Personalized products with a live preview.

Why a text option is not enough for personalized products

Engraving, embroidery, print on demand, gifts and team wear all need the same thing: the customer’s input, checked and priced before payment, then shown to production exactly as ordered. CS-Cart gives you a text option and a file field. Those collect data, but they do not show the shopper what they are buying, limit the text to what fits, or give the workshop a usable sheet.

The result is the familiar back-and-forth: a name that is too long for the plate, a photo at 200 pixels, and an e-mail asking "is this what you meant?" Product Personalizer adds templates with print areas on the product image, a live preview and a proof that goes through to production.

From product page to production sheet

1. The shopper sees the personalizer below the product options. Each field has a label, a surcharge and help text.
2. While they type, the live preview shows the text in the chosen font and colour, fitted to its print area. A counter shows the characters left, and characters that cannot be produced are reported at once.
3. Photo uploads are checked straight away for type, size and minimum pixels. Tabs switch between views such as front and back.
4. Show exact proof renders the result on the server, as it will be produced. If the template requires it, the shopper ticks I approve this design.
5. Add to cart checks everything again on the server. Each different personalization is its own cart line with a proof thumbnail and its surcharge.
6. In Orders, Personalized items you mark each proof Approved or Changes needed. Changes needed requires a note, which goes to the customer by e-mail.
7. The production sheet prints the shipping address, every item, full proofs, values with font names and colour codes, and links to the original images.

On phones the preview sits above the fields, and the personalizer works with the keyboard and screen readers.

Building a personalization template

A template has three parts. Assignment decides where it applies: a product, a category or, on Multi-Vendor, All my products for a vendor. The product’s own setting wins, then the nearest category, then the vendor template.

Views are images of the product: the main image, an additional image or an uploaded mock-up. On each view you draw print areas, with position and size stored as percentages so they fit every image size, and rotation for slanted surfaces.

Fields are what the shopper fills in:

Six fonts ship with the add-on: Poppins, DM Serif Display, Bebas Neue, Alex Brush, Pacifico and Courier Prime, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, so commercial use is fine. The same files drive the preview and the proof.

How to charge for engraving or printing

• Fixed surcharge when a field is filled in, or per uploaded image.
• Per character, after a number of free characters, not counting spaces and line breaks.
• Option surcharges on choice fields, which can be negative.
• Formulas, with Advanced Product Options & Price Formulas installed. Example: 4.00 per started block of 10 characters, free with the gift box.

Surcharges are calculated on the server. Changing one updates items in open carts, while placed orders keep their prices.

Limits and data handling

• Version 1.0 offers the six bundled fonts; you cannot upload your own yet.
• SVG uploads are not accepted. Images are checked and re-encoded on the server.
• The live preview uses the same fonts and fitting rules as the server, but line breaks can differ slightly between browsers. The server proof is the reference.
• In quick view and product lists, products that need personalization send the shopper to the product page.
• Booking products and auction products are never personalized.
• Proof text needs GD with FreeType, standard in most PHP builds. Without FreeType, proofs fall back to a plain built-in font.

Uploads that never reach an order are deleted after 30 days by default, with a cron job for cleanup. A shopper coming back later is asked to personalize again. Ordered items keep their own copies until the order is deleted. Customers can download only their own files, and files are kept in private storage.

Options compared: text fields, price formulas or a full personalizer

If you only need a short gift message, a core text option or Gift Wrap & Gift Messages is enough. Choose the personalizer when what the shopper types ends up on the product. Get Product Personalizer on the store.

Versions and requirements

CS-Cart and Multi-Vendor 4.17.2 to 4.21.x, PHP 7.2.5 to 8.3 with the GD extension, and a theme based on Responsive, Bright or Nova. Full page cache is supported. Core options stay as they are and appear above the personalizer, and each variation can have its own template or inherit one. On Multi-Vendor, vendors manage templates, proofs and production sheets for their own products only.