A channel takes a selection of your products, formats it, and delivers it somewhere — a feed URL, a file server, or an inbox.
Formatting is one choice with two branches. Use a standard format (CSV, Excel, JSON and others) when the receiving system will take a table, and shape each field with the per-field pipeline. Use a custom template when the output has to match an exact document structure the other side specified.
A channel that publishes by File transfer or Email can be saved before its Publishing step is complete. Until the step has what the channel needs to deliver, the channel is saved disabled: it does not run on its schedule, and it can be neither enabled nor run by hand.
| Publishing | The channel can be enabled once it has |
|---|---|
| File transfer | a host name, and for SFTP a username |
| a Subject, and at least one address under Recipients, one address per line. Addresses typed on one line, separated by commas, semicolons or spaces, keep the channel disabled. |