Quote Originally Posted by melmeier01 View Post
i have a lot of problems with the lingo. Also so many things are assumed in the tutorials, for example, last night I was trying to set up a downloadable product. I found the tutorial about attributes & finally figured all of that out, but had NO IDEA that I had to put my file in the "downloads" folder. I finally figured it out, but I really think that the instructions for these things should be written as if to someone who has no experience. The very beginning of those instructions should have had step-by-step instructions for how to put my file in the folder, ie 1. zip your file. 2.using an FTP progran put it here: (give a tree or whatever it is called). Be sure when you name it in the attributes that it has .zip as part of the name. None of this was there & it caused me a lot of frustration. I have had so many similar experiences with tutorials & when I have posted for help. The basic stuff is left out & therefore the answers either don't make sense or there are big holes in the info becuase of my lack of skills & experience. I would include the link to the tutorial/downloadable instructions that I used, but can't find it now.
This is the tutorial for downloadable products in the Tutorials/FAQ section

article=71

Near the bottom of that tutorial is the following, which I think answers the questions you addressed.

Important Facts about Download Settings

1. Downloads are NOT Virtual Products so use:
Product is Virtual: No, Shipping Address Required
2. Downloads are NOT Always Free Shipping so use:
Always Free Shipping: No, Normal Shipping Rules
3. Downloads in an order by itself will never see the checkout_shipping page ... if you do then your Product is setup wrong for Downloads
4. If not on a Windows server, meaning Linux/Unix, /pub should be 777 and Redirect should be ON
If you cannot use Redirect ON, ask your hosting site why they cannot follow the symbolic link between the /download and /pub directories
5. If on a Windows server, /pub does NOT need to be writable/777 as you do not use this directory; and Redirect is OFF as you cannot use Redirect
6. Download filenames should not use special characters, spaces and the like
7. Download files should be Zipped for best results and browser compatibility
8. Download files should be loaded to the /download directory
9. On the Admin->Catalog->Attributes Controller you should see a green dot next to the filename of the Download itself