Admin Remerge
How administrators trigger PDF remerges and monitor merge status from the Unified Admin and Enterprise API.
Sometimes a product's merged PDF needs to be regenerated — after a design correction, a pricing change, or a merge failure. Administrators can trigger a remerge directly from the order details view in the Unified Admin, and external systems can trigger remerges through the Enterprise API.
Remerge from Order Details
- From your Unified Admin, go to Orders and open an order.
- In the order products list, locate the product you want to remerge.
- Click the overflow menu (three-dot icon) on the product row.
- Select Remerge Product.
- The merge status indicator updates in real time as the product is re-rendered:
- Not Merged — the remerge has been queued
- Merging.. — PdfManager is rendering pages and assembling the output
- Merged — the new PDF is ready
The status indicator polls the merge endpoint every 2 seconds until the merge completes. Once finished, the updated PDF is available for download.
Merge Status Display
The merge status appears in the order products list as either text or an image indicator, depending on the current state:
| Status | Display | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Not Merged | Status text or placeholder image | The product PDF has not been generated yet, or a remerge was triggered but has not started. |
| Merging.. | Status text or progress image | The merge engine is actively rendering and assembling the PDF. The indicator auto-refreshes every 2 seconds. |
| Merged | Merged PDF thumbnail | The merge completed successfully. The thumbnail shows the first page of the generated PDF. |
What Happens During a Remerge
When you click Remerge Product, the system:
- Logs the action in the Activity Log as "remerged product for order #123".
- Selects the merge path (remote service or local) based on configuration.
- Re-renders the product design through the full PDF pipeline — PdfManager processes the design, PNPDF generates the PDF, and GhostScript performs post-processing.
- Updates the product's merge status in the database.
- The admin UI detects the "Merged" status and stops polling.
The remerge uses the same pipeline as the original merge. Any changes to the product design, pricing, or configuration since the original order are reflected in the new PDF.
Remerge via Enterprise API
External systems can trigger remerges through the Enterprise API's PIPO (Print In, Print Out) endpoints. This is useful for automated workflows where an external print MIS or order management system needs to regenerate PDFs after processing changes.
The PIPO v1 and v2 controllers expose merge-related operations that follow the same dual-path architecture — remote async or local sync — as the admin remerge.
For API details, see the Enterprise API documentation.
When to Remerge
Common scenarios where a remerge is needed:
| Scenario | Why Remerge Helps |
|---|---|
| Design correction | A template or product design was updated after the order was placed. Remerging regenerates the PDF with the corrected design. |
| Merge failure | The original merge failed (status shows "Merge Error"). Remerging retries the full pipeline. Check the Error Log for failure details. |
| Stock photo licensing | A DepositPhotos image was not licensed during the original merge. Remerging re-attempts the license purchase and generates the high-resolution output. |
| Configuration change | A storefront setting affecting PDF output was changed (e.g., large format, multi-page). Remerging applies the new configuration. |
| Print MIS resubmission | The print MIS (Presswise, OneFlow, SiteFlow) needs an updated file. Remerging generates a fresh PDF and re-triggers the MIS integration. |
Troubleshooting
Merge stays in "Merging.." state
If a product's merge status does not progress to "Merged" after several minutes:
- Check the Error Log for merge-related exceptions.
- For remote merges, verify the merge service is running and the callback URL is accessible.
- For local merges, check server resources — PDF rendering is CPU-intensive and may be queued behind other merges.
Merge completes but PDF looks wrong
- Verify the product design in the editor is correct.
- Check if the product uses stock photos that require licensing.
- Remerge after confirming the design — the pipeline always uses the current design state.
Related Pages
- PDF Engine — overview of the PNPDF library powering PDF generation
- Merge Engine — detailed merge architecture and processing pipeline
- Orders — order management where remerge is accessed
- Activity Log — remerge actions are logged here
- Error Log — diagnose merge failures
- Enterprise API — trigger remerges programmatically via PIPO endpoints