes that are relevant to the entire store, but they are broken up in different sections throughout the Administration section. Confirguation Variables that alter a certain section of the software will be found within the same section. For example, if you wanted to look at configuration variables that alter the products section, you would go to the product table (Go to the “Inventory” tab and then select “Products”) and select “Product settings.”

Any variable that does not deal with a specific section can be found under the “Settings” tab, within the section labeled “Config variables.” Specific information on each variable can be found by selecting the box with a question mark inside.

Try It Free

Using the Admin Area