What is a product catalogue?
If you work with a particular wholesaler's products, you otherwise have to gather them together one at a time: Main components from the Eturnity library, while accessories and other material have to be created by you as Other components – including article number and price. With every change to the range or to prices, the maintenance work starts again from scratch. Through the library, you can instead subscribe directly to that provider's product catalogue.
Your benefit: You see your wholesaler's current range directly in Eturnity and add exactly the components you need with a single click – including supplier and article number, and for Other components such as accessories too. The catalogue keeps this information up to date and lets you know when an item drops out of the range.
Product catalogue and price update: two separate subscriptions
The product catalogue brings components into your library together with supplier and article number, and keeps this information up to date. The automatic price update is independent of this and is subscribed to separately (see article: Automatic Price Updates from Wholesalers). If a wholesaler offers both, it is best to subscribe to both – only together do they remove every manual step:
Both subscribed (recommended): When you add a component from the catalogue, the price update is activated for it automatically – supplier and article number are already set correctly, and the manual step otherwise needed for each component is no longer required
Product catalogue only: You still add components conveniently through the catalogue – but prices are then not updated automatically
Price update only: Prices stay current, but you have to open each component individually in the library and enter the supplier – for Other components you also have to look up the wholesaler's article number and enter it
Prerequisites
Administrator role (only company administrators can see and manage collections)
Which product catalogues are available depends on your country and licence – for example Krannich in Switzerland or Tepto in Germany
Subscribing to a catalogue
Navigate to Library > Subscriptions
The Subscriptions table shows catalogues, price updates and other partner offerings – both ones you're already subscribed to and ones still available
Click Subscribe on the catalogue collection you want
Confirm with Continue in the window that follows – for catalogues you then select individual components
The catalogue is active immediately after subscribing – unlike price updates, no confirmation from the provider is needed
Adding components from the catalogue to your library
With an active subscription, open the three-dot menu and choose Add components to library
You're taken to the catalogue view with all of the provider's items, based on their latest update
Use search and filters (e.g. by component type or technology) to find specific items
Add one or several selected items via Add to library
Main components that already exist are recognised by name and synced instead of being added twice.
Keeping components in sync
Once added, components stay linked to the catalogue. The supplier and the supplier's article number are updated automatically with every new catalogue version. If a component already had its own description in your library when it was added from the catalogue, that description is kept – it isn't overwritten, and you don't need to disable anything for that. You can still control syncing per component in the component details:
Sync Supplier & Article number from catalogue – disable if you want to use another supplier's data for this component
Sync description from catalogue – controls whether future description changes from the catalogue are applied
If the provider removes an item from the catalogue, a blue indicator dot appears – at the far left of the row in the library's component list, directly next to the name for Groups, Main component templates and Project templates, and in affected project bills of materials. Hover over it and the note reads: “This component was removed from the catalogue by the provider.” From that point on, the component is no longer updated automatically. If the provider takes the item back into its range, the indicator dot disappears by itself and automatic updating continues with no further action from you. You're also notified by email for every catalogue update.
Managing subscriptions
The Subscriptions table shows all active, paused and in-progress catalogues with status and last update. From the three-dot menu you can:
Pause or resume a subscription – this keeps components you've already added without the provider pushing further changes
Unsubscribe – for component catalogues, Eturnity asks whether already-added components should be archived or kept
Other collection types in the library
Product catalogues are just one of several collection types. Depending on the provider, you'll also find:
Price updates – automatic price matching for components you already have (see separate article: Automatic Price Updates from Wholesalers); in Switzerland e.g. with Krannich, Solarmarkt, Solexis or IGH Kataloge, in Germany with Tepto
Bill of Materials Wizard Catalogue – a separate catalogue type specifically for the Bill of Materials Wizard
Ordering – ordering material directly from the provider, outside the component library (see separate article: Material Ordering from Wholesalers); in Switzerland e.g. with Krannich or Solarmarkt, in Germany with Tepto