Simply Digital Downloads are fast and fun, however, it helps to have some introduction to start you off in the right direction. Except for our Simply Digital CDs and Scrappers' Guide Training CDs, all of the products on our site are downloadables. Each download product description on our shop contains a description of the components in the kit, number of files included, and size of the zipped download file. The files within a download are zipped (compressed) into one file so they can be downloaded. Once downloaded they need to be extracted for you to work with them within your image editor.

Below are the basic steps for ordering, downloading, troubleshooting, working with a Download Manager, and unzipping the files. We also show you how to come back and re-download files if you didn't download them immediately on the Order Confirmation Page.

If you are using Windows XP or Vista, you should already have a built in zip/unzip utility.  However, you can try WinZip free for 45 days if you do not have a built-in utility.

Our downloads are both Mac and Windows compatible, and Mac has different extraction utilities which function similarly to our instructions below.
 

Order Process
To start the order process, click on our Shop link in our store to get to our shop. Click on any Tab on the left side for the category of product you are interested in. Note we have our downloads in different categories: What's New, Simply $1, Commercial Use, Kits/Page Paks, Element Paks, Photography Tools, AlphaSets, Templates, Winter Holiday (or other seasonal categories), Calendars/Albums, and so on. Our CD Collections are our Simply Digital Graphic CDs, which have different graphics than our downloads.

As shown at right at the top blue bar is a Search function, which you can use to search for a specific product name or theme of product you are looking for. The site will then link you to any matches.

Our most used category is What's New, which lists all recent products, most recent shown first. Click on What's New and you'll see thumbnails and prices of all recent products.

Once you see a product you like (Our Vacation Page Pak in example), click on the thumbnail to get to its product page. Important information, such as download size and pak contents are included on this page.  Click on the image to see an enlarged view of the download pak for a better idea of the detail of the art included, as well as see other views or layouts using the kit.

Choose the download you wish to purchase by clicking the Order Download button below the price.

You can add as many download paks as desired, as well as books or CDs, on one order. CDs and books are shippable products, and are not available for download. Note that if you combine downloadable products with shippable products, you need to select a shipping method other than downloadable. This will not impact your download products in any way, and they will still be available only as downloads.

Checkout Process

When you add a product to your cart or click View Cart button at top of store you are brought to the page at right. You can click Keep Shopping to add more items to cart. Or, you can start the checkout process.

Our site defaults to Downloadable shipping method. Only change this if your cart also contains CDs (or custom CD burning service). so you won’t be charged shipping*.

At this page you can also enter any Coupon Code we may be offering at the time (free newsletter sign-up) or Gift Certificate you've been given. You can also add this code and set shipping method at next page.

Click the Checkout button to proceed to next step.

Shipping & Payment Methods

Complete the Shipping and Billing Address sections and Payment Method sections on this page. For Billing Address, click Same as Shipping Address button, if the same.

*As noted above, if you also ordered CDs, then you must choose a shipping method other than “downloadable”, however, you are still able to download the downloadable products in the same order.

Choose Payment method by clicking on Pay Using Credit Card button or Pay Using Pay Pal button. Note that we accept PayPal, Visa, Discover, Mastercard, and Diner's Club payment options.

Scroll down to bottom of page and click Continue to pay with PayPal or go to next step.

Review your final order information, and click Send Order, if everything is correct.

If you choose to use PayPal as your payment method, the system will ask for your Paypal Email address and Password.  It will then ask you to review your information. Then there will be a Review Page from CottageArts. If correct, click the Send Order button.

Order Confirmation

An order confirmation page will appear, and next to your item(s) at top right, you should see a blue Download button.

Click on the Download button next to each item to download (download one at a time). Click Save button and choose path where to save downloads. We recommend creating a specific folder for your CottageArts.net downloads.

NO BLUE Download Button?
If the Internet connection is interrupted, or you exit your Order Confirmation page before completing your download(s), you can go back to download again at any time in the future.

You can get to your Order Status page using the URL from your Order Confirmation email (your e-mail states, "You can always find out the current status of your order by going to: your order url). Check your spam if you did not receive this e-mail.

You can copy and paste this URL into your web browser if your e-mail made it a non-clickable link (at right you can see it is a blue clickable link...some e-mails make this non-clickable).

Yahoo Shopping is a highly secure system, so when you click the order status link, you need to do the following:

Downloading Files

After clicking on the blue "Download" button, a File Download dialog appears. Click Save.

Now locate the directory/folder where you save all of your downloaded files, or make a new folder called CottageArts or DigitalDownloads (or your choice) under My Documents (for Windows users). 

Click Save.

Download Managers/Internet Connection Interruptions/Re-connecting

Download time will vary depending on the type of internet connection you have.  Those who have dial-up service may experience frustration with downloading large files.  We recommend ALL customers downloading products with dial-up to consider obtaining a download manager, such as ReGet (their Junior version is sufficient for home use). Download managers allow you to start downloading right where you were, if there is an interruption in the download connection. 

If the Internet connection is interrupted and you do not have a Download Manager, you may return to the order confirmation page (the link in your order confirmation e-mail), validate who you are at the bottom of the screen, and then the blue Download button will re-appear for you to download again.  You will NOT be charged again to re-download. (See NO BLUE Download Button(s)? section above for more details).

Note: we recommend you first delete the incomplete download file and re-boot your system before trying to re-download.

For those on dial-up, we also offer a Custom CD Burning Service for those who would like to have their download zip files burned to a CD and mailed to them via the USPS.

Extracting Zip Files (unzipping)

Now locate the zip file that you just saved. In this example, the file we downloaded was named CottageArtsOurVacation.zip.

Right-click on the Zip file, choose Open With>Compressed (zipped) Folders. Or simply double click on the zip file name.

Click Extract all files in the window that opens.

Click Next in Dialog, select folder to save to, click Next again. This will unzip the contents of the Zip file and place them in a new folder with the same name as the Zip.

Double-click on the folder titled CottageArtsOurVacationPak (or download pak you purchased, downloaded, and unzipped).

Click View>Thumbnails to see a thumbnail of the images in the product you purchased. If there are multiple folder of product, such as Embellishments and Papers in kit at right, double click on desired folder.

To start creating, right click on any image and choose Open with Image Editor you use. Or open image editor, choose File>Open and find this folder.

Have fun using our products!

For more information on how to use our products, see our tutorials page.