The Complete Guide to Magento 2 Downloadable Product

Let’s dive deep under the hood of the Magento 2 downloadable product. Below, we explore this e-commerce product type with all its nuances. You will learn what a downloadable product in Magento 2 is. Useful links to other product types defined are available, as well. Next, we explain how to create Magento downloadable products. It’s quite a user-friendly process, so everyone can easily master it. You will also learn, how downloadable products work on the storefront. And, of course, there is a guide to the Magento downloadable product import. So, let’s start our journey.

Magento 2 Downloadable Product Defined

Downloadable products speak for themselves. These are the items your customers can download directly from your e-commerce website. 

In Magento 2, a downloadable product type allows you to sell various digital products, such as extensions and updates to them, e-books, games, music, videos, etc.

Magento 2 downloadable products are just like simple products with the only difference: a customer downloads them directly from your store. All other settings and features are pretty much the same. Just like with Magento 2 simple products, you can add custom options, manage product availability, change quantity, etc.

Downloadables also inherit other traits of Magento 2 products. In comparison to the configurable product type, for instance, the Magento 2 downloadable product does not have a complex architecture. But you can offer additional options by providing several links to download. It resembles the way the Magento 2 bundle product type works. What about grouped product type, you will ask? As we’ve just mentioned above, downloadable products in Magento 2 are similar to simple products, so it is a standalone item – not a group of products.

Looks a bit confusing, isn’t it? Let’s see how to create a downloadable product in Magento 2 to better understand this product type.

How to Create Downloadable Product in Magento 2

Like other Magento 2 product types, the downloadable products can be created under your Magento 2 administrator panel as follows:

1. Go to the Catalog > Products;
2. Click the Add Product button;
3. Select Downloadable Product from the dropdown.
   
   
4. Configure the downloadable product settings similar to the Magento 2 simple product configuration.
5. Proceed to the Downloadable Information section. Upload the files of actual products you are going to sell and configure other parameters.
6. Save your downloadable product in Magento 2.

Magento 2 Downloadable Product Information Section

Let’s see what happens in the Downloadable Information section. Its first part is dedicated to download links. In the Links section, you specify the links that will be available on a downloadable product page on your MAgento 2 storefront.

You can rename the entire section in the Title field. Next, hit the Add Link button to add a link to download. You can set the link title, additional price, and maximum downloads, upload a file and its sample or specify links to them, and enable/disable link sharing.

In the screenshot above, you have probably noticed that each link can have a dedicated price. This field is active only when you enable the Link can be purchased separately feature. Magento 2 lets you set a specific additional price for every link you sell. This price is added to the price of the downloadable product specified in the General product settings. If the main downloadable product price is $10, and you have set the link price to $20, customers will need to spend $30 total to purchase this downloadable product in Magento 2.

If the the Link can be purchased separately feature, a customer purchases a downloadable product with all the links specified on a product page.

Note that it is possible to add multiple download links. Just hit the Add Link button.

The second part of the Magento 2 Downloadable Product Information section is called Samples. It lets you specify links or upload samples of files that you sell. You can also set any custom name in its Title field.

Note that it is possible to add multiple download links. Just hit the Add Link button.

Customers will be able to download samples directly from a product page.

Once you are done with the Downloadable Information section, hit the Save button and see how the product performs on the storefront.

How Magento Downloadable Product Works

Below, you can see a typical downloadable product in Magento 2:

A customer can download product samples without any need to go to the cart or checkout. The corresponding links are available straight on a product page.

Different product links are visible here, too. If the Link can be purchased separately feature is enabled, a customer can choose between the available downloadable product options. The link price is automatically added to the product price when the corresponding link is checked.

Thus, every piece of the product settings we have filled in the previous chapter is now visible on the Magento 2 downloadable product page.

As for the cart and checkout pages, Magento downloadable products are pretty much the same as the other product types here. However, things change when a product is purchased and the order is completed. Customers can proceed to their account to download the purchased downloadable products from Magento 2.

The My Downloadable Products section contains all the links for purchased downloadable products. If a link has limited downloads, the number of the remaining downloads is displayed in the Remaining Downloads column. That’s it. Now, let’s explore the corresponding import and export processes.

Magento 2 Downloadable Product Import & Export

There are two ways of importing and exporting downloadable products, and products in general: 

1. The standard Magento 2 import and export functionality;
2. The Improved Import and Export extension by FireBear Studio.

How to Export Downloadable Products in Magento 2

Follow these steps to export downloadable products from Magento 2:

1. Go to System > Export.
2. Choose the entity – Products.
3. Specify your export format.
4. Click the Export button.

Note that you will be able to export all products. Next, you will need to edit the exported CSV file, creating a table that contains only downloadable products.

With Improved Import and Export, on the other hand, you can schedule the export job to run automatically or select many more file formats: XML, CSV, Excel, and OpenOffice. Prceed to System > Export jobs, create a new export job, and configure its parameters. For a full export guide, refer to the extension manual.

How to Import Downloadable Products in Magento 2

The Magento 2 downloadable product export is pretty straightforward. The import procedure is way more complex, consisting of several stages.

Get Downloadable Products CSV

Both Magento 2 native import and Improved Import and Export support CSV files. Therefore, we use this file format as an example. For editing purposes, we use Google Sheets, since it is the most simple and convenient way of editing CSV files.

You can get a CSV file with downloadable products when the standard product export is complete. Your table should look as follows:

You can see product attributes in the top row. All the rows below are different products with attribute values.

Alternatively, you can find the full list of product attributes and their descriptions in the Google Sheet Master Import Table. Every attribute in the table comes with a description, sample values, and instructions on how to fill in the values, and what values Magento 2 supports. Of course, you can find a dedicated sheet for downloadable products with sample data in the Master Table. 

Configure Downloadable Product Attributes

Now, when you have a table with Magento 2 downloadable product attributes, you need to edit it. The only difference between simple and downloadable products in terms of attributes is that the latter is associated with the downloadable_links column.

This attribute structure has the following appearance:

price=link_price,url=https://url-to-the-file.com/file.pdf,downloads=number_of_downloads_available,group_title=title_of_the_downloadable_links,title=link_title

For instance, you want to import a downloadable product to Magento 2 with the following parameters:

• link price is 10;
• downloadable link is https://firebearstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Firebear_logo_294x84_quer.png;
• maximum number of downloads is 15;
• link group name is Download me;
• link name is FB logo.

The value for the downloadable_links attribute will look as follows:

price=10,url=https://firebearstudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Firebear_logo_294x84_quer.png,downloads=15,group_title=Download me,title=FB logo

That’s it. You now know how to compose downloadable_links attribute value. As for other product attributes and values, you can always refer to our Guide List and Master Table.

Import Downloadable Products to Magento 2

When a CSV file with downloadable product attributes is ready, you can follow these steps to import downloadable products to Magento 2:

1. Navigate to System > Data Transfer > Import.
2. Select Products from the Entity Type field.
3. Choose Add/Update as your Import Behavior.
4. Click the Browse button on the right to Select File to Import to select a CSV table with downloadable products.
5. Click the Check Data button to verify the downloadable product attributes.
6. Click the Import button to import downloadable products to Magento 2.

Final Words

The Magento 2 downloadable product type is a useful addition to your e-commerce catalog if you sell different digital products, such as apps and extensions, music and videos, images and books, etc. The platform lets you effortlessly create a downloadable product page that contains not only multiple links to product downloads but also links to product samples so that your customers can understand whether the proposed items are what they are looking for.  Another good thing is that you can update or even create a downloadable product in Magento 2 with the help of the standard import process. It is only necessary to configure product attributes properly.