Parts manuals and animations
Every catalog can print as a numbered parts manual, and the editor exports its step-by-step teardown as a video for your site, YouTube or training.
Parts manuals#
Any published catalog prints as a parts manual. Customers get it from the Parts manual button in the catalog (on your site and on hosted pages); your team can also print one from the editor with File → Print parts manual (PDF), including drafts.
It opens as a print-ready document in a new tab. Choose Save as PDF in the print dialog to keep it, or print it on paper.
What’s in it#
- Cover: the catalog’s name and a picture of the assembly, with a link to the interactive version.
- Exploded view: the whole assembly taken apart, with numbered balloons and a parts table (item, part number, description, quantity).
- A page per step: the step’s picture, its instruction from the editor, and the parts that come off in it.
- Service notes: each part’s specs and notes.
Pages are US Letter, numbered “Page X of Y” in the footer. Everything comes from the catalog, so the manual is up to date whenever the catalog is: improve the step instructions and service notes in the editor and the manual improves with them.
If nothing opens, the browser has blocked the new tab. Allow pop-ups for the page and press the button again.
Animations#
In the editor, File → Export animation (video) records the catalog’s step-by-step teardown as a video file.
| Option | Choices |
|---|---|
| Size | Landscape 1920 × 1080 (websites, YouTube), Square 1080 × 1080 (social posts), Vertical 1080 × 1920 (Reels, Shorts, phones) |
| Turn slowly while it comes apart | A gentle orbit during the teardown |
| Captions | The title, then each step’s instruction as it plays |
| White background | Instead of the light grey |
The video is recorded in real time, so it takes as long to make as it is to watch. Keep the tab open and in front until it finishes. It saves as MP4 in browsers that can record it (Chrome, Edge, Safari), and as WebM otherwise; YouTube and most sites take either.
Use it on product pages, in service training, in sales emails, or on a screen at a trade show.