Prerequisites

First, ensure that your PIM is compatible with Akeneo Shared Catalogs. Shared Catalogs is compatible with the following Akeneo PIM packaging: 

Then, before using Shared Catalogs, ensure that:

• You have the necessary permissions within Akeneo to access and manage Shared Catalogs.
• Your product data is well-structured and enriched to be shared effectively.

Configure your Shared Catalogs instance

Create a connection in your PIM dedicated to Shared Catalogs

Create a connection in the PIM

To use Shared Catalogs, you must create a connection in your PIM instance dedicated to Shared Catalogs. Shared Catalogs will use the credentials associated with the connection to connect to the PIM and synchronize your latest product information.

To help you generate this connection, you need to follow these steps:

1. First, connect to your PIM instance.
2. Click on Connect.
3. Then click on Connection settings.
4. Click on Create.
5. In the Label field, enter the name of your connector: Shared Catalogs.
6. Choose the flow type: Data Destination

Note: The connection code is automatically generated based on the label. You can keep it as is or change it—it's up to you!

You're done! 🎉

Once you have created your connection, you can assign a visual to it to be able to quickly see which connection it refers to.

Grab your credentials

Whenever you create a connection, the PIM automatically generates a set of credentials for you. These credentials are necessary for making API calls to the PIM. Don't hesitate to learn more about the authentication over the API on our dedicated API website.

These credentials consist of 4 different strings:

• the client id,
• the secret,
• the connection username,
• the connection password.

To access the client ID, secret, and username, go to Connect / Connection settings and click on the connection for which you want to see the credentials. They are displayed on the right side of the screen in the Credentials column.

You can easily copy/paste the credentials by clicking on the copy icon next to them.

The password is only displayed to you once, just after the connection is created. So, make sure you save it somewhere secure. When the password is visible, a copy icon is next to it for an easy copy-paste. 

Have you forgotten your password? Don't worry, you can regenerate a new one. Take a look at the “Revoke/regenerate your connection secret section”.

Set the permissions

This is a critical step to ensure the Shared Catalogs are accessible to all your designated recipients. To set up the permissions, please follow these steps.

To improve the performance of shared catalog updates, we recommend enabling events for your connection. 
Check the box in the Permission section to activate this feature.

Set up your Shared Catalogs instance

The Akeneo Shared Catalogs instance creation is managed from the project console of the Akeneo Portal.

Following purchasing a Shared Catalogs instance, an email is sent to the administrator inviting them to fill out the setup form to create the instance.

You can set up the instance by clicking the link in the email or accessing the instance configuration page on the project console.

1. First, select your project from the Project console / Projects from the menu.
2. Go to the Shared Catalogs instance tab, and open the instance with the status Waiting for setup by clicking on the instance line.
3. Then, fill out the form with the missing prerequisites to create the Shared Catalogs instance.

Link your Shared Catalogs instance to an existing PIM Cloud instance

Now that the credentials have been created, you can configure the Shared Catalogs instance in the Akeneo Portal.

1. Select a Linked PIM instance in the list.
2. Choose an Instance name. Note that this will not be a domain name.
3. The Installation continent is pre-filled with your linked PIM instance location.
4. Input your PIM API connection credentials, and test the connection to validate.
5. Once the form is filled in and the connection is successfully tested, click on Request an instance.
6. On the confirmation modal, click Confirm the request

If the linked PIM is a Flexibility instance, Shared Catalogs is only compatible with PIM version 5.0 and above.

Once the request is submitted, it takes some time to process. During this time, your instance status will be Activation pending.

Once the instance is created, the Shared Catalogs administrator will be notified by email, and the instance status will change to Activated.

You can now create, edit, and update your new Shared Catalogs!

Update your PIM API connection credentials

This step is not part of the original installation but can happen if you need to update your credentials, for example, for security reasons.

First, to update your connection credentials in the PIM, take a look at the “Revoke/regenerate your connection secret section”.

Then, the Shared Catalogues need to be activated to update your PIM API connection in your Shared Catalogs instance.

From the Shared Catalogs instance Properties sub-tab

1. Click the Update API connection button.
2. Input your PIM API connection credentials, and test the connection to validate.
3. You can change the Shared Catalogs administrator if needed.
4. Once the form is filled out, click on Update.

You can update the API connection as long as the status is turned to starting_update. You will then be notified when the change is effective.