Recently a client needed to re-activate a coupon in Zen Cart. She wanted to re-use the exact same coupon but had inactivated the original.

After exploring the Zen admin, I could find no way to re-activate a inactive coupon so used the SQL query below.

Copy and the code below and paste it in Tools -> Install SQL Patches. Make sure you change the coupon_id to the number that you would like to re-activate. To get the id number, click on the name in Gift Certificate/Coupons -> Coupon Admin, the id is in the right column, in square brackets before the coupon name. And, as always, BACK UP YOUR DATABASE before making any changes to your Zen Cart installation.

UPDATE `coupons` SET `coupon_active` = 'Y' WHERE `coupons`.`coupon_id` =22 LIMIT 1 ;

Sending attractive, branded emails from your store is a nice touch, not only does it reinforce your presence with your customers, it puts you on the same level as other eCommerce big wigs. Follow the directions below to send html emails from you Zen Cart store.

1. Go to Configuration -> Email Options
Set “Use MIME HTML When Sending Emails” (3rd line) to true
and
Set “Email Admin Format?” to HTML (line 10)

2. Go to Configuration -> Customer Details
Set “Customer Default Email Preference” (line 10) to 1 for html

3. Upload your store logo, saved as header.jpg to email/ folder on the server (you will be overwriting the default zen cart logo)

4. Language File Changes:
Change the define for EMAIL_FOOTER_COPYRIGHT to link back to your store in:
admin/includes/languages/english/email_extras.php
and
includes/languages/english/email_extras.php

5. The design for each email is defined in style section of the header for each of the following email template file:
email/email_template_checkout.html
email/email_template_contact_us.html
email/email_template_coupon.html
email/email_template_default.html
email/email_template_direct_email.html
email/email_template_gv_mail.html
email/email_template_gv_queue.html
email/email_template_gv_send.html
email/email_template_low_stock.html
email/email_template_newsletters.html
email/email_template_order_status.html
email/email_template_password_forgotten.html
email/email_template_product_notification.html
email/email_template_product_notification.html

Change the css in each file or create a external stylesheet and link to it from the header of each file.

6.You can check your changes in Tools -> Email Welcome of your admin. When you have finalized the design, sign up as a new customer on your web site, you should get a branded email generated from zen cart.

Sometimes, you may need to update certain aspects of all products in your catalog. Instead of manually changing the aspect (in this case weight) of each product, you can run a simple SQL command through your Admin –> Install SQL Patches.

Here’s how to update the weight of ALL products in your catalog to 1/2 lb:
1. First, ALWAYS do a data base backup. If you have the Database Backup from Admin mod installed go to Tools -> Database Back Up MySQL and back up your database.
2. Go to Tools -> Install SQL Patches and run the following code:
UPDATE products SET products_weight = 0.5;

All products now have the weight of 1/2 lb. If you want the weight to be different, just change the 0.5 to whatever weight you want. The number should be in pounds.

If you have items in your catalog that are down loadable products, they must have a weight of 0. The most common instance of down loadable products is Gift Certificates. To update the weight of all products EXCEPT your gift certificates, enter the following command in step 2:
UPDATE products SET products_weight = 0.5 WHERE master_categories_id != 26;

This will update ALL products weight EXCEPT those in category 26 (gift certificate category). Change the master_categories_id to your actual number.

By default, Zen Cart comes with 3 Order Status options; processing, delivered and update. Oftentimes, you may want to add additional options such as “Shipped”. Adding new options is quite easy, just follow the steps below.
1. Go to Localization –> Order Status in your Zen Cart admin area and click on the “Insert” button.

2. Enter your new Order Status in the field provided and click on the “insert” button.

Now when processing orders, you will have “Shipped” as a Order Status option.

Happy Zen Cart!