Pro: proof approval

Send the customer a proof of the design. They approve it, or ask for changes, on a private page. By default, nothing goes into production before they approved.

Pro 1.1.0. Proof approval is part of Vinyl Lettering Designer Pro, an add-on for the free plugin. It needs a one-time licence activation on your site.

Why proofs

Lettering is cut to measure: a wrong spelling or a wrong size is a wasted piece of vinyl. A proof moves the check to before the cutter starts, and it replaces the e-mail back-and-forth of attaching a picture, waiting for a reply and hoping the reply is clear. The customer's answer is stored with the job, so you can see what was approved and when.

The flow

1. A job exists for every designed order item (see the production board).
2. You choose Send proof on the job card of the board or on the order item. For a new version you can upload a corrected design as an SVG file (up to 2 MB; the file is checked and unsafe content is removed).
3. The customer receives an e-mail with a link. The job moves to Proof sent.
4. The customer opens the link and approves, or describes what should change.
5. The job moves to Approved or Changes requested, a note is added to the order and you get an e-mail.

What the customer sees

A private page, opened from the link, without logging in. It shows the order, the design of this proof version, the colours and the size that will be produced, with a reminder that colours on a screen can differ from the vinyl. The customer checks the text, spelling, size and colours and then either presses Approve or describes the changes (up to 2000 characters) and presses Request changes. Production starts after the approval; a request for changes tells the customer that a new proof will follow.

Versions

Every proof has a version number (v1, v2, …). When you send a newer version, the older link stops working: the customer sees that the shop has sent a newer version and is pointed to the latest e-mail, so they cannot approve a design that has been replaced. The job shows which proof version is approved as its production file; until then it shows the original design.

The approval gate

The Pro setting Require approval before production is on by default on a new install (you can turn it off). While it is on, the board refuses to move a job to Cutting, or to any later production status, until the customer approved the latest proof. The board says “This job needs an approved proof before production.” Turned off, the proof is an agreement you follow yourself; turned on, it is a rule the board enforces. Activating Pro again or updating it never changes your choice. If the file of the approved proof has gone missing, the job cannot go into production either, and you send a new version.

The e-mails

• Proof for approval goes to the customer and contains the link. It is a WooCommerce e-mail, so it appears in WooCommerce → Settings → E-mails, where you can edit it. If you switch it off, the link is shown to you once so you can send it yourself.
• Proof answered goes to the shop when a customer approves or asks for changes. You set the recipients in the e-mail settings.

Good to know

• You can send a proof while the job is New, Proof sent, Changes requested or Approved. Once production has started, no new proof can be sent: move the job back first if the design must change.
• Sending proofs needs the one-time licence activation. After that Pro keeps working, also when the licence expires.
• The proof page is rate limited: opened too often in a short time, it asks the visitor to wait ten minutes.