System¶
The dashboard¶
The dashboard is what you land on after signing in. It greets you by name and shows, in order:
- lifetime sales and average order value;
- a Sales Overview chart;
- Recent Orders, with a link to the full order list;
- Bestsellers and Stats, with tabs for Bestsellers, Most Viewed Products, New Customers and Customers;
- Needs Attention, a set of cards for things waiting on someone;
- Quick Links;
- Search Intelligence, with Recent Searches and Trending. Its View all link opens the full Search Terms list.
Named dashboard views that you can switch between and share, and a configurable set of widgets, are part of Nebula Pro.
Notifications¶
The bell in the header shows how many notifications are unread and lists the most recent ones. View all notifications opens the full list.
The list is an ordinary list, newest first. See Working with lists. Select rows to act on several at once:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mark as Read | Marks the selected notifications read |
| Remove | Deletes them. Asks first |
Custom variables¶
System, Other Settings, Custom Variables holds the reusable text and HTML snippets you drop into emails, CMS content and configuration output. They are the same variables the editor offers under Insert Variable, described in Working with forms.
The list shows Variable ID, Variable Code and Name. Code and Name are searchable and filterable, every column sorts, and there are no mass actions. Edit is the only row action.
Add New Variable does not open a separate page. It swaps the list for an edit panel on the same screen. Editing a row opens the same panel, and the line under the heading names the record you are editing.
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| Variable Code | Required. Letters, digits and underscores, starting with a letter |
| Variable Name | Required. The name shown in the list and in the Insert Variable picker |
| Variable HTML Value | Optional. Used where the output may contain markup |
| Variable Plain Value | Optional. Used where the output must be plain text |
Save Variable returns you to the list and Save & Continue keeps the panel open. Nothing is checked as you type, so a problem with the code is reported as a message after you save.
Delete Variable appears only when you are editing an existing variable. It asks first, and warns that anything still referencing the variable will render empty.
These are default-scope variables. There is no store view switcher on the screen and no per-store-view value. The permission is Magento's own Magento_Variable::variable.
Cache¶
System, Tools, Cache Management lists each cache type with its description, its tags and whether it is enabled and up to date.
Select the types you want and use the toolbar:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Refresh | Clears those cache types so they rebuild |
| Enable, Disable | Turns those cache types on and off. Only offered on a store running in developer mode |
| Flush Magento Cache | Clears everything Magento owns |
| Flush Cache Storage | Clears the whole cache store. Asks first, because the storage may hold data belonging to other things |
Refreshing an invalidated cache type is the everyday action. Reach for the flush buttons only when refreshing has not helped.
Indexes¶
System, Tools, Index Management lists each index with its description, its mode, its status and when it last ran.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Update on Save | The index rebuilds as soon as data changes |
| Update by Schedule | The index rebuilds when the scheduled task next runs |
| Invalidate | Marks the index out of date so it rebuilds |
Update by Schedule is the usual choice on a live store, because rebuilding on every save makes saving slow.
Bulk actions¶
System, Action Logs, Bulk Actions lists the asynchronous operations that have run, newest first, with the ID, the Start Time and the Description of Operation. The Details action on a row opens Action Details for that operation.
The Summary panel names what the operation was, when it started, and how many items succeeded and failed. Below it, failures are split into two tables.
| Table | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Items to Retry | One row per error, with the error text and the Number of Records Affected by it |
| Items That Can't Be Updated. | One row per item, with its error and a link to the item where there is one |
Retry appears in the action bar only when something is retriable. Tick the error rows you want and press it. A ticked row retries every record behind that error, not one item.
When nothing failed there are no tables at all, only the line This action has nothing that failed.
Backups¶
System, Tools, Backups lists what has been taken, newest first, with its time, name, type and size.
If the page says Backups are turned off, that is Magento's own default. The page names the setting to change.
Press one of the backup type buttons at the top to start one. A dialog asks:
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| Backup Name | Optional. Shown in the Name column |
| Maintenance Mode | Put the store into maintenance mode while the backup runs |
| Exclude Media | Leave the media folder out of the snapshot. Offered only where it applies |
Press Create Backup. The button stays disabled while it runs, because a snapshot of a real store is slow and a second click would start a second backup.
Select rows and use Delete to remove backups. It asks first and warns that the files go from disk and cannot be recovered.
Backups are written to the store's own backup folder. Restoring one is not offered from this screen.
Import¶
System, Data Transfer, Import runs in two steps, and the second is not available until the first has passed.
- Fill in Import Settings: the entity type, the behaviour, the validation strategy and how many errors to allow, plus the separators and enclosure if your file differs from the defaults. Empty attribute value constant is prefilled with Magento's own token. Putting that token in a cell tells the import to clear that attribute rather than leave the value as it was. Change the token only if it could appear as real data in your file.
- Choose your file under File to Import. It must be saved in UTF-8. Download Sample File gives you a correctly shaped example for the entity you picked. Images File Directory, in the same panel, is where the pictures named in your file live, relative to the store's import directory, for example
product_images. Leave it empty if your file has no images. - Press Check Data. The Validation Results panel reports what it found.
- If validation passed, press Import.
Choosing an entity type sets the behaviours available and shows a note explaining what the chosen behaviour does.
Export¶
System, Data Transfer, Export builds a file from one entity type.
- Choose the Entity Type and the Export File Format under Export Settings. Fields Enclosure wraps values in quotes.
- The Entity Attributes panel lists that entity's attributes. Tick Exclude beside anything you do not want in the file.
- Use the Filter column to narrow what is exported. Filters take a value, a choice or a from and to range depending on the attribute.
- Press Continue.
An entity with nothing filterable says so rather than showing an empty table.
All stores¶
Stores, All Stores shows the whole structure as one tree under the heading Websites, stores and store views. A website holds stores, a store holds store views, and a store view is what a shopper actually browses.
The search box at the top reads Search websites, stores, views… and filters all three levels at once. When nothing matches, the tree is replaced by No matches. Expand all and Collapse all open and close every branch.
Create Website, Create Store and Create Store View sit beside the search box. Each website row also carries a small Store link and each store row a small View link, which open the same create form with the parent already filled in.
A Default chip marks the default website, the default store and the default store view. A dot beside a store view is titled Active or Inactive and tells you whether that view is enabled.
A website with no stores reads No stores, a store with no views reads No store views, and an install with nothing set up reads No websites configured yet.
Currency rates and symbols¶
Stores, Currency Rates is a matrix with one row per base currency and one column per allowed currency. The box where a currency meets itself is fixed at 1.0000 and cannot be edited. Every other box must hold a number of zero or more.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Options | Jumps to the currency configuration |
| Import | Opens a panel holding Import Service and Import Service Rates |
| Reset | Reloads the page, discarding anything unsaved |
| Save Currency Rates | Stores what is in the boxes |
Pick an Import Service and press Import Service Rates to fetch the current rates into the boxes. Nothing is stored until you press Save Currency Rates. After an import, every box that already had a rate shows Old rate: and the previous figure underneath, so you can see what you are about to overwrite. That note is not shown on a freshly loaded page. With no service set up, the dropdown reads No import services configured.
If currency options have not been set up, the page shows only a note saying you must configure them before you can see currency rates.
Stores, Currency Symbols has Reset and Save Currency Symbols, and Reset again simply reloads. The Allowed Currencies panel lists each allowed currency with its code, its name and a count of entries. Every row has a symbol box and a Use Standard toggle. Leave the toggle on to use the standard symbol for that currency, which is shown beside the toggle and as the box's placeholder while the box stays disabled. Switch the toggle off to type your own symbol. The toggle works the opposite way round from a tick that means override.
With no allowed currencies, the page says so and points you at Stores, Configuration, General, Currency Setup.
Reports¶
Most Reports screens open with a filter bar above the list, carrying the report's title and a one-line summary of what it counts.
Where the report is a date range over time, the bar offers Period with Day, Month and Year, a From and a To date, and a Show Report button that reloads the page with those selections. From and To open on the last thirty days and Period on Day. Nothing is recalculated until you press Show Report.
The bar adapts to the report:
- Customer Orders, Customer Totals and New Accounts take a date range but no Period, because the period selector does not apply to them.
- Products in Carts and Abandoned Carts read what is in carts right now, so they have no date range and no Show Report button at all.
Read the summary line on each screen before trusting the totals, because it states that report's own caveats. Two are worth knowing in advance. The Orders Report leaves cancelled orders out of its totals. The statistics-backed reports, which are Orders, Coupons, Invoiced, Refunds, Shipping, Tax and Best-Selling Products, read stored statistics rather than counting on the spot, so figures that look stale are fixed by refreshing under Reports, Statistics and not by reloading the page.
Switching the admin theme¶
A control in the admin menu reads Admin theme with the name of the theme in use. Open it and you get Switch admin interface above a list of the installed admin themes. Choosing one reloads the admin in that theme.
The switcher itself is controlled from Configuration under Nebula, Nebula Theme Switcher:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Module | Shows or hides the switcher |
| Active Admin Theme | The theme in use. The switcher writes this for you |
Nebula's own settings¶
Everything Nebula adds lives in Configuration under the Nebula tab, in the Nebula Admin Theme section.
| Group | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Settings | Menu Position, Configuration Menu Position, Color Scheme, the tabbed layout switches, Category View Type, and whether payment recommendations are shown |
| Login Screen | The logo, title, subtitle and tagline on the sign-in page |
| Admin Branding | The sidebar logo, the wordmark beside it, and the browser tab icon |
| Category Merchandiser | Whether the merchandiser is on, what its product search includes, and the merchandiser grid's columns and page size |
| Customer Passwords | Which email template goes to a customer after a member of staff sets their password |
Leave a branding field empty to keep Nebula's own wording, which is translated with the rest of the admin. Anything you type is shown exactly as you typed it, in the language you typed it.