About digital edition access

When a customer buys a digital edition from your store, Masterfile gives them ongoing access to read it from their Shopify account. That access is automatic. You don't email them a link, send them a code, or grant access by hand. This page explains when access is granted, when it's taken away, and how the customer reaches the viewer.

Access is tied to the order, not the customer

The order is what unlocks the edition. When a customer pays for a digital edition, Masterfile records that they're allowed to read it. If the order is later cancelled or refunded, that record is removed and they lose access. There's nothing to manage on the customer's side. Their Shopify account is the key, and the order history behind it decides what they can open.

This means access tracks the order's status, not the customer's behavior. A customer who buys, refunds, and then buys again will end up with access; a customer who buys and is later refunded will not.

When access is granted

A customer gets access the moment their order is paid. That's the trigger, not checkout, not fulfillment.

• For a normal storefront purchase, payment captures right at checkout, so access appears within seconds.
• For a draft order or manual order that goes out unpaid, access waits until you capture payment.
• Once access is granted, Masterfile marks the digital edition line item on the order as fulfilled for you, so the order page shows the customer received their copy. You don't need to fulfill these line items by hand.

A customer who guest-checks-out still gets access. As soon as they sign in (or create an account) on your store using the same email they checked out with, the edition appears in their account.

When access is taken away

A few things will remove access automatically:

• You cancel the order. Access is removed the moment Shopify marks the order cancelled.
• You fully refund the order. Same. Access is removed.
• You void the payment. Same.
• You unpublish the project in Masterfile. Every customer who owns that edition loses access until you publish again. This is the lever to pull when you want to take an edition off the shelves for everyone at once.

A partial refund (say, you refund shipping but not the digital edition) keeps access in place. It's only the full removal of the sale that pulls access.

There's no per-customer "revoke" button. If you need to remove one specific customer's access, do it through the order (cancel or refund). If you need to remove everyone's access, unpublish the project.

What it looks like to the customer

Customers find their editions under Digital Editions in their Shopify account menu. The page shows one card per edition they own, with the cover and the date they got it. Tapping a card opens the viewer in the same browser.

Once they open the viewer, they stay signed in for a day; after that, opening any edition signs them back in automatically. They never have to enter a separate password or follow a link from you.

For the merchant-side walkthrough of that flow, see Help a customer access their digital edition.

A few things worth knowing

• Buying the same edition twice doesn't double anything. Access is per-customer per-edition. The second purchase is just a second purchase.
• Unpublishing hides access without erasing it. When you republish later, the same customers come back with the same access. You're not starting fresh.
• Customers can only ever see editions they bought from you. A customer who shops at multiple stores you run will see only the editions they own at the store they're signed in to.

What this means for you

• You don't issue access manually. Paid orders do that.
• You don't take access away manually for one customer either. Cancel or refund the order to do that.
• If a customer says they paid but can't see the edition, the things to check are: is the order paid? are they signed into your store with the same email they checked out with? is the project still published? See Customer can't open an edition they bought.

Related

• Help a customer access their digital edition. The customer-facing walkthrough.
• Publish a digital editions project. How an edition reaches your storefront in the first place.