Create a new Channel

Creating a new channel

You can use channels to segment your orders, e.g. orders from an e-commerce site you own. Learn more about channels and why they are useful, here.

👉 Each Print Trail team has one default channel, the ‘Standard’ channel. The ‘Standard’ channel cannot be deleted and is used for orders where no other channel is selected.

You can create and manage channels in the Print Trail app at: Settings > Channels.

When you add a channel (click Create Channel) you must give it a name, and choose a Mode: Live or Test.

⚠️ Test mode does not yet stop orders being fulfilled. Orders sent to a test-mode channel are currently produced and shipped like any other order, so cancel any test orders you do not want sent.

Print Trail will automatically assign a short Code to each channel you create. This code will be added, along with your team code, as a prefix to your order numbers to create a unique Print Trail order number. This is used internally by Print Trail to track the progress of your order. The code cannot be changed.

The channel’s ID column shows its Channel ID: your team code and the channel code joined by a hyphen, for example acme-web. Integrations use the Channel ID to connect to the channel.

API credentials

Each channel can also have an API token.

An API token is only required if you plan to use a channel to create an integration between your sales/e-commerce software and your Print Trail team. To create one, click Token on the channel’s row. The token is shown once, so copy it straight into your integration. Generating a new token revokes the old one, and any integration using the old token stops working until you give it the new one.

👉 The ‘Standard’ channel cannot have an API token. Create a channel for each integration.

A channel’s active toggle switches it on and off. While a channel is inactive, its integration’s requests are refused and Print Trail sends it no updates (webhooks). Switch it back on to resume.

Webhook secret

Print Trail sends updates (webhooks) to an integration, for example when an order ships. Each channel has a webhook secret, which the integration uses to check that those updates really came from Print Trail.

• Most integrations register for updates themselves and receive the webhook secret automatically. For these you only need to copy the API token.
• If an integration asks you for the webhook secret, click Webhook secret on the channel’s row. You are asked to confirm; when you click Regenerate, the secret is replaced and the new one is shown once. Copy it into the integration.

⚠️ Clicking Regenerate replaces the channel’s secret straight away. Any integration still using the old secret will reject Print Trail’s updates until it is given the new one, or registers for updates again.

Are you looking for the Print Trail API documentation?