Downloadable products are used to, as the name implies, sell anything that can be downloaded. Examples are e-books, MP3s, videos, images, and software. The process of adding a Downloadable product is much like that of adding a Virtual product, with the addition of a tab on the product edit screen where the download options are set.
In this example we'll add a Downloadable product called Top secret document. In the left column the final tab is Downloadable Information. Compared to the Virtual product, this is where you fill in the additional information pertaining to the download options.
The final two columns of a sample row are the sort order and a delete buttons (the delete button is the red button with an X). By using sort order you can adjust in which order samples appear by filling in whole numbers signifying the row's position, if you have used multiple rows. The delete button deletes a sample row.
The Title, File, and Sort Order columns have the same purpose as in the Samples section. The same goes for the delete buttons. The columns that differ from the Samples section are Price, Max. Downloads, Shareable, and Sample.
If you are already using the Samples section, filling in the Sample column in the Links section can be superfluous and confusing to manage. We recommend that you either use the Samples section or the sample column in the Files section unless you have a solid reason to use both. In our example we have added sample files for download in the Links section to be able to show how it will render on the frontend. If you choose to add a sample for a downloadable file in the Links section, make sure to click on the radio button for File Upload or URL, otherwise your sample will not get saved even if you have uploaded the sample file or provided the URL for the sample file.
After filling in the titles and choosing the files for the samples and actual downloads, the table looks as follows:
Now the files have to be uploaded by clicking on the Upload Files button. After that, the layout changes to the view shown in the following screenshot:
Uploading a file does not work if the directory permissions for your store are not set correctly. If you are using a local installation, we recommend that you set your full Magento directory open for read and write access from all users. In the Mac section of Chapter 1, Installation, we provided some more information about that. If you are using a Magento installation hosted by a hosting provider, please contact your hosting provider for information about fixing directory permission issues.
Finally, after saving the product, the Downloadable Information section of our top secret document looks like this:
The storefront will now display the product as shown in the following screenshot. An Add to Cart button is now available, and there is a new section called The secret document, which is what we filled in as the title for the Links section in the Downloadable Information section of the product edit screen. Inside the The secret document section there are two rows displaying the two downloadable files we added in the backend, including sample links after their titles:
Finally, it's time to discuss the Links can be purchased separately option that can be found in the Links section of the Downloadable Information section of the product edit screen.
By default this drop-down menu is set to Yes. Looking at the preceding product page screenshot, you will see checkboxes in front of each downloadable. This happens when the Links can be purchased separately drop-down box is set to Yes, and means your customers have to select the checkbox for each file they want to order. Setting the drop-down menu to No results in a product presentation as shown in the following screenshot, meaning customers do not need to select checkboxes, and they will be able to add all downloadable files to the cart:
The shopping cart reflects the files that were chosen: both in the following screenshot. After clicking on Proceed to Checkout, Magento's one-page checkout appears. Like the checkout for a Virtual product, the shipping method step is gone. There is a difference with the checkout for Virtual products however. Magento links the Downloadable products to customer accounts. Because of this there is no possibility to checkout as a guest anymore!
After placing an order, your customers can go to their customer account to get access to their Downloadable products in the Downloadable Products section. In it, customers can see which files they have ordered, if they are available and how many downloads are remaining. By clicking on the hyperlinks behind the entries in the Title column, customers can download their files.
The general configuration settings for Downloadable products can be found at System | Catalog, in the Downloadable Product Options section:
We advise you to leave these options to their default values. The first option is important to be aware of: by default Magento makes downloadable files available to your customers only after your customer's order is invoiced.
Set the Links can be purchased separately choice to No if you only have one row in the Links section of the Downloadable product. Otherwise, your customers have to mark the checkbox for that single file before they can add the product to their cart, reducing the effectiveness of your product page!