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First steps with PrestaShop 1.5

Now that you've installed PrestaShop and that your are properly logged-in into your administration area, take the time to survey the Dashboard – that is, the first page you see when logging into your back-office.

Not only does it present you with a summary of everything you need to know about your shop at any given time, along with quick links to the main action page, but as a first-timer in PrestaShop, it also gives you tips about what you should have a look at.

Overview of the interface

The Top Bar

At the top of the back-office is a black containing a handful of links:

• (name of your shop): from any page, takes you back to your Dashboard.
• Cart icon: opens a tooltip presenting the new orders since you clicked that icon. A red tooltip indicates the number of new orders. From there on, you can either display one of the new orders, or go to the list of orders.
• People icon: opens a tooltip presenting the last registered customers. A red tooltip indicates the number of new customers. From there on, you can either display one of the new customer, or go to the list of customers.
• Speech bubbles icon: opens a tooltip presenting the last customer service message. A red tooltip indicates the number of new messages. From there on, you can either display one of the new messages, or go to the list of messages.
• Search field with "Everywhere" dropdown list: allows you to search within the content of your shop – even within your administration page, if you can't remember where an option is set.
• Quick Access: this is the Quick Links menu, presenting the most useful links, as set in the
• (your name): a simple reminder of which account you are currently logged-in with.
• "My Preferences" link: takes you to your account's preferences page, where you can set some personal options (for instance, the back-office language or your password).
• "Logout" link: logs you out of the current user account.
• "View My Shop": opens a new browser tab with your shop's front-end.

The tabs

All along your daily activities administrating your shop, you will have to browser through the many pages and options of the back-office. Each tab applies to a given set of tasks:

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Each of the default standard tabs (along with the "Stock" tab) are explained in depth in this user guide.

The Dashboard

Let's now explore the content of the Dashboard itself. It can feel crowded to first-time user, but you will find it gives an excellent summary your shop's daily at a glance.

The left column

The first element on the left is the introduction video and text. As a first-comer, we strongly advise you to watch the video, as it will serve as a quick visual guide to necessary steps to go through before opening your shop. We'll go into more details in the "Preparing your shop" section below. Once you have viewed the video, you can free some Dashboard real-estate by ticking the "Do not show again" checkbox.

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The left column ends with 4 boxes, two giving you information, the other two being links to external content.
The most interesting box at this stage is the "Configuration checklist" box, which displays seven key settings that should be taken care of for a healthy shop, written in color which indicates their status: green for "OK", yellow/orange for "advices", red for "must be done". We will explore this box in details in the "Preparing your shop" section below.
The "PrestaShop Links" box gives you useful links to this very user guide (online edition), its paper edition and the documentation site itself, along with links to the community forums and the Addons website, where you will be able to buy and sell modules and themes.
The "PrestaShop News" box gives you the latest news about PrestaShop, from the official blog.
Finally, a box is dedicated to a message from our partners.

The right column

The right column is where the term "dashboard" takes its importance: this side of the Dashboard presents the user with the most important numbers pertaining to his shop's daily activities, along with a graph of sales and a list of the latest orders. Every time you log into your shop's administration area, you will be first and foremost looking at the evolution these numbers take. This is where you see your shop live and breathe.

Preparing your shop

You are now getting a pretty good idea of how complete PrestaShop can be, and the number of possibilities can feel overwhelming. This first guide will therefore lead you through some basic actions to set up your shop before the big launch. A lot can be done before you launch your shop, but these steps are the essential configuration steps of any shop.

Deactivate your shop

We'll consider that you are still within the first hour following your installation of PrestaShop, in a single-shop instance.

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Delete the content of the shop

The default installation features a handful of products – mainly Apple products, along with a couple third-party accessories.

* Create a category

* Create a product

* Payment configuration

* Carrier configuration

* Managing orders

* Template choice