What it is
The screen you land on after signing in. It is the entry panel, with the welcome greeting and, if your account is on the TRY trial plan, a first steps guide (onboarding) with everything you need to set up before you start working with CotizaPrint.
The "Welcome to" heading is always there. The full step guide, headed "Getting started has never been easier", is only shown while your account is on the TRY plan.
What it is for
- Having a single point of entry and navigation into the system.
- Guiding you step by step through the initial set-up of the account (onboarding) when you start on the trial plan.
- Getting quickly to each key section: company, billing, currency, mail, taxes, template, guillotine, product, substrate, operation and machine.
How to use it
- After you log in it brings you here automatically.
- Read the subtitle "Set up your account to start working with CotizaPrint.".
- Press each step card to open its settings. Some open a window (modal) for you to fill in details; others take you to the matching section of the system.
- Work through the steps in order, or in whatever order suits you first.
Buttons and actions — what each one does
Each onboarding step is a card with a title (button) and a description. The literal text on screen:
| Button / Control (text on screen) | What it does |
|---|---|
| Create with AI | Opens the AI assistant so you can add products, customers and more by describing them in plain language. "Add products, customers and more by describing them in plain language." |
| Getting started guide | Sits alongside Create with AI, in the top row. Opens the Getting started guide in a new tab: the full walk-through from the first day to the first invoice, in five steps. "From the first day to the first invoice, in five steps." |
| My company | Opens your company settings so you can add the trading name, the logo and the basic details. "Add your company's trading name, logo and basic details." |
| Billing details | Opens the tax settings so you can state the legal name, VAT number and registered address. "Legal name, VAT number and registered address for issuing invoices." |
| Currency and unit | Opens the currency settings so you can set the symbol, the decimals and the number separators. "Currency symbol, decimals and number separators." |
| Mail server | Opens the SMTP settings so emails go out from your own domain. "Set up SMTP to send emails from your domain." |
| Taxes | Opens the tax settings so you can define the VAT rates that apply to your sales. "Define the VAT rates that apply to your sales." |
| Print template | Opens the template settings so you can choose and customise the design of your PDFs. "Choose and customise the template for your PDFs." |
| Guillotine | Takes you to the Guillotine section so you can define sheet sizes and cuts for optimisation. "Define sheet sizes and cuts for optimisation." |
| Create a product | Takes you to Products so you can add your first product and start quoting. "Add your first product so you can start quoting." |
| Set up substrates | Takes you to Substrates so you can define the paper types and materials your print shop uses. "Paper types and substrates your print shop uses." |
| Set up an operation | Takes you to Operations so you can define the production operations and the finishing. "Define production operations and finishing." |
| Create a machine | Takes you to Machines so you can add your printing machines. "Add your printing machines." |
| Read our FAQ documentation | The last card. Opens the help site (FAQ) in a new window, with documentation and tutorials. "Answer your questions and learn how to get the most out of the platform." |
| Hide this guide | Appears at the foot only once you have taken every step, next to the message "Account ready! You have taken every step.". It makes the first steps block disappear. |
The Read our FAQ documentation card comes last in the list, after Create a machine.
Ticking off the steps you have taken
Each settings card has a circle on the right showing whether that step is finished:
- When you press the card, as well as opening its settings, the step is ticked automatically (green circle ✓ and dimmed card).
- If you want to correct it, press the circle to tick or untick by hand without opening anything.
- The Create with AI and Getting started guide cards are not ticked: they are not set-up steps.
- Once every step is ticked, the Hide this guide button appears at the bottom.
What you tick is remembered in the browser and per user, so it does not get mixed up if several people use the same computer. When you switch browser or computer, nothing shows as ticked again.
The "Welcome to" heading is always visible. The "Getting started has never been easier" block with its 13 cards only appears on the TRY plan.
Contextual tips (trial accounts only)
If your account is on the trial plan, a tips window appears on its own when you go into certain screens, to help you start well and not lose the set-up that already comes ready. Each window can show one tip or several.
On the Home screen you get the "Key tips to get started" window, with the full set of tips. On other screens you get a more specific tip (see the doc for each section: Products, Substrates, Machines, Operations).
Key tips (the literal text you see):
| Tip (text on screen) | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Make the most of what is preconfigured | Use what already comes ready: it has months of print shop logic worked into it. Starting from scratch would take you weeks. |
| Do not create products from scratch | Reuse or duplicate a preconfigured product and adapt it, instead of creating a new empty one. |
| Do not delete Substrates: rename them | Rename and reuse substrates instead of deleting them, so the set-up is kept. (In Machines the equivalent tip is "Do not delete Machines: rename them"; in Operations, "Do not delete Operations: rename them".) |
| Material costs are global | When you change the cost of the paper, the vinyl or the banner material, the change applies to EVERY product that uses that material. |
Each window has a "Do not show this notice again" box. If you tick it and close, that particular tip stops appearing (it is remembered per screen). These tips are only shown to trial accounts.
Key concepts
- Onboarding (first steps): an interactive 13-step guide for getting your CotizaPrint account ready to work with. It is only visible on the TRY trial plan. It covers: getting started guide, company, billing, currency, mail, FAQ, taxes, template, guillotine, product, substrate, operation and machine.
- TRY plan: the trial plan new accounts start on. While you are on TRY you will see the full first steps guide. When you change plan, that block stops being shown.
- CotizaPrint: the name of the quoting and printing platform. It appears in the logo and in the welcome messages ("Welcome to", "Getting started has never been easier").
- My company: the basic commercial details: trading name, logo and general company details.
- Billing details: the tax details needed to issue invoices: legal name, VAT number and registered address.
- Currency and unit: the currency symbol, number of decimals and number separators the system will use in prices and documents.
- Mail server (SMTP): the settings for sending the system's emails from your own server tied to your domain, rather than the generic one.
- Taxes: the catalogue of VAT rates that can be applied to your sales.
- Print template: the design of the PDF documents (quotes, invoices, and so on) that you can choose and customise.
- Guillotine: the module where you define sheet sizes and cutting parameters to optimise production.
- Substrate: the types of substrate or material (paper, board, and so on) your print shop can use.
- Operation: the production operations and finishing (laminating, binding, and so on) applied to jobs.
- Machine: the printing machines you add so you can quote and produce.
- Contextual tips: help windows that appear on their own on some screens for trial accounts, with recommendations for starting well (make the most of what is preconfigured, rename rather than delete, and so on). Each one can be silenced with "Do not show this notice again" and only trial accounts see them.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Where do I start setting up my account?
A: After signing in, on the home screen you will see the "Getting started has never been easier" guide with the subtitle "Set up your account to start working with CotizaPrint.". Press each step card in order: start with My company, Billing details and Currency and unit, then carry on with the rest.
Q: Why can I not see the first steps guide?
A: The full step guide only appears on the TRY trial plan. The "Welcome to" greeting is always visible, but the "Getting started has never been easier" block with its cards stops being shown once your account is no longer on the TRY plan.
Q: What is the "My company" button for?
A: It opens your company settings so you can add the trading name, the logo and the basic details of your business.
Q: Where do I enter the legal name and VAT number for invoicing?
A: In the Billing details step. There you state the legal name, VAT number and registered address, which are the details used to issue invoices.
Q: How do I set the currency symbol and the decimals?
A: Press Currency and unit. From there you set the currency symbol, the decimals and the number separators you will see in prices and documents.
Q: How do I send emails from my own domain?
A: Use the Mail server step. Set up SMTP and the system's emails will then go out from your domain instead of the generic one.
Q: Where do I define the VAT rates?
A: In the Taxes step. There you define the VAT rates that apply to your sales.
Q: How do I customise the design of my PDFs?
A: Press Print template to choose and customise the template for your PDF documents (quotes, invoices, and so on).
Q: Which steps take me to another section instead of opening a window?
A: Guillotine, Create a product, Set up substrates, Set up an operation and Create a machine take you straight to their section of the system. The rest (My company, Billing details, Currency and unit, Mail server, Taxes and Print template) open a settings window over the screen itself.
Q: What is "Create a product" for?
A: It takes you to the Products section so you can add your first product and start quoting.
Q: What are "Set up substrates" and "Set up an operation"?
A: Set up substrates is for defining the paper types and materials your print shop uses. Set up an operation is for defining the production operations and finishing (laminating, binding, and so on).
Q: Where do I find help or tutorials?
A: Press Read our FAQ documentation. It opens the help site in a new window, with documentation and tutorials to answer your questions and get the most out of the platform.
Q: It is my first time. What do I do first, set everything up or start quoting?
A: Do not try to set up the whole print shop in one go. The quickest way to gain confidence is to start with Quote: pick a visual product from the catalogue (it already comes preconfigured), do a test quote and adjust substrate, machine, operations and price as you go. The initial set-up steps (My company, Billing details, Currency and so on) can be done in parallel. The idea is to quote first and configure later, with a real case, rather than building everything before you have tried anything.
Q: A tips window opens when I go into some screens. What is it?
A: It is the tips window that CotizaPrint shows to trial accounts to help you get going. On Home you get "Key tips to get started" with the full set; on Products, Substrates, Machines and Operations you get a more specific tip. They recommend that you make the most of what is preconfigured, do not create products from scratch, rename rather than delete substrates, machines and operations, and they remind you that material costs are global.
Q: How do I remove the tips notice so it does not come back?
A: Every tips window has a "Do not show this notice again" box. Tick it and close the window: that particular notice stops appearing (it is remembered per screen). The other tips on other screens are silenced the same way, each one on its own.
Q: Why do I get tips and another account does not?
A: Contextual tips are only shown to trial accounts, to help them get going. They do not appear on accounts that are no longer on trial.
Q: What does "Material costs are global" mean?
A: That the cost of the material lives on the substrate itself, not on each product. If you change the cost of the paper, the vinyl or the banner material, the change applies to every product that uses that material. So it is worth updating the cost once on the substrate, knowing it affects everything that uses it.