More Information Page confusion

[FredW]

Hi Folks,

I have been investigating a problem regarding More Information Pages and believe the cause is a ShopSite issue. Here is what happens: Customer does a Google search on a part number, Google returns a pointer to a More Information Page, Customer clicks on the pointer and buys the item. The problem is that more information page is no longer valid. The store owner changed the product description months ago because the product was obsoleted, He also removed the check box for the more information page. However, ShopSite did not delete the More Information page.

In trying to isolate how many of these items there are, I have not been able to tell exactly when ShopSite deletes the More Information page and when it does not. I have found that if there is a file name in the More Information page, but the check box to say one exists is unchecked, I can get ShopSite to delete the page by removing the file name. However, if there is no file name in the field and at one time there was a checkbox in the More Information page question, then ShopSite generates a file name and I have not found a way to get ShopSite to delete the MI page.

I can delete the file using FTP or other file manager tools, but in doing this, I encountered another troublesome area. In the case where there is no file name, sometimes ShopSite uses the product name to generate the files (per the help text: "...If you do not specify a name, ShopSite will name the file based on the product name. ..."), other times ShopSite generates the name to be "Product" concatenated with the ProductID. I have yet figured out when it uses the product name and when it uses the Product ID method.

My thinking is that if one unchecks the box saying a More Information Page is no longer wanted, ShopSite should delete the More Information Page.

I'm open to having my opinion adjusted if one can explain how to remove a MI page with consistent results.

Running ShopSite® Pro 12 sp3 r4

Thanks in advance for you time.

[loren_d_c]

The More Info Page will get removed when the product is Deleted. There is a note on the confirmation pop-up that shows up when you are deleting more than one product at a time that says "MoreInfo pages will also be deleted".

As far as the More Info filenames go, the product[number].html filenames were used for products created in old versions (older than v12) that didn't have filenames specified. The filename field will be blank when you edit those products. When creating a new product in a version 12 or newer, if you don't specify a filename, one will be created based on the product name (whether you enable the More Info Page or not, the filename setting will still be set) which was a change to make the filenames more SEO-friendly, and when you edit that product next you will actually see that filename there.

-Loren