With your machines and substrates in place, it's time to configure the products you sell and how they're priced. This step covers two areas in Estimate Setup: Products (Categories, Field Rules, Conditional Steps) and Reference Data (the dropdown options, sizes, shipping, and packaging rules that drive the estimator interface).

As with machines and substrates, the recommended approach is to use the AI Configurator for most configuration. But in this article, we'll walk through the structure manually so you understand how everything fits together.

Your account already comes with a template that includes common product categories and reference data. Our recommendation: don't change it unless you need to. Remove what's irrelevant (e.g., delete large format categories if you only do commercial print), and edit the rest to match your operation rather than creating from scratch.

(Video) Walkthrough: Configuring Categories, Field Rules, and Conditional Steps

Categories are the broad product types you estimate — for example, PUR Books, Stitched Books, Leaflets & Flyers, Boards, Banners, and so on. You typically end up with 5 to 15 categories. All variations of a product type are contained within a single category.

For each category, you define:

Field Rules control the dropdown logic for three specific fields: lamination, lamination coverage, and materials (for large format). They define which options appear in each dropdown based on the category and the user's selections. For example: when lamination is set to "Gloss," show coverage options "Both Sides" and "Cover Only"; when set to "None," show only "N/A."

The template already has field rules configured. You'll typically only need to edit these when adding new lamination options or new large format materials.

Conditional Steps are additional finishing operations that can be added while creating an estimate — on top of the core production steps defined in the category. Examples include polybagging, shrink wrapping, coating, and other add-on operations.

The items in this list come from your price models (under Finishing Machines and Binding Machines). You don't create them here — they appear automatically based on what you've configured.

For each conditional step, you control:

(Video) Walkthrough: Configuring Reference Data for Products

Reference Data controls the dropdown options, sizes, page rules, and shipping configuration that appear in the estimator interface. Each table defines what options your estimators see when creating estimates for each product category.

Pre-defined finish sizes (e.g., A4, Letter, A3) with their dimensions, assigned to specific categories. When a size is enabled for a category, it appears in the size dropdown. If no pre-defined sizes are enabled, only "Custom Size" appears, allowing estimators to enter any dimensions. For packaging categories, sizes include three dimensions (width, height, length).

Minimum, maximum, and increment rules for page counts per category and part. For example, a stitched book inner might allow 4 to 96 pages in increments of 4. The AI uses these limits too — if a customer requests 100 pages in a stitched book, the AI will suggest switching to a PUR book instead.

For folded product categories, this defines the available fold types with panel layouts — how many panels wide and high, and how many pages each fold type represents after folding.

Pre-defined color options (e.g., "Full colour / both sides," "Black only / both sides") with front and back color channel counts (4 = full color CMYK, 1 = black only), assigned to categories. You can also include a "no printing" option (0/0) for parts that shouldn't be printed.

For categories with the die-cut type, this defines 2D die-cut templates (e.g., pocket folders) with fold counts, extra dimensions, and minimum size guardrails. These templates translate the finished size to the flat size for correct imposition.

3D die-cut templates for packaging categories (e.g., ECMA, Fefco styles). Each template defines how the packaging dimensions translate to the flat sheet for production. The most popular templates are included in your account template.

If you have existing dies in storage, register them here with their style and dimensions. When the AI detects a match during estimation, it will flag that a die is already available — reducing production cost.

Define your shipping boxes, tubes, and pallets with dimensions, weight capacity, material cost, and labor cost. Assign which product categories each package type can hold. The system automatically optimizes — packing products into boxes, then palletizing when it's cheaper to ship on a pallet than as individual boxes.

For each package type, define the available delivery methods, destinations, delivery times, and shipping costs. Supports tiered pricing (e.g., first box costs $15.50, additional boxes cost $8 each). Set one method as "Default" per package type — this is what the estimator uses automatically unless manually changed.

Define pricing for spot finishes (Spot UV, Soft Touch, etc.) per sheet size, with optional film charges and carriage/delivery fees for outwork. Assign to specific categories.